Riding indoors is great but it can destroy your bike. Sweat, excess wear and poor set-up can all contribute to ruining your bike unless you take proper care of it. Ollie goes through the main causes of damage from riding indoors and shows how you can avoid it. So, make sure to do this if you want to stop killing your bike!
0:00 Intro
0:17 Sweat
4:01 Tyres
4:38 Gears & Chain
5:55 Frame Damage
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49 Comments
How do you protect your bike when riding indoors? 🚴
my bottle cage mount and screws are now stuck up. i cant remove it. and it has bottle cage in it installed. i guess im goin to DIY it. destroy it yourself.
I'm A REaL mAn ANd I rIDe My rEAl BIkE iN tHe rEAl WoRlD XD
I use mini dust blower after rainy trip or a sweaty indoor ride. It blows air at a concentrated spot, all the liquids goes away quickly.
I think you just need a bigger fan
Indoor trainers suck, they all suck. Strapping your bike to an indoor trainer sucks. Get a Wahoo Kickr bike, a Stages SB20, or a Tacx Neo bike.
#askgcntech hey Ollie, Manon, Si, Connor and Adrian (the new guy I forget his name 😂), love your show! I have a rather serious and important question on waxed chains. Guidance states to remove the chain just after a film builds on the top of the wax, my question question is though… if you remove it a bit earlier do you reduce the life of the immersion waxing but increase its efficiency in the short term? Ie would an earlier removal be good for a race chain?
Why anyone uses their expensive carbon bike on a trainer is a mystery to me. Why not use a super cheap beater bike set to the right fit? Who cares what it looks like when you're indoors and who cares how much it weighs because you aren't going anywhere.
I recently discovered that staying in the large chainring indoors is a bad idea, since it's a lot more expensive to replace than the outer ring! So I recommend staying in the inner ring as much as possible – for example when in ERG mode. My LBS (shout out to BW Cycling in Bristol!) have seen a lot of large chainrings wear out prematurely on turbos, particularly since the pandemic.
The distances in my apartment are not long enough for a bike ride. I just walk to the fridge instead.
Sounds like someone should just get a permanent dedicated indoor bike like a Peloton.
Trainer tyres are the opposite of expensive
Groan. Just go outdoors and save heaps of money. Just don't get the indoor thing. Everyone seems to get bored after an hour. I concede uk winters suck, but it makes you appreciate the summers…
Poor Olie. I do love his rants. Good advice though
Not everyone can afford air conditioning, but I'd highly recommend a split system if possible. You can de-humidify the room before and after use, and have it full blast while riding. I still need three fans running at the same time, but I do live in Australia.
I found that I rock quite a lot on my bike when I ride which ruined my thru-axle and derailleur hanger. Not a particularly expensive fix ($100) but was scary when I rode my bike outdoors and realised my rear wheel was loose and couldn't tighten the thru-axle properly cause the threads were messed up.
A good fan really mitigates much of the sweat problem. It won't eliminate it, but it reduces it a lot.
I protect my pricier carbon endurance and gravel bikes by using a cheap alloy bike on my trainer 🙂
Love you too, bye
I would recommend using the most weatherproof headset grease (motorex 2000, or marine grease) and to apply it liberally (clean up the excess that comes out).
Invisiframe or Ride Wrap are great options to protect your frame when riding inside or outside.
I don't have a pain cave. I have a power house.
One more thing you missed. Rotate your front tire a few degrees every so often. That way you don't end up resting your full weight on the same spot for months at a time. It might wear, develop micro splits, or perhaps show signs of dry rot.
On the other hand riding outdoors is totally harmless so build a gazebo in your garden en train under it :p Consider getting a belt drive bike for indoor/Gazebo.
Is there an indoor trainer compatible with fixed gear or do I need to use rollers?
Love you too
Nice advice! I rusted out my headset bearings on the trainer a couple of years ago, then got one of those sweat covers you show and things have been fine since. Useful reminder to keep washing the bike and changing the bar tape too!
Snapped a drop out…. $1000 repair later it is never going back on a fixed rear trainer. About to buy a Wahoo Kickr Rollr. According to my Carbon doctor this is all too common
something I often come across is the problem of the front tire slowly deflating. it you dont check that regularly, it happens that at some point youre riding on your rims which isnt good for sure. therefore thats also something to keep an eye on.
Use a towel that covers the whole handlebar, and use a shirt/jersey. Prevents sweat dripping.
A massive ventilator, that is the most effective sweat reducing device for me
This is the reason why I wear gloves and use a towel thy indoor riding
Helpful video. Thanks!
I once cracked the downtube down by the cranks riding an aluminum bike on a trainer (popular racing frame at the time). I think riding out of saddle in a high gear put much of the stress on the frame. But yeah, if you're over 6ft tall and like to train for climbing, you might stress your frame too much.
May I suggest a correction: The clamps of the shifters are not of aluminum. And roadbikes don't have fix mounted mudguards and front lights as seen in the picture.
I have my old bike for indoor riding 😅
I always have the impression the frame is getting torqued much more when you put down big sprint watts resulting in reduced frame stiffness over longer periods
Scott does not guarantee use on indoor trainers!
Thanks Ollie, love you, bye!
I have a 2012 specialized tarmac with metal plates that cover the carbon on the rear dropout. Not clamping the bike in enough paired with side to side pushing in sprints and such caused all the metal plates to pop off. It’s an issue I’ve seen pop up on bike forums. I’m packing the bike up now to send to a frame builder to get a repair milled up and installed.
I use 2 fans in front of me. It results in no sweat dripping on my bike 🙂
I'm using my old aluminium road bike, which stays on the trainer all year. I recently updated my Zwift Hub to the Zwift Hub One with virtual shifting and now I could put literally any bike on the trainer. Another advantage: you can always stay on the small ring which is quieter in many cases and it does cost less to replace. Other than that: headband, ventilator, something to protect the floor and frame from sweat and you're good to go.
Setting up a trainer would be a good video @gcntech – my elite trainer is a ballache with what seems to be a screw that screws into the bolt keeping the freehub on (you can just pull the freehub straight off, for whatever reason) but it won’t fit in. Annoyingly so. Please help!
Any degradation of seat stays?
Hey – I'm 102 kg and 6'7". I have my old 2005 Specialized Allez Elite (alloy frame with carbon rear triangle and fork) on my turbo trainer; I'm noticing a lot of flex in my frame, is this normal?
I set up under my ceiling fan which helps a lot to reduce perspiration. I still wind up sopping wet but the workout is much more comfortable.
since when can carbon corrode? 😂
Ive done so many sprints on zwidt my bike is uneven 😂
Will a titanium bike suffer from the same corrosive battery effect that happens with sweat / carbon / aluminium combination of materials?