[sethhelstrip]

Hi, I’m new here.

I took the plunge and bought a Kickr Core in December last year.   I set it up with my old alu commuter bike, that I haven’t ridden for years.  I had a bike fit done for my carbon bike, and have tried to match the setup as closely as possible on the alu bike – although the reach is still far too long.  It works well.

Since then I’ve racked up over 2.5k km on it.

I went out on my carbon bike over the weekend, for the first time since winter.  A lot of knee pain afterward, that has persisted for 3 days now.  I didn’t push any harder (I use power pedals) than the weekend rides I’ve been doing in Zwift, so think I’m correct in putting it down to a shift in geometry.

I’m now considering buying a new cassette and putting my carbon bike on the trainer, when I’m not out on the road.  Slightly concerned about uneven drivetrain wear.  Does anyone know if I should be?

 

 

Topic

[sethhelstrip]

Thanks guys for the advice. 

Thanks guys for the advice.  I’ll fit a new stem and see whether that helps the situation, and if not will switch to using my carbon bike on the trainer.

[OnYerBike]

To answer the question you

To answer the question you have actually posed, yes it’s something I would think about. My understanding is that in simple terms, as a chain stretches, it wears the casette faster. So if you’ve done 000’s of miles on the turbo, then put on a wheel with a brand new cassette, you’re probably going to wear that cassette very quickly because the chain will be stretched. The solution would simply be to keep on top of wear and replace chains (and cassettes) as soon as they need it, and especially before switching to a new cassette.

[Rendel Harris]

IanMSpencer wrote:

IanMSpencer wrote:

 I suspect you can get lazy on a trainer.

I certainly do, tend to settle into my sweet spot of wattage and cadence and stay there and yes, the first few miles on the road after a long spell of trainer only is a refamiliarisation with working the gears to maintain momentum/wattage/cadence instead of just cruising away. Same switching back to the road or gravel bikes after using the commuter road ebike, having to change down approaching a red light to be in the right gear instead of just letting the motor deal with the pull away.

[IanMSpencer]

I wonder also if going back
I wonder also if going back to road riding, is Seth working the gears properly. I suspect you can get lazy on a trainer. I’m a great believer in letting gears do as much of the work as possible and would change gear away from a junction in preference to straining through acceleration. I try and stay in a fairly narrow band of cadence when working rather than applying strength to a lower cadence, and if I do get out of the saddle (effort to be avoided) I try and do it at a higher cadence with lighter effort than grinding – there is a temptation to use maximum effort out of the saddle whereas I see it as a nice change in position.

[huntswheelers]

I’ve built many bikes for
I’ve built many bikes for customers from frames to use on smart trainers and always the customer have matched the frame geometry as close as possible to their Road use bike, then we’ve set it up with the identical specs…. usually when they emerge from hibernation they are fine on the road if a little stiff and blowing out of their rear ends a bit quicker than they expected by being back out there

[Rendel Harris]

As long as the cassette on

As long as the cassette on the trainer and on the bike are at about the same stage of wear, your gears are well set up and everything is kept well lubed it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. A budget new shorter stem for your trainer bike would be cheaper than a new cassette though, worth trying to see if you can get the geometry right? Also although the power numbers are the same road riding is a lot more wearing on the knees than trainer riding in terms of shock absorption and less smooth pedalling (slowing and restarting for traffic, junctions etc). I definitely found during lockdown that after a month of daily 30-50kms on the trainer I felt pretty stiff after the first rides back on the road. 

[Author]

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