Carbon Bike on a Turbo?

BaBiT

Hi All,

Just looking for a bit of advice here, I have a Trek 1000 alu frame bike on my turbo at the moment...I was thinking of using it as my winter bike this winter and putting my summer bike on the turbo...Its a carbon framed Specialized Tarmac Pro and I was wondering if anyone knows if this damages the bike in any way?...I'm kinda thinking flexing the frame incorrectly maybe?...Probably just me being over cautious but I thought I'd see if anyone had any ideas..

Quigs Snr

This comes up pretty often. The accepted wisdom is that the turbo actually stresses the frame less than standard road use. Certainly I have had no trouble with carbon bikes on turbos and know of no-one who has.

You'll be fine.

BaBiT

Thanks a mill Quigs...Thats my winter training sorted then...Now I just have to get some more DVD's for my turbo...If I watch Lance's 7 in a row one more time I'll probably fall asleep on the bike...Still, the Shay Elliott DVD that Setanta showed during the summer is coming out at the end of this month

CheGuedara

I've been using a carbon Dolan Hercules on the turbo for about a month now and no problems.

I've just emailed them now to see what the official recomendation is but I'm assuming that I'll hear that it's A-OK. I'll post back the response.

There's precious few photos on the web of carbon frames broken by turbos mind you...

gman2k

I know it goes against the grain, but I was advised by the owner of a very well known bike shop in Dublin not to use a good bike on a turbo because of the stresses it places on the rear stays. The 'good' bike I had at the time was a Battaglin with Dedacci U2 aluminium tubing.

tunney

gman2k wrote: »

I know it goes against the grain, but I was advised by the owner of a very well known bike shop in Dublin not to use a good bike on a turbo because of the stresses it places on the rear stays. The 'good' bike I had at the time was a Battaglin with Dedacci U2 aluminium tubing.

Most Dublin bike shops, their owners and their employees haven't a fvking clue about bikes. Pinch of salt. Sounds more like someone trying to get out of honouring guarentees to me.

Raam

tunney wrote: »

Most Dublin bike shops, their owners and their employees haven't a fvking clue about bikes. Pinch of salt. Sounds more like someone trying to get out of honouring guarentees to me.

I was advised not to put my carbon bike on a boot mounted rack because the heat from the exhaust fumes could damage it.

Greyspoke

Aside from possible stresses on the frame, the problem with putting a good bike on a turbo is how much corrosive sweat you dump on it - keep it covered well!

Quigs Snr

Raam wrote: »

I was advised not to put my carbon bike on a boot mounted rack because the heat from the exhaust fumes could damage it.

And I'll bet they didn't have a boot mounted one there, but convieniently did have a roof mount.....


Greyspoke brings up a good point, sweat will fly off you and leave white salty streaks all over the bike, these are particularly bad news for anything which can rust or corrode, specifically your headset which is often direct in the firing line. I have a Minoura sweat cover (which is basically a fancy thin elasticated towel), throw something over the wherever the sweat hits it.

CheGuedara

A face cloth FTW...

gman2k

tunney wrote: »

Most Dublin bike shops, their owners and their employees haven't a fvking clue about bikes. Pinch of salt. Sounds more like someone trying to get out of honouring guarentees to me.

Have to disagree regarding this shop. The owner has been in business over twenty years, is a racer (vet now) and wouldn't sell you something that you didn't need.
Also, the bike he advised me not to use on a turbo wasn't even bought there!
And he rides carbon frames himself.
TBH, I doubt there is anyone more knowledgeable about bikes in Dublin.
(PS this shop is not in the city)

BaBiT

Well, didn't realise I was going to start such a debate!...So, I've emailed Specialized and I'll post up the reply as soon as I get it...Cheers for all your help though so far

Junior

Quigs Snr wrote: »

This comes up pretty often. The accepted wisdom is that the turbo actually stresses the frame less than standard road use. Certainly I have had no trouble with carbon bikes on turbos and know of no-one who has.

You'll be fine.

Actually you do ! My cousin reckons he did in a carbon frame due to a heavy winter training on the turbo, he's not blaming it directly but he does reckon it was one of the causes of the early expiration of his Trek Carbon frame..

Now to be fair he was getting back into racing, he went from S3 --> S1 very quickly so he had the ground work done.

Quigs I'll pm you his name, so you can verify.

Redjeep!

I think it's the Felt webpage that advises that you shouldn't do any pedalling standing on the pedals when the bikes in the turbo, but otherwise the bike will be OK.

Quigs Snr

Just to confirm, I do know Juniors cousin. Some Treks had issues at the point where his frame snapped with at least one other instance in our club so its hard to tell if the turbo was the cause (with a 15 year warranty I wish my 10 year old would snap too so Trek could send me a new one). It certainly would not help though.

From trying to hang on to this individual at training camp in the Canaries this year (after which he dominated some of the early A races), I think the fact that he can produce enough power to break a bike in half would be no surprise to anyone in Irish cycling. He generously led me out to a win in a sprint at a league race last year, but when he initially made the jump for me, it was like he teleported 10 yards out in front of me. Literally there one second and in a blink 4 bike lengths away.

I would be less surprised if I was told that they had to build him a re-enforced solid steel tubed machine with hardened concrete filled cranks and wheels for re-enforcement to contain his wattage.

The point made by the previous poster about not standing is a good one. It feels too damn strange anyway. I can't imagine anyone being able to stand on a turbo ?

blorg

Quigs Snr wrote: »

The point made by the previous poster about not standing is a good one. It feels too damn strange anyway. I can't imagine anyone being able to stand on a turbo ?

I have a problem with leaning into corners on descents, I nearly came off round a sharp corner last night.

Raam

blorg wrote: »

I have a problem with leaning into corners on descents, I nearly came off round a sharp corner last night.

Are you watching the Denis Menchov training DVD while you are on the turbo?

MadHatter

Redjeep! wrote: »

I think it's the Felt webpage that advises that you shouldn't do any pedalling standing on the pedals when the bikes in the turbo, but otherwise the bike will be OK.

That's correct. Best to stay in saddle.

Felt Bicycles wrote:

I have heard that you should not put a carbon stay bike on a trainer - is this true?
The loads a trainer puts on a bike are quite different from those which the bike is designed to withstand on the road, particularly when it comes to tensile forces in the seat stay—which try to pull the dropout out of the seatstay. However, Felt has been selling bikes with alloy dropouts bonded into carbon seat stays for four years now. Some of these bikes have been used in trainers, and we have not encountered this problem. Even so, we recommend limiting riding on trainers to in-the-saddle pedaling. Riding on rollers loads the frame in a similar way to riding the road; for that reason we believe it.

http://www.feltbicycles.com/International/Support/Felt-FAQ.aspx

blorg

Raam wrote: »

Are you watching the Denis Menchov training DVD while you are on the turbo?

I was doing this climb from Lysebotn in Norway- there are some descending bits before the ultimate summit and I was leaning over a bit much into the corners. I have never sweated so much in my life. It's part of a whole stage race run by Norwegian internet nerds.

teufelswerk

Redjeep! wrote: »

I think it's the Felt webpage that advises that you shouldn't do any pedalling standing on the pedals when the bikes in the turbo, but otherwise the bike will be OK.

I stand on the pedals, probably only up to 2 minutes at any one time, but I'm surprised that this would be warned against. Can someone explain the physics/logic behind not standing on the pedals when you have a good rythmn going?

BaBiT

Response from Specialized below...Asking what a turbo was did dent my confidence in them a bit but they say no way to using it on a home trainer...

Subject
Tarmac Pro on a Turbo

Discussion Thread
Response (Justin) 11/04/2009 06:39 AM
Ah.....using a carbon bike in a trainer is not recommended. It puts a lot of torque on the rear triangle. It can be done and I know a lot of people who do it, but if your frame breaks in the trainer it is not covered under warranty.

Customer 11/03/2009 03:35 PM
Hi,

Yes a turbo is the shortname we use here to refer to a home trainer.

Many thanks

Response (Justin) 11/03/2009 11:53 AM
I am not familiar with what a turbo is. Are you referring to a trainer or to rollers?

Customer 11/02/2009 11:16 AM
Hi there,

I am thinking of using my old Alu frame bike as a winter trainer to keep my carbon Tarmac Pro out of the worst of the rain, cold, salt grit etc that season will through at it...But, this means that my Tarmac will end up on my turbo for the winter...Is there any reason I should not use it on a turbo, i.e will it stress/damage the frame?

teufelswerk

BaBiT wrote: »

Response from Specialized below...Asking what a turbo was did dent my confidence in them a bit but they say no way to using it on a home trainer...

All manufacturers will try and limit their exposure to claims against them, I wouldn't expect them to endorse the usage of their bikes other than on a smooth surfaced road. My point is as I can only generate 400 watts of power what damage is this likely to cause my carbon frame (no real alternative as the new bike is carbon as well)?