Training wheel options

[nickydd]

Hey team i have brought an indoor trainer as i am in Queensland Australia and by god its Hot at the moment. have a good old Madone 5.2 from 2006 that i have never really needed to change apart from chains cassette as i really only cycle 120-150km a week (although i want to up that) i have been agonizing over getting a spare rear and using it as a training wheel because im not sure in the value of getting a cheapy or getting a newer set of wheels for the current bike and swapping them over. the bike has a old set of mavic cosmos that appear fine and true and do the job am i likely to gain anything from a mid level upgrade like mavic kysirium amkium etc and a friend has a practically unused older dt swiss r1900 set as well for 125$

[Duck!]

The wheels don't really matter on a trainer - the front does nothing more than keep the bike level. If the trainer is a tyre-drive type (where the tyre contacts the trainer drum), it's a very good idea to have a spare wheel fitted with a dedicated trainer-specific tyre, because your road tyre will get ripped to shreds and rubber particles sprayed everywhere. Your trainer wheel doesn't need to be anything special, all it has to do is carry the special tyre, have a cassette range that matches your road wheel, and hold the back of the bike off the floor.....

A newer set of wheels may be beneficial on the road; being a semi-aero full aluminium wheelset, the Cosmos are a bit on the heavy side, and if you're a lighter weight rider, the deeper profile can get a bit buffetted around in strong winds. Lighter wheels will aid the bike's handling, being a bit more responsive. To get any sort of benefit though you'd have to look toward the Mavic Ksyrium Elite, the mid-level in the Ksyrium range. The Aksium and the DT1900 are both pretty hefty wheelsets, not offering any real improvement over your Cosmos.

[nickydd]

thanks that is useful advice in fact i have already stuffed a tyre but mostly due to to much pressure on the trainer i think. I will have a look at my options. ideally i will pick up a cheap second wheel and wack a trainer tyre on it. The main reason form my reaching out for advice is here seemed to be pros and cons of each direction. i can get a used fulcrum 7 wheel set with a sram cassette that will work and tyres for around $100 i cannot seem to find much cheaper locally. i can get barely used dt swiss r1900 with a suitable ultegra cassette for 125$ and wack a Tyre on it . i assume i couldn't get a decent upgrade wheel set such as the mavic Kysuirim elites for under 300$

[Duck!]

For the kind of money you're looking at you're not really going to get anything of an upgrade from the Cosmos, so I'd keep those for your road wheels, and just grab the cheapest compatible thing you can find for trainer use, and chuck a trainer-specific tyre on it.

[Kronos]

There's nothing wrong with that Madone, I have an SLR from that era. Most bike riders who ride seriously don't even care about the Tour De Lance era. I have an SLR from that era that I'd swap frames with you if you didn't want it As others have said if you have a trainer that makes contact with your tyre you will need a trainer specific tyre. The cheapest way to get around this is to get a trainer specific tyre for your rear wheel.