Do turbo trainers damage your bike

[Fab Foodie]

yea, but flex when you are out on the road is taken into account when they design the frame of the bike. also, the bike is constantly on the move and not held in place. what i mean is, coz the back is fixed to the turbo, are you stressing the bike in a different kind of way or at a part of the frame that isn't designed to take the stress?

i'm not sure i'm explaining myself but it's a bit like (obviously on a larger scale) if you are in a car and you bump into another car, the other car moves a little so you experience less damage to your own. but if you hit a tree you're car is totally fecked bcoz the tree don't move. does the turbo have the same effect on the bike frame as it allows little movement of the overall frame. do you understand what i mean?

or put it like this, i watched a programme where a train hit some buffers at low speed (about 10mph). the first two carriages of the train were not too badly damaged, but the shock wave travelled down the train and unexpectedly wrecked the carriages at the other end. they said this was because their was no give in the buffers.

i know those two things are on a totally larger scale but as the turbo is unnaturally holding the bike in place and allowing no normal movement across a surface, could it cause stress on parts of the bike that normal riding wouldn't? especially on new carbon frames as has been said, and would rollers be a better overall option?

when i pedal down the road, i'm sure the whole frame moves with me because it's not held in place. when i pedal on a turbo, the back is held still but the front is not, and i think it would probably flex more.

I know what you mean exactly, and think similarly. IIRC in the early days of Alu-frames there were warnings about not using them in Turbos for fear of over stressing/fatiguing the frame. This may have been early techo-fear, many now use Alu bikes on Turbos without frame failiure issues.
I really don't know if carbon is OK, I assume it's fine as I have heard nothing to the contrary. The major difference is that the back end being fixed at the spindle lacks the flex of the rear-wheel, tyre deformation and sideways slip that happens on the road to absorb some of the power. I would imagine the Turbo if used for heavy presssure work will generate more flex in the frame than would be seen for the same power on the road.

 

[buggi]

I really don't know if carnon is OK, I assume it's fine as I have heard nothing to the contrary. The major difference is that the back end being fixed at the spindle lacks the flex of the rear-wheel, tyre deformation and sideways slip that happens on the road to absorb some of the power.

that's what i meant to say you took the words out of my mouth

 

[Dave5N]

Yeah