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Cheap rear wheel for a turbo

Hi all,

Just did my first tri last weekend, supersprint at Blenheim! Loved it so much I've entered Eton Women's in July... I have a road bike, a giant scr 1.5w, and would like to do more turbo sessions (a mate lent me his trainer since he swapped triathlons for fatherhood!) I've got a trainer tyre but its a real pain changing tyres each time and I'd love to get a cheap rear wheel (is there such a thing?) so I can just wheel swap.

Also do I need to have the exact same cassette on the replacement wheel (I think its a shimano hg50 12-25) or can I make do... And will the shimano cassette fit on any wheel or does it have to be a special wheel?
(Bike spec is here http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/bik ... tions_id=3 )

Ideas....?

Comments

  • okennyokenny Posts: 231
    I looked for a cheap wheel but the best I could do was the cheapest Shimano for about 80€....even tries looking for secons hand ones but everything on Ebay cost almost as much as a new one.
    You don't need the same cassette, it just needs to be a 10 speed (assuming u have 10sp at the mo).

    it's annoying...wheel + tyre + casette + changing a rear wheel is a batch too.....
    I still haven't found a way to do it without getting my hands (and clothes sometimes) covered in oil....

    might invest in a stand to hold the bike.....but my apt is already full with bike crap!!
    The GAT officer would love a bike stand hanging around!
  • shadowone1shadowone1 Posts: 1,408
    You can pick up a shimano tiagra hub with a non branded rim for about £40-£50ish. this would ideally do for a turbo wheel, but you'll need to look at a cassette also.

    I just used to put races tyres on my bike before the race and for training including turbo's I use a bontrager all weather. Then come race week, off came the bontragers and on went the vredesteins'.

    The bontragers have lasted me ages and show no very little sign of wearing I used it all winter throughout the cold snap on my turbo. In fact it was about 8 weeks of constant use as I was training for abu dhabi at the time.
  • largeadelargeade Posts: 166
    @okenny
    At the petrol pump next time, nick some of the diesel gloves. They're great for holding the chain when changing rear wheels.
    Ade
  • BmanBman Posts: 442
    Hi, Id have a look on gumtree.com too, in the bikes/bike accessories section in for sale. Sometimes spot guys selling all sorts of bits and bobs, including cheap wheels around the £20-30 mark. Might get one with a cassette on too.

    BTW, anyone had a felt B2 pro with zipp 606's stolen recently? Saw a guy supposedly selling one for £1150 last week and then again for £600 this weekend. He's probably just using a stock photo and trying to get someone to come around with a wad of cash.
  • aoneill69aoneill69 Posts: 206
    i went through this in the winter...and to be honest couldn't find what i wanted after about 3 weeks of checking the small ads etc (think everyone has the same idea in the winter) so stumped up for a basic but decent wheel/cassette and put the turbo tyre on that one...the wheel can act as a spare if a disaster occurs and i can swap over pretty quickly...think i paid about £80-£100 for the wheel/cassette from mike at BT bikes...
  • huwdhuwd Posts: 228
    I looked around and ended up just putting gatorskins on the wheels for training, they are really thick and dont wear like race tyres
  • diddsdidds Posts: 655
    I was told once by an ex GB pro, that the problem with just swapping a wheel over for turboing with a different cassette already on it (same number of gears etc natch) is that the chain wears with the cassette and the two work hand in hand. using a different cassette on the same chain cold cause wearing issues both with the chain and the cassettes, shortening all their lives.

    didds
  • jellybellyjellybelly Posts: 42
    Thanks everyone. These things are never cheap (or simple...) :roll:

    I went into my LBS today who quoted £90 for basic shimano wheel and 9-speed cassette. It looks like fairly nice weather from Fri evening onwards so I might just keep persevering with road miles.

    As it isn't my turbo I don't want to invest too much money as then I will end up buying my own turbo too - what do people think of turbos re. rollers for winter work? Presumably I could use my normal road tyre on rollers....?
  • diddsdidds Posts: 655
    join the bcttt, and see the next club mag. you will get the full debate on turbo pros and cons!

    meanwhile... IMO turbos are excellent for several things, but especially winter when aside from the lack of pleasure riding on the dark and pouring rain and the detrimental effects possibly on your bike, you also have to deal with drivers whose peripheral vision (already poor) is further hampered by poor weather conditions and "headlight tunnel vision".

    Using this summer's tyres on the turbo during winter sets you up for fresh road tyres in the spring.

    didds
  • BmanBman Posts: 442
    For some reason, I thought that normal road tyres get shredded really quickly on a turbo?
  • okennyokenny Posts: 231
    my road tyre was getting wrecked on the turbo!!

    tried different pressures etc.....on long rides if I was putting enough watts down the rubber was melting no matter what I did....

    I don't want to use such a tyre on 60kph descents in my next tri....
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