Spare tire for use on Bike Trainer

I got an extra wheel for cheap at my LBS. THe rim was slightly damaged but fine to ride on a trainer. I have an extra cassette, so I put that on there and it works great.

The trainer will wear your tire out faster.

tom 

I am lazy (and don't log that much trainer time anyway) so I just use the same tire and wheel for both trainer and road rides.

When the tire wears out I will change it. In fact I just realized that I still have the trainer QR still in my bike. Probably I'll leave it there.

I have two sets of tires: one set for training and for the trainer, and one set for racing.  Both sets are Michelin Pro2 Race.  Why?  Because I happened to have two sets of them, and I want to be completely familiar with their wear patterns.

The only time I swap them out are right before and after races--which in effect is good practice right before race day.

Even if you're a heavier rider, according to my LBS owner (who's a good friend) you should be getting 2000-3000 miles at the least out of quality tires.   So, figure you get 25% (way overestimating) less miles from usage on the trainer, that's still 1500-2250 miles before you need to change'em.  That's alot of miles for most of us.

If you are only using it a dozen times a year, don't worry about it.   You are not going to render your tire unusable by riding it on the trainer one time a month.  HOw much are you spending on regular tires anyway?  By the time you get a cheapo rim, tire and cassette, you'll be into the project at least $50 if not $100.  That is a lot of tire wear to pay for.   If you spend $30 a tire like most of us, you might waste $8-10 maximum on trainer wear over a year.   If you are absolutely shredding tires on your trainer, release the tension knob a little. 

The other solution is to just ride on cheap tires all the time.  I wait for clearance sales for mine.  Right now I am using some Hutchison kevlar bead mid-grade tires I got for $9 each..  Cheaper than a trainer tire anyway.