Turbo Trainer tyre existence? 27 x 1 1/4

[Maniac618]

Hi all,

I have tried googling and cannot for the life of me find a turbo trainer tyre in the size of 27 x 1 1/4 do they exist? If so please post shop links! This is for a really old 1970s BSA (Raleigh) Tour De France bike.

Thanks for any help.

[Chris Jeggo]

I've never used a turbo trainer, but I would be surprised if turbo trainers have special requirements that cannot be satisfied by ordinary tyres.

Have you tried searching this board for "turbo trainer tyres"?

[rogerzilla]

It would be like looking for a tyre for a horse.

Just use a cheap smooth tyre and put a lot of air in it.

[Jamesh]

Find a tyre with a slick / raised centre bead.

Cheers James

[gerry84]

Sjs have 14 different 27 x 1 1/4 tyres in their catalogue.

[mcshroom]

An alternative if you have one lying around, would be to use a 700c wheel on the turbo.

There's no braking involved so the brake drop wouldn't b an issue, and if anything the slight rise of the bike between the 700c (622mm) rear and 27"(630mm) front might help make it comfortable. I've tended to find that turbos tilt the bike down a bit, even with a riser block

[Maniac618]

Thanks for the input all, I did have it mentioned that I could possibly just use standard tyres and see how it fairs. I'll do that for now. Thanks.

[Vorpal]

Thanks for the input all, I did have it mentioned that I could possibly just use standard tyres and see how it fairs. I'll do that for now. Thanks.

If your turbo trainer is one where the wheel is in contact with a mechanism that provides resistance, you may have difficulty adjusting it to your wheel size. Have you checked that it will work? Many turbo trainers are designed for 700c with limited adjustment for tyre size.

If it is feasible, you will still need to keep an eye on your tyre. Normal tyres may wear very quickly, or blow out from heat.

Otherwise you might consider trying rollers, instead?

[Mr Tom]

It would be like looking for a tyre for a horse.

Just use a cheap smooth tyre and put a lot of air in it.

This has made my morning

[TrevA]

I once lent my Tacx turbo to a mate, who had recovered from cancer and wanted to see if he could still ride, as his nerves had been damaged by the chemo. The problem was that his bike wheels were all 27 x11/4. We tried fitting his bike to the turbo and it was a really tight fit. The wheel was catching on the bottom of the frame of the turbo and fetching the paint off. As others have said, turbo’s are designed to fit 700c wheels.

He did manage to ride it for a bit, but decided that he no longer had the muscle control to cycle.

[borisface]

I've never used a turbo trainer, but I would be surprised if turbo trainers have special requirements that cannot be satisfied by ordinary tyres.

Have you tried searching this board for "turbo trainer tyres"?

Tyres heat up on a turbo to such an extent that standard tyres delaminate and the tread simply becomes detached from the carcass. Hence the need for a specific turbo tyre. Like you I thought that this wouldn't be possible but got through a number of old tyres delaminating in this way before switching to a specific turbo tyre. Since then I haven't had an issue. Not sure you can get a 27" turbo tyre as turbos didn't come into existence until 27" tyres had largely been superceded by 700c. You could pick up a second hand 700c wheel, block and a turbo tyre and swap them out for you existing set up fairly easily.

[KM2]

You may find that the hard, slippery tyres you can get from Wilko might be a hard enough rubber to cope with the heat build up.