How to get rid of “tire noise” in Indoor Cycling??

How to get rid of ‘tire friction’ noise while riding on rollers??

To begin with, Rollers carry a hefty image of a professional rider’s equipment. They use it for their warm-up, regular training, and workouts.

Nowadays with the availability of resources,  knowledge, and up-to-date information about the product, rollers are getting popular among all cycling enthusiasts who cannot afford to ride outdoors due to their personal or professional commitments, extreme weather conditions, pollution, traffic, etc.

But the most common issue that people face with rollers or trainers is the noise of tires. This noise bothers riders as well as their families or anyone around them. Those who use proper road bikes do not face noise trouble as the road bike tires don’t have any grip and are very thin.

Let us start with an easy case of Hybrid or Gravel bikes which come with tire widths of 1.00- 1.5’’. These have tiny groves(spikes) grip that creates more fiction which in turn makes noise. So,  to enjoy a butter-smooth ride, you can rub talcum powder on the circumference of the tire before every ride. This allows you to enjoy your ride for 30 minutes with less bothering noise.

The biggest challenge is in the case of the MTB cycle. If you ride on rollers with an MTB bike, it is certain that people inside the house will get irritated or disturbed, as the sound gets louder with faster pedaling.

You can fight /convince the world but the same convincing tricks don’t work with family.

Here are some tips and suggestions you can use in order to solve these noise challenges.

  1. Place the rollers on your rooftop/balcony/ garden (you should have a hard surface under the roller’s lags). The noise produced by the rollers will get scattered and become quite less disturbing for everyone around.
  2. Use a headphone/earphones and play hard workout music. The best part is music motivates and boosts your energy to ride more and better with the beats.
  3. I understand the expensive bike and 8-block soft MTB tires you own and for all good reasons, you don’t want to change them. But in the case of indoor cycling, there is no harm in buying a pair of cheap Ralson tires without grooves for your bike. These tires cost just INR 350-400 per pcs, and you can ride indoors without any disturbance.

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