old wheel for turbo trainer?

[gareth h]

I've got a Genesis Croix de Fer which is set up on the turbo trainer with a TT specific tyre, now I like being able to jump on the TT for a short session of pain, but then can't be arsed with changing the tyre to use the bike on the road.
If I pick up an old rear rim to use on the TT is there anything I need to be aware of to make sure it fits, the Genesis has disk brakes (does this matter?) and I assume I will need the same size rear cassette?
Thanks
G

[esuuv]

Your rear hub will most likely be 135 wide as its a disk wheel - most rim braked road bikes have 130 mm wide hubs - so a road bike hub with the same cassette wont work as your gears will be all over the place and you'll be forcing the frame in to get the QR tight.

MTB wheels have 135 so a 29er rear wheel will most likely do the job - as long as you get get your turbo tyre on the wider rim - but then you're into cassette widths in that.

Personally i'd leave the road tyre on the rim, accept it'll need replacing more often.

[lufbramatt]

Try to get one with the same type of hub (or at least the same make) as the cassette can be in a slightly different position on different hubs, and as a result all the gear indexing will be wrong. Had this issue using an old Mavic crossride as a turbo trainer wheel on a bike set up for wheels with Shimano hubs.

[gareth h]

Thanks, I was hoping to pick up a cheapie, but doesn't look like that's an option, oh well have to start looking for the tyre levers!

[Banana Boy]

gareth h said:

Thanks, I was hoping to pick up a cheapie, but doesn't look like that's an option, oh well have to start looking for the tyre levers!

Don't lose faith, you might get lucky if you try...

I was very kindly gifted a wheel by fellow a PH'er (I've been meaning to update that thread and thank them properly for bloody ages!)

My Trek Emonda runs 11 speed 105 5800 but the 'new' wheel has a Shimano Deore 10 speed hub. After a bit of messing around with spacers etc. I managed to get my outgoing 12-25 cassette on the wheel by leaving out the penultimate gear. Ok so it's a bit of a bodge and effectively I have the use of 'only' 9 speeds but at the end of the day it was basically 'free' (using man-maths and circumstance) and it's a turbo wheel, so if I ever get near the bottom of the block, I need to up the resistance anyway!

TT Wheel by Ben Magee, on Flickr

TT Wheel by Ben Magee, on Flickr