So last year I bought a Tacx Fortius turbo trainer to try get some experience of the big hills in the Alps. All for La Marmotte which was completed in the Summer. Shortly after buying it, I did sign up to a trainer and that had me out on the road a lot more than I expected so it didn’t get used all too much. But enough to learn the pain and also enough to get to the tyre slipping problem.

The problems

Unless you have perfectly balanced power output through 360degress of your pedal stroke (and you don’t, no matter what you think), then under heavy power, usually on hills, the tyre starts jumping or slipping.

Even the trick of moving the roller to the tyre, then three and a half turns didn’t sort it for me.

The Solution

Degreaser. No seriously.

The suggestion came from Fisher Outdoor, Tacxs reseller in the UK. Degrease the roller wheel on the motor to remove any rubber, dirt or grease. Clean thoroughly at the end. Then degrease the tyre too, same deal.

Honestly, I didn’t think it’d do much but wow. I have been able to cycle without any slipping, even at really low cadences. Even standing out of the saddle at low cadence is working fine, no slip what so ever. Almost like glue on the wheel.

Try it and let me know if it helps you too.