Does your trainer shake the floor??



Pureshot78

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Oct 7, 2004
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I live in a second story apartment and I setup my CycleOps Fluid2 trainer today and started doing a FT workout. The trainer was shaking the floor to the point that i was a little uncomfortable doing it for fear that the neighbors would complain. A few weeks ago i tried riding on a KK Road Machine (with a significantly larger flywheel) and the sound was even worse.

Two questions:

1) Have any of you had similar results? If so, were you able to make it so the trainer didn't shake the floor? (moving to a first floor apartment isn't an option for at least a few months :p)

2) If my rear wheel was out of true radially could this possibly cause excessive shaking? I'm pretty sure the wheel is true laterally, but not sure radially.

Thanks!
 
S Cal = Earth quake proof housing = Wooden flooring

No wonder it's on the noisy side.
 
sogood said:
S Cal = Earth quake proof housing = Wooden flooring

No wonder it's on the noisy side.
Of course if i just spent a few months down under each year i wouldn't have to deal with the problem of shorter daylight hours limiting my outdoor riding. :)
 
POGATA said:
Wow, would you be able to tell if someone slipped a pea under those cushions somewhere? :D

OP, are you riding on carpet with padding? My KK sounds like it would produce some vibration at high speeds because of a slight wheel hop that I seem to have, but it's sitting on a slab in my basement. If you have carpet, a suggestion might be to set the trainer on a piece of plywood, on the carpet, to keep the feet away from the sub-flooring itself.
 
frenchyge said:
OP, are you riding on carpet with padding? My KK sounds like it would produce some vibration at high speeds because of a slight wheel hop that I seem to have, but it's sitting on a slab in my basement. If you have carpet, a suggestion might be to set the trainer on a piece of plywood, on the carpet, to keep the feet away from the sub-flooring itself.
I tried putting a folded up towel under the rear feet but it didn't help.
The plywood sounds like a good idea. I'll give it a try.
 
It's been awhile since my apartment days, but the elderly lady who lived below reported me to the super because of my trainer. I was jacked, but I had someone pedal while I was in her apartment and could see why she complained-- it was loud! Whoop, Whoop, Whoop . . .

I had a couple of those drop celing tiles laying around and put them under a sheet of plywood. I also ended up bolting the trainer to the plywood and it ended up looking just like the support that racermate describes for the computrainer. Aside from the noise, it was much more stable and I still use the plywood today in my basement.

I didn't have to resort to Pogata's measures.
 
Pureshot78 said:
I tried putting a folded up towel under the rear feet but it didn't help.
The plywood sounds like a good idea. I'll give it a try.
Yeah, a towel won't help because the feet still sink right to the flooring and transmit the vibration directly.

You need a large, rigid surface that will distribute your weight over a wider area and hopefully prevent any hard contact with the sub-flooring. The whole thing needs to 'float' on the carpet and/or padding, which won't transmit the vibrations. If you can't find a piece of plywood, then a hard book under each support of the trainer might also work to distribute the load.
 
I have a Fluid2 and had complaints from the downstairs neighbor. I bought a cyclops mat AND went to a flooring specialist to buy the most expensive vibration/sound proof carpet underlay. It is a black latex foam.

No problems...so far.
 
Spunout said:
I have a Fluid2 and had complaints from the downstairs neighbor. I bought a cyclops matQUOTE]

I am also using the cyclops mat to keep the sweat off the carpet, and i'm going to try the plywood method.

Frenchy, would it matter a great deal if i got two seperate pieces of plywood to go under the front and back wheel vs. a piece more like the size of the cycleops mat?

My concern is that I don't want to have a big piece of plywood hanging out in my apartment if i need to store the trainer, but if a piece just large enough to cover the legs of the trainer doesn't reduce the vibrations enough, then i've just wasted my time and money. :)
 
Pureshot78 said:
Frenchy, would it matter a great deal if i got two seperate pieces of plywood to go under the front and back wheel vs. a piece more like the size of the cycleops mat?

My concern is that I don't want to have a big piece of plywood hanging out in my apartment if i need to store the trainer, but if a piece just large enough to cover the legs of the trainer doesn't reduce the vibrations enough, then i've just wasted my time and money. :)
Bigger is better, but it'll take about 34" x 22" just to cover the trainer legs alone. For a 200lb rider + bike, 60% rear weight + 25lb trainer, that's 145 lbs on the rear support, and 80lb on the front. 145lb supported on the 748 sq. inch plywood is about 3 oz per sq. inch. Unless you have a tight-loop carpet, that should be fine.

For the front you'll want at least 20" x 20" to match. Get at least 5/8" plywood (or particle board), to make sure it's rigid enough to evenly distribute the weight. Good luck. :)
 
Here's an idea...

How about hanging it off the ceiling beams? The neighbour upstairs would just blame their upstairs neighbour and would never think of you below. :D
 
sogood said:
Here's an idea...

How about hanging it off the ceiling beams? The neighbour upstairs would just blame their upstairs neighbour and would never think of you below. :D
Some people already see the indoor trainer as a torture device... I don't want to make it any more obvious. :D
 
On the rare occasion I do ride indoors, I can only use my rollers for a light spin as anything approaching a sensible power output really gets the vibrations happening on my wooden floors. It's almost like a standing wave starts up - to the extent that the furniture moves about and I have plates, glasses and kitchen pantry items crashing down!

It's sitting on a thickish foam base but clearly that's not enough:eek:
 

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