I am moving to a new place at the end of August and I will have an extra bedroom that I can construct the pain cave in. The only issue is that the floor is carpet and its the soft longer kind so I am wondering if stability on the trainer will be an issue (or even annoying at the least).
Does anyone have any suggestions with a route to go to lay down an area for my bike? I was thinking of looking into weight lifting floor mats. Anyone have any luck with these or anything else?
A local CT studio near me made support bases for their CTs out of 4x8 and 2x4s, which seem to work well. They said they did it in an afternoon. It also lets you build in a custom laptop/HBC/phone/TV remote holder as well so that your laptop is close enough to use, but not in the sweaty firing line.
Also, it probably depends on the trainer. Something with a very wide, square frame like a CompuTrainer will probably do fine (mine is actually half on carpet, half off), but a less-wide trainer will need more support.
As someone who rides on hardwood I can tell you that you’re going to want to put something underneath you to protect the carpet from sweat. On wood flooring I use some old towels but I can’t imagine what carpet would smell like after an hour on the trainer.
For stability I’d imagine some thickish plywood and then an exercise/gym mat would be good. I can’t imagine just the mat being stable enough.
As someone who rides on hardwood I can tell you that you’re going to want to put something underneath you to protect the carpet from sweat. On wood flooring I use some old towels but I can’t imagine what carpet would smell like after an hour on the trainer.
For stability I’d imagine some thickish plywood and then an exercise/gym mat would be good. I can’t imagine just the mat being stable enough.
Good call. I see you can get some pretty thick mats but end up paying for it.
The only issue is that the floor is carpet and its the soft longer kind so I am wondering if stability on the trainer will be an issue (or even annoying at the least).I am guessing the static build up might get pretty lethal and you definitely want to make sure you are well grounded when you finish riding.
The only issue is that the floor is carpet and its the soft longer kind so I am wondering if stability on the trainer will be an issue (or even annoying at the least).I am guessing the static build up might get pretty lethal and you definitely want to make sure you are well grounded when you finish riding.
Definite ditto on the sweat issue, and I would add that you also have some sort of catch for rubber shreds off the back tire, whether it be an extension of your support or something else.
Apparently this is the question of the day! Horse mats are the go to.
Other then the weight as mentioned in the linked thread it really is fantastic. Getting it out of my wagon and into my house by myself was not fun, luckily I didn’t have to go up stairs.
Finally joined so I could reply to this so I don’t know the pic posting rules… but here’s a pic of it setup in a link.
Got permission from my property manager to roll the carpet up so it is all just on bare concrete, with the weight though it would be very firm over carpet.
you could buy a box of laminate flooring panels, they are say 10 inches wide and 3 feet long, so make a platform by snapping 10 together and your trainer won’t sink in. I’d also place a towel or mat under where I sweat. Just a mat over carpet might be too squishy
I ride a Cycleops Fluid 2, so nothing special, and I’ve hit big watt sprint numbers on it with no issues. Not too sure why you would need anything thicker- those mats are more to withstand dropping dumbbells, 500lb weight machines, etc.
I just use a beach towel. You should put something down if you are riding on carpet because over time, you will get stuff on the carpet otherwise. Stuff does comes off your bike (chain oil, dirt from outdoor rides, etc), tire (tread bits - very nasty on carpet) and you (sweat, dropped food and drink, etc). Its minimal or even nonexistent on any one ride, save disaster, but, it does add up over time. If you ride your trainer in the same spot day after day for a long time, a carpeted floor under it will start to look like crap eventually.
Unless the carpet and pad are really thick, stability should not be an issue.