sdimattia

I live in an old apartment building (thin walls, thin wood floors). I need to get a trainer mat to use under my Wahoo Kickr snap that'll dampen most of the vibrations. I'm looking at this one from Home Depot: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rubber-C...W-46/304106363

Is there a specific thickness I should be building up to or is 3/4" a good place to start? Any highlights of other people's setups they might recommend?

Steel Charlie

My old turbo trainer sits on a shop mat thing from Harbour Freight. Super cheap, works great, and seems to last forever.

rumrunn6

waking up the neighbors downstairs?

Barry2 

My Wahoo Kickr Bike sits on 4 layers of the same HF mat.
Not for noise... Poor mans wobble board.

Barry

sdimattia

I haven't set the trainer up yet. I'm hoping to avoid waking the neighbors as their bedroom is literally right below mine, which is where the trainer will be. Small apartment, only place that'll work. The upside is, I get to fall asleep looking at my bike.

sdimattia

I'm less worried about the noise than I am the vibration, which, I guess is noise. But if I can dampen the vibration for the downstairs neighbor and only potentially annoy the next door neighbor with the regular freewheel and trainer noises, I'm happy with that. I'll bake them cookies if it becomes an issue . . .

Camilo

Be a nice neighbor.

jaxgtr

I always had more noise from the fan's than I did the Kickr. I was able to pick up a Wahoo mat for $35 from someone that got rid of their trainer and while they are a little pricey for what they are, it is a nice mat.

sdimattia

I'm thinking I might do the 3/4" rubber with a trainer or yoga mat on top of that. Start from there, see how it goes. Maybe I'll turn the whole space into a rubber room.

nomadmax 

horse stall mat

terrymorse 

If reducing vibration into the floor were important, I would place the trainer on some 3/4" plywood, with a foam sheet underneath.

The feet of the trainer are point sources for vibration transmission, so only the foam under the feet are working to dampen that vibration. By placing the trainer on plywood, much more of the foam is absorbing the energy.

An alternative to a foam sheet are vibration isolation pads. Four of these on the corners of the plywood sheet ought to work rather well:

Pearwow Anti Vibration Pads 4" X 4" X 7/8" Rubber & Cork Vibration Isolation Pads, Reduce Noise and Vibration,4 Pack

Calsun

I would buy one of the many anti-fatigue mats for sale.
https://www.amazon.com/Exchange-MaxC...2s9dHJ1ZQ&th=1

But be careful as some of the black rubber ones can leave a residue and marks behind on the floor. Check the low ratings reviews to see if this is mentioned.

sdimattia

This is absolutely fantastic! I will definitely get some on order, thanks. It's a 2'x6' space so I think I'll order 2 packs.

I'll check this out, thanks.

sdimattia

I've got all my bits ordered. Will post pictures of the setup when all arrives in the next week or so. Mother is coming to visit next week so I probably won't get to it as soon as I get all the parts. Thanks everyone for your recommendations.

sdimattia

Got it all set up; anti vibration feet, 3/4” ply, and a 3/4” rubber mat. Definitely seems to cut down the floor vibrations by more than half. If I rotate the pedal and put my ear on the floor, it’s a very low hum. Now it’s just the noise of the trainer spinning.

rsbob 

Nice work! Now you will just have to worry about when the bearings go south.

sdimattia

When they do, I'll add it to the list of things I need to fix . . .

Camilo

did you ask your neighbors if you're bothering them? Just curious how well it's working for their ears.
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Polaris OBark

Just tell them you are running a brothel.

sdimattia

Ironically, my downstairs neighbor has been away for the past two weeks. Not sure when they're coming back. I think my cat makes more noise when she gets the zoomies though than the trainer does.

I'm going to check in with them when they get back. Will let you know.

Kat12

FWIW... my upstairs neighbor has a trainer bike in his bedroom (I almost said "our" bedroom since the walls/floors are so thin here that privacy is not always guaranteed), and I doubt he has much, if anything, in the way of a mat. I can hear it a bit (so can the guy next door)-- which is how I know he has it-- but it's not a huge deal. (I'd far rather hear the bike than him dropping things, rolling his office chair around like it's the Oregon Trail (he also happens to have his work setup right above mine), trip-trapping around with shoes on, and he used to slam heavy stuff around on Sunday mornings like he was setting up heavy wooden boxes but thank heaven he doesn't do that anymore.)


WIll you talk to my upstairs neighbor? LOL


Haha! I believe that. I often know what my next-door neighbor's cat is up to... (I once joked, when I lived in an upstairs wood-floors apartment with my cat, that if she didn't knock it off late at night the neighbors were going to report us for an illicit cat-racing operation... {I would've felt bad about it, except the people below us were jerks with kids always screaming, having temper tantrums, running across the floors, etc. Yes, you would not believe how loud that was UPSTAIRS...})

SpedFast

My bad, I should have looked closer before opening mouth and inserting foot. Hope it's working out for you.

sdimattia

Fun story, the downstairs neighbor is hard of hearing and had no idea what I was talking about. The next door neighbor said she didn't really notice the rumble of the trainer or the zippy sound of the hub so I seem to have lucked out. Enjoy the summer riding.