Apartment Training

Equipment
1

I live in an apartment, and use a cheap and dirty tacx flux. Aka not known for its quietness.

The noise is actually fine on the same level, what is loud is the vibrations through the floor. I’ve seen some people use rubber mat type things kind of what you see at gyms. Do these make a difference?

TIA

2

I use a mat. Not sure how much of a difference it makes but I’ve never had a complaint. Definitely feels like it dampens the vibrations.

3

I got myself a cheap first gen Elite Muin and speed and cadence sensors for Virtual Power.
I can only see the 2nd gen now which has the sensors built in https://www.ebay.com/itm/Elite-Muin-Smart-turbo-trainer-Almost-unmarked-No-cassette-attached/114364976290?hash=item1aa0af0ca2:g:odIAAOSwOD1fPRDn

4

I bought some mats designed for washing machines to sit my trainer on and spoke to the guy in the apartment below me to let me know if he could ever hear anything. He’s not complained once.

In a previous building (without the mats) I got a letter from the council informing me to stop making excessive noise!

5 Likes
5

I recently started to train upstairs in my apartment (house is pre-WW1, so there’s little insulation and sound travels quite easily). I found an old NYCC post describing using GreenGlue in a “sandwich” of plywood. I built the platform, as described with:

  • Trainer Mat or yoga mat (~$20)
  • 6 pieces of 2’x4’ plywood, 1/2" thick (~$110)
  • 2 tubes of GreenGlue (~$60)
  • 100pk of 3/4" wood screws (~$8)
  • Closed cell rubber sheet (~$50)

$250 seems like a lot, but I rent an apartment, I like my neighbors, and I prefer not to worry about the noise. Plus, when the wife and I buy a house, there’s no guarantee we’ll have a room where noise isn’t a concern. I just tested it today and it does an impressive job. I use an Elite Direto which while not the loudest trainer is not known for being particularly quiet; we could barely hear anything in the room directly below where I was set up. Our neighbor actually didn’t notice, we went down and asked to test it out.

3 Likes
6

I took a couple of those workout floor squares and cut them up into 1/4s

2 peices on the floor
sheet of mdf
2 pieces on mdf
sheet of mdf
trainer sits on top of that.

Super quiet

7

I use this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PB71FSI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 with a regular thin trainer mat on top as an extra (and disposable) sweat barrier over carpet. I have used a first gen kicker, neo and a neo 2T and have never had any complaints. I start most of my riding at 5:30 am, so if I was waking people up, I’m positive they’d let me know.

8

Probably not enough
You will probably hear the noise of the trainer when you push hard.

4iiii makes the most silent trainer on the market.
It may or may not fit our needs (or budget). But if silence on a reasonable budget is your aim, 4iiii is what you are looking for.

9

I live in an apartment, and here is what I did:

  • I got a dumb fluid direct drive trainer rather than a smart, wheel-on trainer. But any trainer will emit some vibrations. On modern trainers, the audibly loudest bit will be your drivetrain. But what tends to get transmitted are low-frequency vibrations.
  • I bought a trainer mat, foam tiles (about 2 cm thick), carpet tiles and three small cutting boards.
  • I put the foam tiles on the bottom, then put the trainer mat on top. The three feet of the trainer rest on a sandwich made of small cutting boards and carpet tiles. So the layering, top-to-bottom is foam tiles, trainer mat, cutting boards, carpet tiles, feet of my trainer.

The carpet tiles block a lot of the vibrations. The cutting boards distribute the weight over a larger area, which prevents the feet from sinking in and making the trainer mat and carpet tiles ineffective at blocking sounds and vibrations. The next two layers, trainer mat and foam tiles, block low-frequency vibrations.

The whole setup was very cheap:

  • I got the carpet tiles and foam tiles from the dollar store (the 100 ¥ store to be precise).
  • I got 3 cutting boards for $5 each.
  • The trainer mat cost about $30–$40. (I recently replaced my old one, because it acquired an unpleasant aroma.)