Guys, I am in the luxurious situation to install a brand new pain cave for me in the near future. I am ruminating to switch to a Kickr Bike and I definitely will go big screen, i.e. replace the old computer monitor with a TV set. However, while thinking about it I just find myself wandering where to place the screen in terms of position in relation to my position on the bike. Is there any suggestions especially from the coaches or anyone with expertise in orthopedics. I could place it on the wall more or less in height of my head on the bike to mimic an outside head position. At the same time we all know that the cycling position isn’t any good for neck and upper back. So placing it way more downwards would allow for a neutral head and neck position with a good sight to the whole screen when on the bike.
Has anyone experimented different screen positions and could provide any first hand experience and suggestions?
My inclination would be to put it on a stand that would allow adjusting the distance, height, and angle of the screen. This gives a lot of flexibility and the ability to reposition it from time to time depending on the situation. Something like this: Amazon.com
On your bike’s stem, surely?!
I prefer a lower height myself.
I had a wall mounted 40” screen with the bottom just touching the top of a kitchen table.
I’d prefer a bit lower but the table came in handy for stuff like my MacBook.
An adjustable set up is best, but I agree that in general, lower is better.
My tv is about 1 m/39 inches in front of my bike and the top of the tv is about 20 cm/8 inches higher than my bars. This feels good on my trainer, but admittedly it’s a bit low when I ride my rollers. If you mount it too low then you might reinforce bad posture (sagging shoulders, badly arched bac). Too high and you are forced to ride with straight arms all the time (not aero, weight too far back).
A friend of mine had a new house built recently with a custom workout room. The tv is mounted about 5 feet high on the wall… basically useless. Might as well just hang a picture.
I like higher up like that for Couchlandrian viewing parties but for SUF and such, I like the screen to simulate where my head/neck/eyes would be outdoors to minimize strain and maximize power
I have accidentally experimented with screen height by using different cube shelves purchased from Target.
At first I had a handlebar phone mount. But I would sweat on that too much. Then I would use my laptop and had it approximately 2.5ft high in my garage on a portable table and that was good. Almost dead ahead of me.
Then I moved inside on top of an 3x2 cube shelf and 3ft was the new height and that worked too, tho it did seem a bit high a first but I got used to it and it worked fine. Still felt almost dead ahead of me.
I then got a new shelf (4x2 cube shelf) that was about 4ft high. That was too high and felt like I had to crane my neck to look up too much. And when I was doing an intense interval I would stare at the bottom of the screen or just below and that wasn’t ideal.
So then changed the orientation of my cubes and dropped it down to 2ft high where it is now. I thought it would be nice to look slightly downward at it. But that is too low and causes me neck pain from longer rides from having to hold my head up as it’s too far forward while looking down.
So my future plan is to move it up again to between 2.5 and 3ft so my head and neck are more neutral and looking straight ahead. That will hopefully also will give me benefit of space for my fan to be underneath my screen pointing up at me instead of being off to the side.
We have a PC connected to our AV receiver that feeds our 100" TV. The screen bottom is 3 feet off the floor, and my saddle is about 3-1/2 feet high, but 25 feet away, so my neck angle is just about the same as when riding outdoors.
Congratulations on having the opportunity to use a larger screen than a laptop or tablet. I use a 38" flat screen with my Kickr and it really does make the experience more immersive.
The base of the TV is on a table 39" from the floor, about 3" below the stem of my bike. The table is just in front of the front wheel of the bike. This works well for me. I suspect that some experimentation will be necessary depending on rider height.
Another observation that you may find useful; my ca. 2010 Sony Bravia TV sometimes does not show the the full image; see an earlier post of mine about this. To be sure that I see the full image, I make sure that the TV is connected to the laptop via HDMI before starting the Systm app and I don’t use full-screen mode (Windows icons are visible across the bottom of the screen). Of course, newer TVs may have more efficient communication with attached computers, so perhaps this won’t be an issue for you.
For what it’s worth, I’m currently using a 28” screen that’s about 3 feet in front of my bike. And I definitely plan to move it higher than its current 2ft height.
We opted for an adjustable rolling stand. Our pain cave includes: Stages SB20, tandem on a Wahoo Kickr Snap, treadmill, rowing machine, elliptical, treadmill, and more. We have these arranged in a semi-circle facing the TV on a rolling adjustable stand. We can rotate the TV towards any workout we happen to be doing, raise or lower it accordingly. It is versatile and works for us.
I got a 43"samsung hybrid smart tv/monitor for cheapish on sale after the old 55" plasma tv died after 13 years. It lives on an old tv stand about 5 feet away from the bike…mainly so my wife can watch soccer/sports from the peloton.
I prefer a slight downward angle so that as I’m suffering, I dont have to strain my neck too much. This leads to a few days of a sore neck once outside bike season comes around in the spring…
I have a monster 54" wall mounted in my garage (a chance luxury, dont ask). What I have found with bigger screens is you need to get the lower edge much much lower than you would forna smaller screen. Screen centre should ideally be just below eye level when youre on the bike. If like me the lowest height of your tv is set by the table below it and the wall studs, my recommendation is to set the bike much further away from the tv. The closer you are, the lower it needs to be.
Distance between you and your screen definitely makes a difference. My screen is just 2’ up and too close to that I’m looking at too much of a downward angle. If it was further away it wouldn’t be as much of a problem for sure.
You Americans and your massive houses! 