Concept2 Forum

I recently purchased a Concept2 Model D rower and a pair of slides to mount it on. I received and assembled it, and although it seems to work fine, one of the slides is off-center. Without any weight on it, the slide floats with about 17.75 inches of space on the front side and 19.75 inches on the back side. This causes the rowing machine to sit further forward, and if I put my other slide 18.5 inches away, it is pulled up by the off-center slide, making my entire erg float about 2 inches too far forward. Is this of concern? Can I tighten something to make the machine rest more easily on my slides?

I'm not sure, but the way you describe it, your problem is that (a) the two slides are not properly spaced apart for your Model D erg and (b) one of the slides is not precisely aligned (lengthwise) with the other slide. Contact C2 and they will tell you exactly how far apart to install the two slides for the Model D. To align both slides lengthwise, use a long tape measure (or a long wood or metal pole), place it along the right and left sides of the two slides to make sure they are perfectly aligned. If they are not, adjust slide position until they are. That you solve your problems.

CStigler wrote:I recently purchased a Concept2 Model D rower and a pair of slides to mount it on. I received and assembled it, and although it seems to work fine, one of the slides is off-center. Without any weight on it, the slide floats with about 17.75 inches of space on the front side and 19.75 inches on the back side. This causes the rowing machine to sit further forward, and if I put my other slide 18.5 inches away, it is pulled up by the off-center slide, making my entire erg float about 2 inches too far forward. Is this of concern? Can I tighten something to make the machine rest more easily on my slides?

That happened to me. I had been using the slides for a little bit and they were Ok. Then I had them stored away (on their sides) for quite a while. When I set them up again, one of them was out of kilter. I found out that it had gotten off the track on one end, so I had to fiddle with it to get it back on the proper track again. It has been a while, so I don't remember the details, but it has worked fine ever since.

Bob S.

Sorry, I think I phrased my question badly. This isn't related to slide spacing. On one individual slide, with no other rower, other slide, or any weight attached, the little bracket thing doesn't center itself right. As in, the bungee cords that are supposed to center it instead pull it a little further forward of center. It's like it was just a little mis-calibrated at the factory or something. Can I adjust the bungee cords somehow, and if so, how should I do this (me adjusting things by myself with no advice always ends with something broken)?

JRBJR wrote:I'm not sure, but the way you describe it, your problem is that (a) the two slides are not properly spaced apart for your Model D erg and (b) one of the slides is not precisely aligned (lengthwise) with the other slide. Contact C2 and they will tell you exactly how far apart to install the two slides for the Model D. To align both slides lengthwise, use a long tape measure (or a long wood or metal pole), place it along the right and left sides of the two slides to make sure they are perfectly aligned. If they are not, adjust slide position until they are. That you solve your problems.

CStigler wrote:Sorry, I think I phrased my question badly. This isn't related to slide spacing. On one individual slide, with no other rower, other slide, or any weight attached, the little bracket thing doesn't center itself right. As in, the bungee cords that are supposed to center it instead pull it a little further forward of center. It's like it was just a little mis-calibrated at the factory or something. Can I adjust the bungee cords somehow, and if so, how should I do this (me adjusting things by myself with no advice always ends with something broken)?

Sorry. I misinterpreted your first message. It does sound as if it is just a matter of a slight difference in bungee tension. In my own case, I did a lot of bungee adjustment - more to accommodate my own technique - especially at very low stroke rates (like 12-15spm) than for anything else. I also did some shimming. This was in part to counteract the slope of my garage floor and in part to follow a recommendation to raise the far ends of the slides up a bit relative to the inner ends.

I also had an 18.5" square made of welded angle iron to use as a spacer between the slides. I just use 4 1.5" C-clamps to hold it all together. It would have been better to have used bolts, but I couldn't figure out any easy way to drill the necessary holes in the inner ends of the slide frames.

Bob S.

Added note: eventually one of the bungees died i.e. it lost its elasticity. I got a set of replacement bungees from C2 and was then on my own in installing the new bungees and adjusting their tensions.

Bob S.

If a slide is off center, then just move it one way or the other.
If it's floating, then that's cool. How did you get it to float? Can you get both slides to float?

This causes the rowing machine to sit further forward, and if I put my other slide 18.5 inches away, it is pulled up by the off-center slide, making my entire erg float about 2 inches too far forward. Is this of concern? Can I tighten something to make the machine rest more easily on my slides?

1) Before putting the erg on the slides, it is critical to make sure that each slide is level.
They do not have to be the same level as each other, but each individual slide does need to be level.
What I did was to lay a 4 foot level on the side edge of each slide, and put pieces of rubber under one end,
so that each slide would be level. The I duct taped two pieces of the rubber to the end of each slide.

2) To find the distance apart of the slides, set the erg beside the slides, and put the tracks the same distance apart as the feet on the erg. I think this makes the slides about 17" apart. This distance is not critical. The slides can be closer or farther than this. But having the tracks the same distance as the erg feet puts the least stress on the bungees. Again, this is not critical. In fact I think I placed the slides completely together for use with the modelB erg. Having the slides 17 or 18 inches apart will be fine for the CDE.

3) The slides should be lined up so that sighting down the side of one of them lines up perfectly with the other one.
Then set the erg on the slides. The tracks should now be perfectly balanced as you row, with the feet coming exactly the same distances from each end of the slides.

4) If the erg feet are still coming too close to one end, which is not likely at this point, raise up the end of the slide/s a little more where the feet are coming too close. This is NOT a matter of technique, but is totally a matter of the leveling of each slide. I put tape on the garage floor to mark the position of the slides, and hung them on the wall when not rowing. This way I could put the slides in exactly the same place each time.

I never tightened anything or adjusted any bungess. The slides always worked perfectly. One day I set them down and kept banging the ends. I was wondering what was happening, looked at the ends, and had set them up backwards, with the raise ends in back, where they were supposed to be in front where the floor was the lowest. I turned them around and the problem was resolved.

johnlvs2run wrote:
1) Before putting the erg on the slides, it is critical to make sure that each slide is level.

The Australians recommend elevating the far ends. A message to this forum quite some time ago specified exactly how many mm each end should be raised.

Bob S.

johnlvs2run wrote:
2) To find the distance apart of the slides, set the erg beside the slides, and put the tracks the same distance apart as the feet on the erg. I think this makes the slides about 17" apart. This distance is not critical. The slides can be closer or farther than this. But having the tracks the same distance as the erg feet puts the least stress on the bungees. Again, this is not critical. In fact I think I placed the slides completely together for use with the modelB erg. Having the slides 17 or 18 inches apart will be fine for the CDE.

The C2 website specifies 18.5"

Bob S.

Hm, thanks for the comments guys. To clarify, my erg is level and aligned pretty well if not perfectly -- I actually taped down Post-It notes on the ground at the corners so I could remember where to put the erg exactly 18.5" away. I have checked with a level both directions on both slides and it is always level (I also checked the erg monobar itself and that was not level, but I'm guessing that's the design of the machine).

I would like to adjust the bungee tensions, but I'm a little unclear on how to get it to work right. My initial thought was just to untie the knot and retie it further down the bungee. I tried this and it did indeed make the slide center itself. But unfortunately, it also made it so that the bungee was still tense even when it was "supposed" to be loose, i.e. when the machine was pushed towards its side. Am I missing something really simple here?

The erg does not need to be level. Each individual slide must be level.

CStigler wrote:one of the slides is off-center. Without any weight on it, the slide floats with about 17.75 inches of space on the front side and 19.75 inches on the back side

Ohh I see, you're talking about the tracks on the slides.

Well I think if you had done what I said in #2, that 1 inch would not be any problem.
Mine were probably off by that far, and it was no problem at all. In fact I never paid any attention to that.

However, if you want to make all the distances 18.75 inches to the tracks, then that "might" be okay.
Again, set the erg beside the slides, and align the slides so the tracks are lined up with the erg feet.
Then tape the floor and set the erg on the slides. Using an arbitrary number will not work as well.

Most important is that each individual slide is level. They do not need to be level in relation to each other.