While the SurfShelf has been designed to fit 99% of the treadmills, stationary exercise bikes and elliptical trainers, stair masters, etc. known to man, there are unfortunately a few machines that it will not fit.
We don’t want to sell you anything that won’t work perfectly for you, so please skim the section below to make sure you don’t have one of the few machines that don’t work with the SurfShelf.
First Criteria: The stationary exercise machine must have an unobstructed console to place the SurfShelf on. There are a couple of elliptical trainers that have “handle-bars” directly in front of their consoles that block the installation of the SurfShelf.
If the handle-bars are wider than 14 inches then they ARE NOT a problem as the SurfShelf will fit between them.
Here is an elliptical trainer that has narrow front handle-bars that block the SurfShelf:
Elliptical with front handle-bars
Second Criteria: The stationary exercise machine must have a control console near the level of where you would want your laptop to be. The reason for this is simply that the SurfShelf rests on the face of control console.
For instance, here is an exercise bike with a low console that will not work well with the SurfShelf:
Third Criteria: The exercise machine control console must be large enough to support the SurfShelf (and your laptop). This is a difficult criteria to define because with smaller consoles, the shape of the console is also very important. Sometimes extremely small consoles will work fine if shaped properly, so if you think your console is too small, please contact me with your make/model number and I’ll look into it for you personally.
For instance, this this console is really small AND rounded which makes it a little difficult to hook onto:
Bike with small and rounded console
Fourth Criteria: The control console needs to be at an angle greater than ~35 degrees with respect to the ground. Control consoles have different angles and the SurfShelf tray is adjustable to fit most of them (so that the tray is always horizontal). However, if the control console is too horizontal, the SurfShelf tray does not have a wide enough setting and the tray will stick up at a slight angle.
There is a solution for this that some of our customers have suggested and successfully employed, but I must admit that it was not a part of our original design. Several customers have used a rolled up hand towel placed under the top of the SurfShelf back plate (right behind where the straps come out of the top) to act as a wedge. By supporting the back plate at a greater angle, the wedge allows the tray to be set at a horizontal setting.
Here is a review of the SurfShelf from Home-Gym-Bodybuilding.com who employed this technique and absolutely loves it. He shows pictures as well so you can see exactly how it works.
If you think your treadmill has a control console that is at a 35 degree angle or less, please contact me with your treadmill make/model number and I’ll look into it for you personally. Thanks!
Here is a picture of a treadmill that has a control console that is at a low angle.