caveworks exists because we wanted an indoor riding experience that wasn't an exercise in "good enough," and we couldn't find it anywhere else. We were tired of destroying our outdoor bikes indoors, frustrated with moving bikes on and off of the trainer, and skeptical of outdoor bikes' abilities to withstand (or simply perform well under) the unique loads associated with indoor riding.

Oh, and because dedicated indoor bikes are absurdly expensive, pretty cheaply made, incompatible with industry-standard parts, and big, heavy, and hard to store.

We started caveworks because we thought all of this was easily solvable. Our answer, and our first offering: the caveworks RIVET.

And a bonus: switching to the caveworks RIVET offers you a chance to return your outdoor bikes to their natural habitat, tuned and ready to go whenever adventure calls.

Want to dig a little deeper?

Some thoughts from the founder:

Point #1: Indoor riding has a valuable role to play for many of us, maybe for all of us.

• When it comes to indoor cycling, there are converts and purists:
• The converts are cyclists who are already fully convinced that indoor riding can be an engaging, useful, and fun experience unto itself, rather than just a mind-numbing means to an outdoor end (as it once was).
• The purists are cyclists who struggle with the indoor idea, or reject it outright...fundamentally, bikes are about exploring the outdoors, efficiently moving fast, and being free, right? So, isn't there something heretical about indoor cycling?
• I began as a purist and found my way to being a convert. Why? Because I need to make a living doing something other than riding bikes, but riding bikes is still the thing that most defines how I want to live.
• I wanted to keep enjoying big days out on the bike, to push hard, and to take on challenges. With a "real" job and a growing family, these Type II pleasures -- the solitary, restorative journeys into dark places, and the joys of competition -- began slipping away.
• These basic demands of life, which so many share, meant I couldn't dedicate the time this sport requires; I could accommodate neither volume nor consistency.
• Riding became less pleasant because I was chronically underprepared physiologically for my increasingly rare adventures on the bike.
• Advances in indoor cycling -- smart trainers, engaging virtual platforms -- offered me a lifeline; a use-it-when-you-can chance to claw back a bit of fitness, and the possibility of setting my sights on hard goals and big days once again.
• In short, I adopted indoor cycling as a means to an outdoor end.
• But then, I discovered the community, the engaging ride feel in the virtual world, and the fun of a new competitive frontier.
• Now, I ride indoors regularly, and I look forward to it. I do it to use my limited time more efficiently, to structure training well (particularly Z2, which I struggle to adhere to outdoors), to enjoy social events on riding platforms, and just because it's fun.
• These things are true for a lot of us already, and so many of us know first-hand that indoor training can significantly improve fitness and quality of cycling life, including for the purists at heart.

Point #2: Using outdoor bikes indoors comes with too many problems.

The indoor setting -- the pain cave -- is a hostile environment. Outdoor bikes are designed for the outdoors. Unsurprisingly, there is a long list of things that are less than ideal when it comes to riding outdoor bikes indoors:

• There are many features of outdoor bikes that serve no purpose indoors (headsets, brakes, and front wheels, for example).
• Nearly all outdoor bike parts, whether they are useful or useless indoors, are expensive, finicky, and not prepared for the gauntlet of sweat to which indoor riding subjects them. Corrosion is fancy-bike kryptonite.
• Until recently, no outdoor bike was designed for (or tested against) the unique loads to which it is subjected when indoor riding forces are applied. Some still are not. These loads are very different from riding outdoors. At best, an outdoor bike could be mechanically inefficient on the indoor trainer. At worst, it could break.
• Transition time can be extremely frustrating.
• Aforementioned life responsibilities can push the start of your ride right down to the wire. In these cases, making a scheduled indoor event (a group ride, a race, etc.) on time means the indoor setup needs to be ready to go. Right now.
• Sometimes life surprises you with a free hour or two and beautiful weather. Taking advantage of an unexpected weather/availability window means the outdoor bike needs to be ready to go. Right now.
• If your riding setups are not ready to go, then these opportunities will be frustratingly eroded by setup and adjustment time. This is deeply uncool.
• Transitions also cross-contaminate drivetrains. When you ride outside, then bring that bike over to your indoor trainer, you bring all the particulate matter on your chain to your indoor cassette. This is also deeply uncool.
• Before smart trainers and platforms, training indoors was something to minimize. The suffering was more psychological than physical.
• A simple attachment to our outdoor bikes, like the old wheel-on trainers or a set of rollers, did the job.
• But the quality of the indoor experience has completely changed, and it is normal for riders to spend significant time training indoors.
• The outdoor bike is a vestige of the prior indoor paradigm...a carryover that is now in need of refinement.

Point #3: These outdoor bike problems are easily solved, and the result can be a beautiful, affordable, highly functional, gimmick-free machine that fits neatly into the pain cave environment and sets outdoor bikes free to once again focus on what they do best.

I designed the caveworks RIVET because it's the solution I wanted, and because I couldn't find it anywhere else. I'm making it available because others likely recognize the same problems I did. If that's you, then I hope the caveworks RIVET treats you as well as it has treated me. Happy riding, all.