Hi,
the indoor season is coming and thanks to Pav I’m a lot fitter now and the sessions will get longer. Right now, I have a fixed trainer but I wonder if one of those rocker plates or a trainder with a bit of flex (like Tacx) or a lot of flex (like Oreka) would make long indoor sessions more comfortable. Has anyone here tried one of those and can give me a report how it went?
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Great question! I know that @Kicikacsa experimented with this for a while. @DavePhilipp also has a rocker plate. Hopefully they can help 
I bought one to try and liven up long winter sessions. It made a huge difference. I would highly recommend them. It also takes some of the stress off your frame if you are out of the saddle or doing big efforts. This was important for me as I broke a seat stay on a Cervelo R5 doing seated sprints. Ultimately it helped me to a virtual Everest so nothing but praise.
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I too bought a rocker plate to be less static on the bike on longer indoor sessions. It definitely makes a bit of a difference to me, but truth be told I still find riding indoors for too long uncomfortable… It’s definitely an improvement and was worth it for me as I got one on sale as well.
Worth visiting some common second hand sites as lots of people but them through the COVID indoor craze and are now realising that nature has a rocker plate built in 
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The rocker plate was not my only enabler for really long rides inside. Good fans and discovering Infinity Bike Seats were the other ones.
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Good fans are absolutely key. I got one with a remote control which is nice because I can start the session without freezing and turn it up when it get’s hard.
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Crazy price, but I love the Wahoo Headwind fan. They actually have nailed the experience of a head wind with this!
Also second @Kicikacsa’s comment re Infinity - game changer!!
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I don’t have adjustable fans, but usually warm up wearing a gilet instead.
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I splurged on the Wahoo Headwind fan as well when they had a sale going. Definitely pricey, but for as much use as I get out of it I felt it was worth it. For trainer sessions, I pair it to my HR monitor so that it adjusts the speed based on how hard I’m working. I definitely see it being a nice feature when it starts getting colder in the morning and I don’t want to feel the blast of cold air while warming up that I’ll want later in the workout.
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Ordered a rocker plate a while ago. Send it back pretty much after two rides. It moves the wrong way (could explain the physics there …), utterly confusing. Friend of mine loves it, but more for the fact that he can move his setup around, out of the way. Ended up getting the Waahoo mat instead. Observation was that the discomfort was triggered by the vibrations that did not get dampened by the concrete floor. Had also tried the Sterzo steering thingy, went also back … Had also ordered the Headwind unit. Great idea again, but you cannot adjust the angle, which does not make it work well together with the desk I am using. Pawned that one off to my wife for her occasional Peleton ride.
So the moral of this long story, tried a lot of things, but the most basic ones worked best for me.
What I found however more important than all of this riffraff is to have a good set of sweat proof headphones, a few good playlists, and perhaps a tablet to watch a movie or a show.
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Be interested to know if anybody has built a DIY rocker plate, i like a project and hate spending the money 
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I keep looking at making one just haven’t had the time as yet to pull all the bits together and do it.
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I keeping looking at them but considering I can’t ride much currently or push much power I’ve not taken the plunge. I also keep looking at building one for myself easy enough to do and plenty of plans around online.
Good fans yes fans multiple are a great investment. Remote ones are good but I also use smart plug sockets and I can turn them on or off via Alexa. So you don’t freeze at the start or over heat later.
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If you do this, please post your journey on this!!
I’ve built two, happy to chat if you’re still thinking about making one… cost me about $100 in plywood + hardware. I’m actually in the middle or revamping one of them to fit my new Kickr Bike (was originally built for the Kickr Core).
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That’s pretty cool. Do you have the designs/instructions you could email me please Dalton?
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Ha! As if I was an engineer and took perfect notes 
… I do not. BUT, I’d be happy to take some measurements and draft up some sketches with an attached BOM. I’d be able to include “lessons learned” too… like use thicker plywood. Give me a few weeks and I’ll mock something up!
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Nice one!! Thank you so much
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here is the link I have saved on Rocker Plates
Hopefully it works.
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