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Who rides a rocker plate?

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Who rides a rocker plate?

Old 12-05-21, 12:15 AM
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AdkMtnMonster
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Who rides a rocker plate?

Who rides on some form of rocker plate? I built one with radiused rockers, using low pressure inflated 5” dodge balls for springs/bumpers. Works great. I’m working on a full fore/aft slide with left/right rocker that will hopefully get assembled in early January. The enhanced motion of my current rocker has really made indoor riding much more comfortable.
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Old 12-05-21, 11:54 PM
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Pic or it didn't happen
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Old 12-06-21, 06:10 AM
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unterhausen
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I built one with linear bearings and it's a lot more comfortable. The one area of disappointment is that I feel too unstable on it to do any really hard efforts. I probably will come up with some kind of lockout for the rocking. Other people report this not being a problem or even say their max power is more with a rocker plate, so ymmv
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Old 12-06-21, 07:50 AM
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I'm on a homebuilt that a friend recently helped me with. It looks nice but it's certainly nothing fancy as it uses hinges for the rocking motion and tennis balls for resistance. I am liking it, so far. As we all know, you're never going to get that real-life feel out of it but I do appreciate the movement that comes with it. Just having that extra freedom makes a big difference as opposed to being locked in rigidly.
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Old 12-06-21, 10:03 AM
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I made a rocker plate with linear bearings soon after purchasing an interactive trainer, replacing an old hydraulic unit. The lateral motion adds significantly more seat comfort for longer rides but I only notice fore/aft movement on standing efforts. I'm a little short of 150 lbs, heavier, more powerful riders may notice more fore/aft motion. All in all, the feeling is significantly closer to real bike feel, especially when standing.
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Old 12-07-21, 10:05 AM
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Rocker plate parts.

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Old 12-07-21, 10:13 AM
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I cut the rockers with a router using a jig I built for that purpose. I cut dados in the base to attach them to the bottom, glued & screwed. I mounted bar clamps to hold my Kickr, inflated 5” dodge balls to keep it centered and act as springs. Just add Watts.

The linear rod version will be full length to out the whole bike on it. Cutting it @ my brother’s machine shop on Jan 8th, 2022, when we both finally have the same day available to get together. Can’t wait!
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Old 12-07-21, 10:53 AM
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I made a full size one, using vibration mounts and playground balls, it's pretty nice... done some 5+ hour rides and didn't die so I got that going for me.
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Old 03-07-23, 05:17 AM
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How did you figure out the curve for the rockers? I've got in my head that it should be calculated to try and mimic some pivot point where the cranks are like the Rockr Pod Lite or Rockr Axis.
The internet hasn't told me how to do it yet and actually trying to figure it out makes my head hurt
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Old 03-07-23, 07:15 AM
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I keep wanting to build one, but it keeps moving down on my priority list as each weekend something new gets added to the "honey-do" list.
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Old 03-07-23, 04:16 PM
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I replaced the playground balls on mine with Pilates balls and it feels a lot more stable. It gives more of an exponential resistance. Once you get off to the side to the point where you don't want to tilt any more, it offers a lot of resistance. I could never get the playground balls to feel that way. I may have mentioned it in this thread, but my rocker has more space between plates than the ones where people use 20mm linear bearings. I have always assumed this is why I couldn't adjust the playground balls to feel safe. I used these, they are really floppy when they aren't between the plates of my rocker https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077QD9TFF/

It feels a lot more like riding a bike now.
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Old 03-12-23, 09:17 AM
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I've been doing a lot of work indoors lately after picking up a Stages SB20 during the sale they had. I've been doing a TrainingPeaks base building plan I bought and the longer endurance sessions without bike movement definitely have brought some soreness that I never got riding outdoors. 4 hours on the trainer with no movement is vastly different than being on my bike for 4 hours.

I went down a rabbit hole trying to find a rocker plate that fit my bike. Most of the rocker plate designs out there have the narrower front end but the feet of the SB20 are similar to a Peloton bike where a rectangular shape is what would work the best.

I found two companies that make rocker plates that fit the SB20:

Rocker plate Banana Stages SB 20

The Realplate Spin React Stealth

I went with the The Realplate Spin React Stealth after confirming with Turbo Rocks that the platform fits the SB20. It checks all the boxes for what I want including that is has some front to back movement as well.

Yes, I know I could have DIY something, but I just bought a house and I have so many projects and anxieties right now that I just don't have the time or mental capacity. I'm really looking forward to some added comfort to the indoor rides as its been a great training tool especially with how crazy the weather has been in California.
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