unterhausen

I had an idea of how to implement zwift steering mechanically by measuring the angle of my rocker plate. It may be a horrible idea, but leaning is a significant part of how you steer a real bike.
I may also have to implement front wheel measurements. I have some GemII devices that send bluetooth and Ant+ messages.
So I went and looked at how zwift implements steering and found this video. There are github repro links in the comments. There is another video of how to 3d print a steering device.

himespau 

I do find myself leaning through turns a lot on my new rocker plate. Since I also use it to rock, I'm not sure I'd want that to control steering unless you could set it so that you'd only start steering if it was rocked to one side for more than 1s or something.

Speaking of steering and rocker plates, my Sterzo smart was sliding all around on my rocker plate. Right now, I've decreased that motion significantly by putting adhesive-backed velcro on the plate and the feet of the rocker, but it doesn't seem like a secure/permanent solution. Someone in Europe was selling essentially sockets that you could screw into the rocker plate and that the feet of the sterzo would fit inside, but they won't ship to the US (I've asked). Anybody have a solution that works for them?

unterhausen

How big are the feet? There are some rubber furniture pads that are supposed to go on furniture legs that might work. Just upside-down

himespau 

That's a thought. I think they're like 2-3" diameter circle rubber feet.

Sy Reene

Haven't tried it, but leaning on a stationary setup doesn't sound natural as you of course would be lacking the IRL centripetal(?) force that glues you toward the bike/road contact area that happens on a real turn on the road, no? Without that, gravity would be pulling your mass straight downward as you lean over.

unterhausen

I have wondered how well just leaning would work for steering. It would be fairly easy to incorporate the front wheel as well. I do occasionally lean when there is a big turn, it's pretty natural at this point. I have some Pilates balls to keep me upright, and they squish in a very reassuring way. Unlike the playground balls I was using before that always made me feel like I was going to fall over.


Do you have a link to the ones that you can't buy? The other option might be 3d printed cups.
I figure it must be these: https://www.rockerplates.de/Fastenin...e-Sterzo-Smart
They are obviously 3d printed.

I figure if I need to, I can modify this 3d printed zwift steering device:

himespau 

Yeah, I think those are the ones I found. Right now the velcro is working ok and I'm still moving things around slightly, so the repositioning ability of the velcro is fine. It just doesn't seem "long-term", but, if it works, I'll probably just leave it.

himespau 

I've seen posts where it looks like Zwift has applied for patents for a video-game like controller that you'll attach to your bars right under your levers (they seem to assume you spend all your time on the hoods). There will be buttons sticking out to the side that will allow you to steer and activate other functions (turn?, activate powerup?) and there will be a button under your brake lever so when you press on your brake lever, it'll activate brakes in game (looks like they're considering having you brake to control your speed/line through corners in future updates). Don't know how far away that is or if they've just applied for a patent to keep others from doing it, but it might make some of the other stuff moot.

I just think it's funny how fast having a rocker plate make me start leaning because that's what I do in real life. Not trying to turn, but I see myself hitting a hard corner at high speed and instinctively, I'm leaning way over. Not sure if the fact that I have a projector so I'm playing on a screen that makes my avatar roughly life sized (something like 130" diagonal projection) has to do with that or if I'd do it on any screen.

unterhausen

I take it you don't have a 3d printer, because I already would have printed something. I was a bit surprised there is nothing on thingiverse, but maybe I just searched for the wrong terms.

himespau 

Yeah, having a 3D printer and the ability to use it would make it a lot easier. Since I agree that the example you linked looks 3D printed, I briefly thought about asking if I could buy the dimensions from that company and pay someone local to 3D print it, but that sounded like too much effort.

unterhausen

If I hadn't broken my 3d printer I would offer to print you some. If you measure the feet dimensions, I would make a drawing. Tbh, I'm not sure I understand why it's not a complete circle. Is there something in the way?

himespau 

I don't think so there is anything preventing making a complete circle around the feet. My guess would just be that not being a full circle allows for a bit of play in positioning but having 2 U's provides enough support to keep it from moving. That's kind of why I'm going with Velcro for now, so that I can reposition it a little at a time if needed. I ended up injuring my knee a week or so ago (and hopping on the bike too soon and re-injuring it this past weekend), so I've only got 2 rides with the velcro, so I don't know if that's going to end up being good enough. I like the idea of a cup or something I can just lift the device straight out of to change batteries, but if the velcro ends up working, that'll be great. Before I had the rocker plate my whole trainer moved a lot in sprints (even moreso when I would turn the bars with the sterzo), but now that that motion causes the rocker plate to move forward/back and side to side, I'm hoping that the slight adhesion of the velcro is enough.

I missed it. Are you taking apart a Sterzo to get the guts to make your leaning-based steering or are you going to try to make your own device using a mini raspberry-pi or whatever?

unterhausen

I have some Gem II modules. That's the computing guts of a Kickr. There is a development environment for it that comes with a bluetooth or Ant+ stack. I hope to use Ant+, but I think that Sterzo uses bluetooth. That would mean I have to get bluetooth for my zwift computer, but I suppose that's not a huge hit $ wise. The sensors of a sterzo are super simple. They take one apart in the first video I linked.

I got the Gem II modules because Wahoo doesn't support my Kickr anymore and I wanted to future proof it. But then it turns out that my Kickr has a Gem I module. I would have ordered one if I realized that. I wanted to get a Gem III devkit, but I decided I have enough orphan single board computers sitting around that I don't need to add another one.