Turbo “rocker” plates – anyone made one?

Had not heard of these, until just read about on zwift insider
https://zwiftinsider.com/rocker-plates-phenomenon/

Sounds great and useful, and also a bit of a fun DIY project (because I have loads of spare time these days….)

Has anyone made one of these? Parts lists / where to purchase / plans would be super useful

Any concerns about stresses on frame? I think I’d be concerned about two seperate plates (like some in the design) causing unneccesary flex. I have cracked a BB shell on a carbon bike before, and I think sprinting on the turbo coupled with rocking on the turbo legs caused it (I had them deliberately short to give a little movement for comfort)

Join the Rocker Plates group on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/415329188897706/

They go from basic:

To frankly, insane (sideways and fore/aft motion):

The usual setup is a line of vibration dampers down the middle and then some tennis/inflatable balls either side

I made one up from a Coplate kit which I was given for Christmas. See:
https://www.bikeacces.com/127468127463rocker-plate.html Not the cheapest option, but relatively low hassle and they have specific kits for various smart trainers.

Their kit is all the fasteners, pivots etc, but you need to buy and drill plywood sheets to suit your trainer. It’s a slightly fiddly process, made easier if you cunningly give it to your mate who is into making things out of wood, like guitars and camper van interiors, and get him to do it for you.

Anyway… I really like the thing on two levels:

1. It means there’s movement in the bike, which in turn makes it more comfortable on your backside as you’re not sat on a non-moving saddle.

2. It feels more like riding a bike and you can feel your upper body actually doing some work stabilising the bars.

3. General consensus is that it reduces stresses on frames, particularly the rear drop-outs on carbon bikes which aren’t designed to be clamped to an immovable object while you hammer out 1000 watts plus.

The theory behind them isn’t complicated – central longitudinal pivot with some sort of resistance on either side – people use everything from tennis balls through to closed-cell foam. The small, inflatable balls in the Coplate design work pretty well for me and are adjustable, but someone else on here – sorry can’t remember who – found them too soft.

The most interesting design out there is arguably the new Cycleops one which also incorporates backwards and forwards motion, which apparently allows a more natural pedal stroke power transfer or something like that.

Edit: I see someone’s done the DIY fore/aft movement thing already then. Blimey.

Really like the idea of this! DIY-ing something would be cool, but I’ve looked at the Coplate site & they do a ready made version for my trainer which is obviously very convenient. I wonder if any of the DIY designs are substantially better than whatever Coplate do?

I wonder if any of the DIY designs are substantially better than whatever Coplate do?

I think the main advantage of DIY is as much cost saving and satisfaction as function. I couldn’t justify 200 quid for a pre-built Coplate, The build kit for 60 quid is bit more reasonable, but you could probably get all the components of that for a fair bit less.

The Coplate seems like a pretty sorted design in the sense that it does what it’s supposed to do and – so far – hasn’t broken, I guess you could construct the central pivot using sealed bearings and precision components etc, but I’m not sure it would end up functionally better.

I suspect, looking at preview videos of the Cycleops one, it’d be harder to replicate, but no idea whether the fore/after movement makes a significant difference.

Coplate is interesting – are there any issues with the plate just being the turbo, could it cause the frame to flex more? (sorry bit paranoid about breaking another frame)

just building a plate that covers the turbo is going to be a lot more convenient to store and cheaper

I didn’t see the home build option for £60 – that is tempting

I think the general take is that forces which would otherwise be fed into the dropouts and trying to move a solid turbo are simply dissipated in movement, so it’s less stressful for the frame. It should mean the frame flexes less.

They’re still quite bulky tbh, though less so, I guess, than one that also accommodates the front wheel.

Hah! Good idea. Could be a cool little project.👍

I have a coplate one – I like the small movement it allows and like BWD got it to protect the frame

It’s a pretty old one and they may have changed things but I don’t like the inflatable bladders and replaced the “suspension” on mine with lengths cut from pool noodles which work very well

I’ve no issue with the front wheel being independent of the plate – bike just tilts like it would on a road anyway (as long as you haven’t fixed the front end somehow (do those wahoo climby things do that ?). You do need to lift the front a bit more than otherwise to compensate for the extra height of the rocker

Yeah, the bladders are a bit of a pain. I’ve found them functionally fine, but the needle valve adaptors supplied with the pump and gauge that come with the plate are a bit flimsy and you need to lube them with WD40 before insertion. I ended up using one that came with a different pump which seems more robust – one of the original ones fell apart.

I think the Wahoo Climb thing is just a freestanding rocker, but no idea if it allows sideways movement. It might need a full-length plate to work, not sure.

If you have a Kickr btw, you can simply set it for the smallest wheel size, which effectively lowers the front end and means you don’t need a front wheel block.

Hmmm. Quite like the idea of this. I might try to do something similar with some mdf & tennis balls.

Joined the rocker plate FB group mentioned above, some cool designs out there! It popped up with ad advert (and discount code) for the Realplate+ which I hadn’t heard of, but it’s a UK made alternative to the Coplate thing. The + model also apparently includes some fore/aft motion. Anyone seen/used/got one of these things?

They also do a DIY kit buts it’s £150!