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Rocker plates are designed to make the ride feel more realistic during roller training thanks to their flex, but usually cost several hundred euros. Many YouTube tutorials explain how to build elaborate rocker plates yourself, but the material usually costs 100 euros or more. We show Two simple, cheap and effective alternatives to expensive rocker plateswith which you can give your roller trainer a little more manoeuvrability.
Caution: For some roller trainer models with narrow legs and a small footprint - such as the Tacx Neo 2T Smart - tennis balls are not suitable as a base, as the Smart trainer then becomes too unstable and can fall over! The advantage of these two rocker plate imitations: They do not increase the trainer's footprint and can be removed quickly and easily. If you have more space available around your Smarttrainer and like to screw things together yourself, you should take a look at the Instructions "Build your own rocker plate" at TOUR Magazine view.
Wahoo Kickr Climb
With the incline simulator from Wahoo, you can simulate climbs and mountainous routes in your living room. You clamp the front wheel axle into the Kickr Climb and can simulate inclines of up to 20%. With current Wahoo smart trainers built in 2017 or later, the device even goes up and down automatically when ascents or descents appear in the virtual worlds. Otherwise you control it with a remote control. The Kickr Climb is compatible with quick-releases, but also fits standard thru-axles (e.g. 12 x 100 or 15 x 110). The The colleagues from TOUR tested: "The experience of gravity is impressive, even a ten per cent incline feels like a steep face when stationary. However, the perfect illusion of riding uphill lacks the feeling of accelerating with every pedal stroke, as you would when riding freely uphill. Even when pedalling out of the saddle, the feeling is not quite real. Rigid clamping at the rear and a bit of freedom at the front - it doesn't quite go together." If you still want to work more on your mountain form in winter, you can try virtual routes with the Kickr Climb (>> e.g. available here) even more life.
