BigRingVR - The new leader of the pack?

[Crook Town AFC]

Dave, that's awesome stuff. I'm feeling inspired...

I was planning on paying a visit to my engineering dept at work after Christmas for a steel bar and a fist full of bearings, but if your setup works out I'll try that.

I'm not sure I'll get another frame replaced under warranty (cracked chainstay) so I'm definitely going to do something

I've tidied the arrangement up a bit as can be seen below. The valve is on the outside and I've cable tied the tyre at the diagonals only. As I had plenty of 4" carpet tape I used that to cover most of the holes in the plate and to hide cable ties. Lastly I chocked the front wheel up.


I'll have to see how it goes on a few rides this week before I decide to patent the idea.

It doesn't rock too much so there should be little chance of it tipping over (which is what's worrying me) and it was a quick build with what I had round the house.
Eventually I'd like to go for a full length rocker board along the line of @Aleman's design. Was thinking of 18mm MDF for the base, 18mm ply for the top board, 20mm steel shaft and bearings and a choice of material for the springs. Although I do like the idea of wheelbarrow inner tubes as you can vary the spring stiffness.

 

[CXRAndy]

Oh, and build a rocker plate mines full length with bearings and steel rod using wheelbarrow inner tubes for spring back

Virtually the same, but with tennis balls for resistance

 

[Crook Town AFC]

Dave, that's awesome stuff. I'm feeling inspired...

I was planning on paying a visit to my engineering dept at work after Christmas for a steel bar and a fist full of bearings, but if your setup works out I'll try that.

I'm not sure I'll get another frame replaced under warranty (cracked chainstay) so I'm definitely going to do something

Quick update for you Dave. Tried the same route as yesterday. Bit of everything, seated spinning, out of the saddle climbing and out of the saddle short sprint (I think I managed to nudge 800w for bit ) Seemed to behave itself and didn't move, well as far as something designed to rock is anyway.
Best bit though was the new look app. Version 5.12.0.0 has a map feature as well as a tweak to the profile bar (new background colour and revised font by the looks) But seriously impressed with the map, it tracked the video perfectly, hairpins and junctions were spot on. So fixated I was that I was taken a bit by surprise when the ride ended. So chapeau to @ibooij and the team at BRVR for that. Bad news for marker fans though, they stop when the ride ends but I think we can all live with that.

 

[ibooij]

Quick update for you Dave. Tried the same route as yesterday. Bit of everything, seated spinning, out of the saddle climbing and out of the saddle short sprint (I think I managed to nudge 800w for bit ) Seemed to behave itself and didn't move, well as far as something designed to rock is anyway.
Best bit though was the new look app. Version 5.12.0.0 has a map feature as well as a tweak to the profile bar (new background colour and revised font by the looks) But seriously impressed with the map, it tracked the video perfectly, hairpins and junctions were spot on. So fixated I was that I was taken a bit by surprise when the ride ended. So chapeau to @ibooij and the team at BRVR for that. Bad news for marker fans though, they stop when the ride ends but I think we can all live with that.

Yes, sorry, have not fixed the markers yet. I was too busy with shiny things. We rewrote the whole ride gui to make it much easier to add the map, redo the profiles and do some more things that will be coming in the near future.
We took our time to make sure it worked well. Good thing is that the new implementation is a lot simpler than the old one. It always takes time to make things simple.

Cheers,
Ilja

 

[Crook Town AFC]

Yes, sorry, have not fixed the markers yet. I was too busy with shiny things.

Hi Ilja,
The remark about the markers was purely tongue in cheek, as it had been mentioned few pages back, honestly seriously impressed with the update. Have to agree about simple solutions being really complicated.

 

[djk]

Hi Ilja,
The remark about the markers was purely tongue in cheek, as it had been mentioned few pages back, honestly seriously impressed with the update. Have to agree about simple solutions being really complicated.

@Ilja . Can I echo Dave's comments, I really liked this update. Thank you, all your hard work is really appreciated.


Dave how is the homebrew engineering holding up?

 

[Crook Town AFC]

@Ilja . Can I echo Dave's comments, I really liked this update. Thank you, all your hard work is really appreciated.


Dave how is the homebrew engineering holding up?

Hi Dave,
Seems to be holding up at the moment. Had another go at the same route last night and it felt OK but more runs required. I've been thinking about a design for a full length rocker board recently and I've an idea in my head as to how to construct it. On the face of things my earlier idea of 20mm bearings and 3/4 ply might be a bit of overkill considering it's only got to move a few degrees either way and the load isn't that great but it would certainly look the job. Something for the New Year I think.

 

[djk]

Hi Dave,
Seems to be holding up at the moment. Had another go at the same route last night and it felt OK but more runs required. I've been thinking about a design for a full length rocker board recently and I've an idea in my head as to how to construct it. On the face of things my earlier idea of 20mm bearings and 3/4 ply might be a bit of overkill considering it's only got to move a few degrees either way and the load isn't that great but it would certainly look the job. Something for the New Year I think.

Yea, I was originally think along the same lines of a 20 mm rod and bearings. Like you say, it maybe overkill but a lot depends on what I can sweet talk my engineering Dept at work to assist with...

 

[Crook Town AFC]

Hi Folks,
Been reading the discussion on the "Zwift B S’s" thread but rather than post in that one and derail it a bit I thought I'd pose the question here as it's more related to BRVR. I don't use Zwift but understand that they have their own Alpe d'Huez, has any FM tried this one and how does it compare to the BRVR version or even the BKool one?

 

[Aleman]

It actually compares pretty well to the real one ... Well it does when you turn the realism up to 100%
As does the BRVR one to be honest
I think the Bkool one is somewhat flattering if I am completely honest ... but them I'm riding a Pro unit anyway

 

[Crook Town AFC]

It actually compares pretty well to the real one ... Well it does when you turn the realism up to 100%
As does the BRVR one to be honest
I think the Bkool one is somewhat flattering if I am completely honest ... but them I'm riding a Pro unit anyway

Thanks for that, I can't remember the Bkool one as it's been over a year since I last tried it but I do have a go on the BRVR one every now and then. The only other simulated course I've tried is the video that came with the trainer, it covers a total of 29km with the climb at the end. I very much doubt I'll ever do it for real.

 

[MasterDabber]

Whilst this doesn't specifically answer the Aple d'Huez/Zwift question my observations on the BRVR realism and accuracy is very positive.
I've ridden the Tourmalet (west side), Luz Ardiden and Hautacam both on BRVR and in real life and the feel, timings of segments etc is really close.
Btw, I thought Hautacam was the hardest... a real b*rstard. Btw, always ridden at 100%.

 

[Crook Town AFC]

Btw, always ridden at 100%.

Real life or turbo trainer?
Nice to know that BRVR (which I tend to use a lot) has a realistic feel, I also have the trainer set to 100% and the model I have supposedly can cope with up to 18% so should be able to mimic the real thing. (Although with my weight and that of the bike it's probably nearer 14%)

 

[djk]

Passo Stelvio is a b@st@rd of a climb. Just saying...

 

[djk]

Ok I take it back, Stelvio is a pussy cat in comparison with Passo Umbrail and Passo Stelvio. That is a right bastard.
Challenge complete!

Merry Christmas everyone