Nice results on your end. 
Yeah, I have always wondered if Saris would make a smart bike. They had the old Phantomās that were ass close to the modern smart bikes as we have seen from anyone back then. Itās not a large leap to consider a similar bike base, with Hammer guts, and now include the MP1 motion. If they include pitch control (Climb style), they may have the full suite of smart and motion.
Solid review and touches on the major pluses (fore and aft motion, more comfort) and negatives (cost).
Iām continuing to use mine for all indoor work and the added comfort is a huge benefit. Long endurance workouts are much better, even though I was on a Tacx before, the added movement has made a difference. The Tacx was also quite straight forward to set up on the MP1 following the online instructions for it.
Full retail is a lot of money but watch for discount codes. When I think of some of the other cycling expenses for part upgrades, etc, I think the investment in something that is going to help me train better and longer is well worth it.
Nice review, @gpl.
I skimmed through the video and will pay closer attention when I rewatch it later at home on my own MP1.
One thing Iāll add (which you may or may not have mentioned) is that the rocking motion is a bit more natural in the seated position. This can be especially advantageous in getting your cadence back up after a lapse in concentration in Erg mode. Using your arms to actively rock the bike side to side assists in getting more force to the pedals.
If you have knee issues, this can be a really good thing. If you donāt, itāll still make it just a bit easier to get things going again.
Hi @mcneese.chad , I was wondering if a rocker plate similar to the MP1 with the fore/aft, but rather side to side than a back and forth motion would give a more natural feel to the bike. It would essentially snake more kind of like being outside. Just wondering what your thoughts are. Thanks.
You are talking about Sway, lateral slide left and right as opposed to the typical Roll, pivot left and right?
If so, Iāve done some minor testing with what I feel is a unique concept to get the snaking, but I had to shelve it for a bit to deal with home remodeling. I donāt think a pure Sway will work. But something that includes it with Roll axis pivot is interesting to me.
Yeah, the lateral slide left and right is the word I was looking for. That combined with the rocking pivot. I hope it works out.
I will for sure share results once I get back to testing it.
@dsrromero Iām building up a linear bearing platform right now. In the beginning, itāll be āsurgeā fore/aft only. Weāll see how it turns out.
Iām thinking about two different setups now - parallel rails and a MONORAIL! setup https://imgur.com/a/Rbc70ug . The parallel would be without roll. The MONORAIL one would use the linear bearingās 5-10 deg of pitch, but Iād have it above the pivot above ground level to stimulate real world roll when spiriting ( like this guy has https://www.cykeel.com/ as he rocks the way you ride)
The MP1 is actually a long radius swing foreaft (with foreaft+pitch). When trying it, the foreaft did most of the work. This is partially because the motion is undampened, running on efficient rollers. In roll, you only need a few degrees and likely wouldnāt exceed the line between your pedal inner edge, inner thigh, and the top tube (0-10cm lateral motion depending at top tube height). On the MP1, this is dampened I believe with a rubber flexy thing.
A lot of what the platform is doing is digesting your bikes normal flex. Youāll note that you do not get as beat up on a rigid spin bike as you do on your trainer. As you pedal, your bike frame flexes, and it ends up moving the saddle around on your backside. The platform tries to eat some of this motion up from the bottom. If someone came out with a saddle with some roll and surge shear, it might do the same thing as a platform and be 1/5th the cost - MIPS for saddles (maybe just wear winter over-tights or buy a crappy saddle cover)
Wow, yeah the cykeel is pretty close what I was thinking. Anything that can make the bike off center to the left and right similar to a pendulum clock. Excited to see how your build works. I agree, the MP1 is priced way too much.
Looking through the Saris MP1 related patent, besides having dozens of motion designs for add-on platforms for separate bikes and trainers, we find some more interesting ideas:
Will be interesting to see the impact of this patent on the progression of motion for inside cycling.
Just got myself a MP1 platform and have a issue. Iām getting a slight knock from both the front and rear central bearings when rocking the platform forward and back. The platform is unladen and just out the box. All rails have been cleaned as per setup instruction.
Everything looks tight and thereās no visible defects with the bearings. Itās like there binding slightly then release.
I would never feel this with a trainer and bike rigged up but itās a issue no the less.
Anyone else with one experiencing this pre bike install
