I’m finishing up about a month with it–was waiting a little longer to write it up. Overall very positive, will update later with detailed impressions. My first motion experience, so definitely also interested in Chad’s thoughts.
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Sweet! I can’t wait to hear your feedback too. 
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Chad, is there anyone that doesn’t like the e-flex? I haven’t found a bad word about it yet.
I’ve paused my e-flex purchase because I just picked a basically new set of emotion rollers for $250 (insane deal) and I wanted to try them before spending $600 on the e-flex in the event I find myself on the rollers more often than the kickr.
I do know a few people that didn’t like them, but it seems to be a small minority from my experience. I also heard from Larry that they have had returns over the years as well. But the numbers sound very low to me, and I think the new Plus design is largely well liked overall.
That is an insane deal indeed! I’d jump on it at that price as well. Sure worth a try to see what you think of them.
The E-Flex can give most of the freedom of motion rollers (per my DIY dumb ones at least) but have some added security. I think it’s worth your time to test the rollers first. You would also have the option of adding the Floating Fork Stand if you wanted some stability. I can’t remember if they still have the original (flat turn) design or if they ever got around to making a Plus style version for the rollers. Either way, the rollers have that extra level option that is interesting too.
Yeah, definitely. I wouldn’t have tried them at full price ($900).
I’m wondering which I’ll be drawn to or if I’ll switch back and forth.
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Did you get the version with smart resistance or the base rollers? Smokin deal either way, but their latest smart resistance unit works very well (their first attempt not so much). Even without the smart resistance, you can do a pretty wide range of wattage in a middle setting. I’ve been riding e-motion rollers for over 10 years (long before they added the electronics) and they are fine for most types of riding and workouts even if you don’t have smart resistance. Obviously, I’m biased, but I think you will enjoy them.
Not to derail the rocker plate discussion, but I recently bought the floating fork stand for my rollers and figured this is a good thread for a high level review (since the roller discussion has already snuck in). While I’m really comfortable on the rollers and never considered the fork mount previously, that changed after breaking my hand a couple weeks back.
After suffering on a stationary trainer for several workouts (waiting on fork stand to arrive), getting back on the rollers with the fork mount was a huge relief. Not nearly as natural as the pure rollers, but enough movement to address the comfort issues. The biggest difference with the fork mount is that the side to side is tied directly to handlebar/steering position. Again, I think this movement is enough to solve comfort issues, but it doesn’t feel like outside riding (especially when out of the saddle, slow cadence climbing, etc.). Like everything I’ve seen from Inside Ride, the build quality is excellent. A little pricey for what it is, but much cheaper if you add it on at the time you buy the rollers. All that said, I’d personally have zero use for the fork stand if my hand wasn’t screwed up right now. But for folks who want to totally zone out on the trainer and/or don’t really care about duplicating outside riding dynamics, I think the fork stand could make a lot of sense. I think it allows the movement to address comfort issues just as well as riding the rollers without it.
On a related note, I agree with the comments earlier in this thread that highlighted the importance of fore/aft movement. I think it’s more important than side to side movement for comfort. It’s absolutely in play when riding outdoors, we just don’t realize it. When riding outside, your bike is never a “fixed” object that doesn’t give against your butt, it’s floating along with your body with continuous tiny surges as you pedal.
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I am all for motion rollers in the mix here. This is really about “trainer motion” regardless of the specific implementation. So rollers fit right in AFAIC.
OK, that sure sounds like they are still selling the FFS in the first version I call “flat steer”. I did my E-Flex Original vs Plus video that shows the notable difference in motion. I totally agree the Original (same as your FFS since that was actually the origin of the E-Flex) is not at all natural. It works, but just feels wrong to me.
Thanks for the info overall. I love reading these experiences and agree that Inside Ride sure makes a quality product on many levels.
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It’s the manual version. I usually ride in resistance mode anyway and I always use the power meter on my bike so I’m thinking that it will be fine.
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Me! I found there was too much fore/aft motion. It made me motion sick. After another year of static training, I’ve exploring options small amounts of motion.
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My Kickr Core is on a plywood platform, sitting on “hedghog” balls. However, the balls are held in place by plastic bowls screwed into the plywood. This is an extremely secure setup, and has no bounce whatsoever. The bounce in the above video is resulting from the load not being spread out across the circumference of the hedgehog. Instead, the video shows a point load placed at the very top of them. This also allows the hedgehogs to intermittently “balloon”, adding to the bounce.
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so I’m guessing even at the soft lockup config it was too much for you to feel comfortable?
- The_Conductor seemed more bothered by the fore-aft motion, which is not regularly adjustable (compared to the lean action which is adjustable as you mention).
With respect to this, I think Larry at Inside Ride has some stronger o-rings to make the fore-aft motion stiffer. The issue is that swapping these takes a bit of time and finesse since the side mounts are hidden within the support tubes. I have sometimes wondered if he should make external mounts with different locations to alter the centering force?
I don’t see too many people with issues, but having fore-aft adjustment added to the existing lean adjustment makes good sense as long as it can be done easily with minimal price change.
ETA: I could see someone adding some of those small tooling clamps to create a shorter length of fore-aft travel. I’ve done it for testing to remove fore-aft entirely, but just realized it could be done to adjust length of motion just as easily.
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Correct. I think some of my problems are generated by what I do when I’m on the trainer. I’m either: a. staring at blue bars from 2-3 feet away (iPad on trainer table), b. working on my computer on a trainer table, or c. reading a book on my trainer table. Consequently, keeping my eyes focused on a screen so darn close while moving back and forth was nauseating.
I’m considering trying one of the Trainer Tweaks solutions because it’s more adjustable (and thus anxiously awaiting Chad’s review).
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What’s that slacker doing anyhow??? 
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My city offers free 3D printing, so in the interim, I commissioned the Kickr Core tennis ball legs to get printed and I’m going to try them on my Kickr V5.
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Cool rig dude, but your setup seems to have a bit of a dandruff problem!!! You should get that looked into!!! 
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Rockr Axis thoughts–this is a little long, but thought it might help to go into my reasoning for get it
TL:DR–Have a NeoBike, will have a NeoBike for the foreseeable future; not much else out there for smart bikes; don’t have time to DIY/kit; I could afford it and figured it was worth a try.
Rationale for (big) purchase: I’ve got a Tacx NeoBike Smart–use case at the time that was purchased (late 2019–serial # was <200) was 3 people of widely varying height training on it. Still 2 using it year round, 3 during summer/college vacation, and my youngest is getting ready to start within a year or 2 (she just missed podium at cross nationals and is starting NICA), so a smart bike is going to be the solution for at least another 6 years. There have been QC issues with the bike, and some things I’m not crazy about, but Garmin support has been great (just got #5 on warranty), so sticking with it until they tell me they’re going to replace it.
I use it the most–my set up is race/movie/TV on iPad on the bike’s screen holder, TR on my phone in the holder on the bars. My wife has a coach and works from prescribed workouts on the Garmin. When my son is home, mostly 2-4 hour training rides on Zwift when he can’t get outside.
My wife and I race cross and do recreational MTB, but don’t do multi-hour road or gravel rides (at least for now). Almost all of my bike-specific workouts are on the trainer year-round.
Since I started TR in 2017, I’d done low volume plans, with occasional weekend outdoor rides. After the 2022 season was over, I decided to try a block of the low volume polarized plan. I’d never had an issue with 90 minutes, but once things got to 2-3 hours I was definitely getting uncomfortable.
When the polarized plan finished, I went back to the usual LV plan, but started adding in a 90 minute Z2 on Sundays, then started adding in 15-20 minutes Z2 at the end of the weekday hour long ones during the summer since I didn’t have to finish the workout in time to get my daughter up, ready, and to the bus at 6:30 AM. Kept it up last fall as she started middle school and bus came at 7:30. Despite being out for 2 weeks with COVID in late August, still had my best season ever and looking to be able to cat up by end of this year. Doing a MV Master’s plan and trying when I can to extend some of the longer rides further. More butt pain, so starting looking at solutions that would work with the NeoBike, and following Chad’s threads and comments.
There aren’t many solutions available for the Neobike or Kickr Bike/Shift. I don’t have the time or tools to put something together myself, even from a kit, and, given the amount of use the trainer gets, I wanted something well-made. I would certainly have preferred to spend less, but figured worst case I could return it if I didn’t notice any difference/benefit
Impressions:
–I initially filled the balls to look like the pictures, and used a level to get them even. The first thing I noticed during/after my first ride is that it took more effort to get the same power output, and I definitely felt it in my legs more. This was validated by my (much more experienced) son. I got a cheap pump on Amazon with a gauge, and experimented with different pressures–had been at 4, but 2.5 psi is definitely the sweet spot.
–The fore-aft movement was really noticeable at first, but now it’s just a minimal amount and, as Chad has suggested, I think this is really one of the key benefits. (Because the iPad is fixed to the trainer, there’s no visual issues with moving towards and away from the screen)
–It’s a little noisy with movement, but with time the amount of movement except getting out of the saddle is much less. Still a little noisier than without (the SmartBike is super quite), but not nearly as noticeable.
–Because I was so used to riding the rigid trainer, I must have developed some bad habits, and I actually had some minor tennis elbow symptoms until I got better at handling the movement.
–Longer rides are definitely “easier” in terms of stiffness/saddle discomfort.
So I’m happy with the purchase. Is it worth another $1K after spending $3-4K on a smart bike? Not sure. That’s almost the difference between the NeoBike Smart and the Plus, or the Shift and the Kickr Bike, and I definitely think the Axis improves the experience more than the better shifters on the Plus or the Climb on the Kickr.
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Thanks very very much for your feedback! You have all actually made me think of something I hadn’t considered before…I am ALWAYS watching something on the big screen TV that’s about 5 feet in front of my bike and I am very susceptible to motion sickness. Again, thanks!
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I have the Trainer Tweaks and I was just noticing today how the fore aft motion is pretty subtle. It doesn’t move that direction much at all when seated. It really takes standing up for it to move that direction, at least with a single set of rubber bands installed. With none it might move a bit easier. You can also put more or less wax on the wood slot that the fore-aft roller bearing sits in to tune it to your liking.
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