Garmin’s new Tacx NEO Motion Plates are an affordable motion platform for the masses (where masses = owners of Tacx NEO, NEO 2, or NEO 2T trainers). Trainer motion platforms have been growing in popularity over the past few years. Basic side-to-side flex has been around for a while in a few trainers and rocker platforms. Fore-and-aft movement platforms & devices are emerging, but most of them are large, involved, or expensive, and often are all three. The NEO Motion Plates are $299.99, simple to install, barely visible, and complement the NEO’s side-to-side motion.

Universal full motion platforms give you double-digit degrees of side-to-side flex and double-digit inches of fore-and-aft slide. But they cost $800+ USD and raise your bike several inches further from the floor. The Tacx NEO Motion Plates give you about 2” of fore and aft motion while only raising the bike about 1.5”.

Installation

“Installation” has too many syllables to capture the simple task of taking the motion plates from box to bike. Garmin creatively turned the NEO’s bulky triangular footprint into an advantage. The motion plates simply snap onto the bottom of the trainer’s angled frame. The first steps are to remove your bike and flip the trainer over to find the four rubber feet on tubular posts extending from the underside of the trainer frame that you probably never noticed before. Simply remove them and move them to corresponding little storage tubes on the motion plates. Then, you just magnetically snap the motion plate posts into the tube legs of the NEO. They are clearly labeled “L” and “R,” so you cannot mess up. You are done; it is that easy.

Turn it over and put it on the floor. The only adjustment you need to make is to align the little notches on the rear of the slides and bases – easy. You need to do this because the two plates move independently, so you could have one slide forward and the other slide backward, and thus would get no motion. Realistically, you probably would not make this mistake, but Garmin’s design makes it easy to get right.

The other installation item is the new wheel block. The groove in the original wheel block is curved to match the radius of a bike wheel. This effectively holds the front wheel in place, but that would conflict with the motion plate motion. So, the new block is taller to match the increased height of the plates with a flat and longer groove to allow the front wheel to move fore and aft.

There are positioning arrows on the top to align with the hub when in the neutral position so you will not motion yourself off the block. That is it; you are ready to ride. (You could do this without removing your bike, but I would not recommend it.)

How It Works

The NEO Motion Plates are mechanically simple, like their installation. It is just a metal bearing that rides on a short metal track. It is noiseless and does not require much vertical space. The two pieces are held together by short posts that just keep them from separating completely – you can pull the sections apart to peek under and see the little bearing wheel. That is all there is to it. The track is curved slightly to automatically return the plates to center, but it is subtle.

Riding Impressions

Trainer comfort is a challenge for me, especially in the time trial position. I can ride far longer outside in aero than inside on the trainer. I recently replaced my hard plastic wheel block with a high-density foam stability training pad used for yoga or physical therapy. That was a massive comfort upgrade by giving my front wheel some room to move and absorb my upper body movements. The NEO Motion Plates upgraded my comfort further.

The first thing I noticed is how much fore and aft motion I generate in light Zone 1 & Zone 2 riding. Every pedal stroke generated counteracting motion, so the bike pulsated at twice my cadence. This type of motion probably happens on the road, but there is so much else going on I do not notice. The net is a tremendous comfort improvement. I suspect that before my elbows were pushing and pulling on the pads which led to fatigue. Now the bike just moves with me. (And the reason my yoga stability pad life hack worked was probably because the motion translated vertically against the pad.)

I noted above that the plates give a total of about 2” of movement. And the Tacx NEO has 2° to 3° of side-to-side flex. This does not sound like much, but I think it solves 95% of the use case needs. Before I rode on a NEO, I avoided standing drills, and tried to stay vertical when I had to do them. It just felt wrong with the bike locked in and I was also worried about the force on the frame. I am totally comfortable doing standing and sprinting drills at 800W on the NEO with no concerns. The little bit of flex is all it needed to totally change the riding dynamic. (Even if I could, I would never dream of slinging my bike side-to-side on the trainer like in outdoor climbing or sprinting.) Similarly, the 2” of forward and aft movement is all I need most of the time.

I rode moderate 430W attack drills (standing, seated, high cadence, low cadence), comfortable Zone 2 work, and did some 180 RPM speed drills. I never felt like I exceeded the range of the tilt or fore & aft motion. It is key to note that I (and I think most people) ride differently on a trainer versus outside. The trainer motion does not need to simulate outdoor riding, rather it just needs to absorb the different kind of indoor motion. I never felt like I was fighting the trainer at its limits of motion. I could bottom it out, but I made the effort to do it. It sounded like a light tapping, but I did not feel it. Most motion, even at the big interval efforts, was probably only moving about ½” each way.

Are the Tacx NEO Motion Plates for You

If you did not already have a NEO trainer, I would not recommend selling your current trainer to get a NEO and the motion plates. They are nice, but not that nice. And, if you are already a heads down indoor time-trial riding champion, endlessly comfortable in aero, then you might not value the added motion. However, if you get position fatigue indoors, feel the pressure in the saddle, or hold back on high intensity intervals, then the NEO Motion Plates could answer the call. The NEO is already a premium-priced product at the top of its pricing tier. The Motion Plates set the overall riding experience apart from every other trainer on the market.

Personal Note: I like them, and I will definitely be getting my own set (and retiring my yoga pad).