Couldn’t help but try modifying the Zwift Plays for my Concept2 rower. Nice challenge for someone who loves fiddling with electronic gadgets.
I first tried to attach them to the handle bar as they were, but that just didn’d work. First of all, they simply are too heavy. Second, they just don’t fit in any ways. The next step was to open them and have a look at the modification options. No problem - unscrew the 7 housing screws, take off the two covers and unplug the battery.
I don’t need steering (and braking of course), and virtual shifting is also no option on the rower so I decided to get rid of the entire steering/braking/shifting part. It is connected to the “main” unit via a 6 pin cable which I unplugged. It’s easy to unplug the end of the cable (left arrow) but tricky to unplug it on the other side (right arrow). To get to the right arrow side of the cable I had to disassemble the whole unit. While I was at it I took out the vibration motor too, another weight saving done.
Next step: Get my hand saw and saw off the steering/braking/shifting part. Result: After re-assembly the weight felt a lot more acceptable. But how to attach them to the handle bar? I took two velcro strips, opened the housing, put them in, closed the housing, and voila, it works just fine:
This is the final result:
(The rubber bands in the middle usually hold my Apple TV remote)
It’s not really perfect. I have to use my index fingers which means I can only press a button in the release phase of a stroke. But I didn’t manage to attach the Plays in a way that allows me to use my thumbs (this would result in the Plays knocking at my ribs with every single stroke). Another drawback: The added weight on top of the handle bar causes a disbalance; especially when rowing very hard the chain starts “fluttering” pretty badly so I have to grab the handle bar tighter than I’d prefer.
Would I recommend this? No, definitely not. It’s a nice little experiment, it works, but I could well live without. And of course I lost every warranty for the Plays, but that’s fine with me. It was fun fiddling around.