Is there a way to adjust or increase the gear ratio of a given setup?
I have a Zwift Hub One (virtual shifting) and 95% of the time, I ride with with Trainer Difficulty turned down all the way (off?), so I don’t have the course/terrain affecting my power output when I’m just focusing on hitting numbers in a workout. I do turn the Trainer Difficulty up when I’m doing a free ride or racing though. I should also mention that I typically use the Sequential mode of virtual shifting (1-24), as it just seems like the simplest setup.
The problem is that I run out of gears. When I start and am still just warming up (zone 1, HR < 100), I usually have to already be in gear 14 or 15 (of 24). And when I get to Z3 or Z4, I’m in gear 18 or 19. If I happen to do any out of the saddle hard efforts or am really hammering - I max out on gear 24 and still need more shifting room.
So is there a way to adjust that so I’m basically starting (Z1) around gear 5 or 6?
The only things you can configure are the shift style and gear range, which it sounds like you already know about. Trainer Difficulty only scales the resistance from gradients so it won’t do anything in a flat sprint. Base resistance of the trainer can be adjusted if you use the QZ app to pair the trainer, but that is a third party thing not supported by Zwift.
Interesting. So is this a function (limitation) of this specific trainer? i.e. is the power “start point” different among trainers? I mean, I am by no means that strong of a cyclist - so it’s not like my FTP is off the charts and the hardware/software was just not designed to include me in the target range.
Good question and I don’t claim to have an answer. This ZI article seems to suggest that you should be able to achieve an equivalent high gear of real bike to having a 50-tooth front chainring and running in a 9-tooth rear cog.
ht tps://zwiftinsider.com/virtual-shifting/
I’m not sure if it would help or not. It would increase the flywheel speed so it would probably feel different but I haven’t tried it personally. I also don’t know what kind of power is involved. I don’t run out of virtual gears but my top power is only around 900W and I’m not using a Zwift Hub.
I don’t run out of gears sprinting but I sprint at 120 rpm at about 900 watts also but i see some sprinters on youtube sprinting at 70-80 rpm which would be impossible for me with my gearing, theres no way 70-80 rpm would get me to 900 watts in my smallest cog, I always wonder how thats even possible.
I don’t think this is possible with the Zwift Hub One - it comes with it’s own single
cog. I don’t recall the size. I might be able to switch to using the larger chainring in the front (I’m currently on the smaller of a 2x), but IIRC from the installation instructions it said to use whichever of the front chainrings gives the straighter line for the chain front to back (less bent chain).
I don’t know - I’m not sure why this isn’t built into the program. I mean, it’s all just software at this point. I’d love to have a slider or drop down option that just let’s me say “I want +25% resistance” on all gears or something like that.
And to reiterate my point above, I’m not a super strong rider. In gear 24, out of the saddle at ~60 rpm, I’m probably topping out at 350-375 watts.
The Zwift Cog, on any trainer, is just an 11 speed Hyperglide cassette with a single sprocket. You can take it off and install anything you want, such as a normal multi-gear cassette or a single-speed conversion kit from anywhere.
Your description of what’s happening makes me think you might need a better trainer. I don’t disagree at all with your proposal that Zwift add a way to change the base resistance of the trainer.
Yes you would need a bigger chainring or smaller cog anyway not bigger, I looked into this before as I wanted a straighter chainring on the flat and my only solution was ANT+ but with the virtual gears you need bluetooth, am sure on other apps like Mywhoosh you can do exactly what you are saying and increase gearing but not on Zwift.
In this article, just below that gearing table, there is a section called ‘Customize your shifting’. This indicates that there are options in the GUI to chenge the vrtual gear setup. Maybe you’re not set for a 39/53 front equivalent?
