Zwift, really listening to their customers on this one…
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Yikes.
I stumbled across the same problem.
I am very new to all of this. A lousy bike rider who took the plunge into virtual.
I only have a smart on wheel trainer with a maximum of 800 watts of power. But even on the first ride it seemed strange to me with the relation between the speed of my wheel and the power in the software.
I rarely ride above my sixteenth gear on the road. Realy only when going downhill. Virtually in zwift i have to use minimally nineteenth on 7-10% grades and gear 23 or 24 on straights. I’m inexperienced but it all doesn’t add up for me and doesn’t feel good.
I don’t even have the problem that I somehow don’t get to my target watts because I outspin. I’m probably not there yet for a long time.
But for the fact that I actually bring very little watts on very high gear it is just unnecessarily loud and it just does not feel very good with all that vibration for not doing any real effort.
The ERG mode is great. This is where i noticed that something is wrong. Since I can have a quiet workout in relatively low gear with a good training effect.
I have a Tacx Smart Flow and see in the app from Tacx no way to increase the resistance. I guess the other workarounds fall away too because they require Direct Drive.
I was looking forward to Zwift and my account is still in test mode. I’m going to cancel and look for an alternative training app that might have the feature built in.
Nevertheless, and since this is a feature request:
I would be very happy if this is implemented. It would help to give each rider with all the possible individual setups a suitable setting so that the training inside feels like the road.
It would also reduce wear and tear and just make rides more enjoyable. All it would take is an adjustment like the one already available in ERG mode.
You have a controllable smart trainer so using the QZ app’s virtual gears should be an option for you. If your trainer is not recognized by QZ, you can probably get @Roberto_Viola to add it.
I’m unsure about the “vibration” you are talking about. Are you using a trainer tire? With a wheel on trainer, it’s also important to use a trainer tire and tension the trainer to the tire according to the manufacturer’s specification.
I agree that Zwift should add this feature.
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Thank you for this advice. But do i have to use it on smartphone then or is it something like a bridge? My trainer can only connect to one device and i use swift on laptoo with Ant+.
Even if it would support it, how can i solve this?
From the list of supported devices, it seems like mine is not supported.
*I mean normal sound and vibration from the wheel when speed goes up. Nothing i want or can reduce. It is normal that i gets loud when i drive very fast. The problem i have is, that i have to drive contantly fast (high gear) to put effort in the training. It is unncessary when normally i can have a very good traing in a middle range gear.
Yes it works as a bridge. You pair the trainer to QZ and you pair QZ to Zwift.
Hi Dragon, QZ developer here. Let me know if you need any help! @Paul_Southworth thanks!
Thanks for this offer. I take it.
Just bought it and fiddle around. It detects my trainer. My zwift, now detects it as Wahoo KICKR 0000 33. But i am not sure what settings i have to use.
I red the documentation on github and i restart between every test.
I tried Ziwft Resistance Offset, Gain and Rolling Resistance Factor. Nothing changes. Do i miss something?
the setting that you’re looking for is the gears tile, under the tile section. I suggest to start a github thread to follow your case!
Let me know!
Ok. I added a thread. We can continue the problem handling there.
Just to wrap this up.
I was able to solve my problem with said app.
I have not set it in detail yet. But before using the app I had an output of 90 watts in my fifteenth gear on the flat with a cadence of about 80. With the app I was suddenly able to pedal 150 watts with the exact same parameters.
As a result, can downshift the gear on the bike and this in turn makes the rear wheel run enormously slower, which makes a big difference on wheel on trainers and the whole experience much more pleasant. It will probably even save material in the long run.
In addition, the necessary power and the resulting speed now feels more realistic and it becomes necessary on the mountain to shift in low gears.
Thanks Paul for the tip and thanks Roberto for the help. Its a great app and was a very detailed and helpful support.
Before I came across this workaround, I made myself a trial account at BKOOL… There it was a more realistic resistance without workaround. Not as customizable as with the app. Or i have not seen it. But out of the box usable.
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Obviously don’t know your gearing, but my Flow Smart, with attached triple 8 road bike, was doing that out of the box.
Was doing what?
Well … What I quoted from your post. My Flow Smart always felt much like riding on the road, and 15th gear at 80 would have been been around 150 watts as you described, but without the need for the extra app. Not sure what the issue might be there.
For anyone else that finds this thread and is struggling with the low base resistance issue, here’s another vote for the QZ App. It’s completely solved the problem for me just as I was about to give up on Zwift and switch.
Huge thanks to the incredibly helpful @Roberto_Viola (the developer) for helping me get it configured when I ran into a problem too.
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thanks so much!
I fully agree to this post from the year 2024.
Is it really THAT hard? I have long crank arms so i have much lower cadence but high force.
I would be able to do a BLE-Hack like mentioned by @Dimitar_Marinov (thank you for those documentation!), but in my opinion it might be a betther way just to apply it by zwift.
To another post:
@Dan_Hubbard , I’m kind of sceptical whether this is advertising or really fix the issue. Can you please descripe what exactly is done by this ($ 5,99) app?
Thank you very much!
And ZWIFT-Team: please fix this issue!!!
Kind regards!
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It’s for real and if you get it set up with virtual gears it will let you increase the resistance transmitted to the trainer. You pair the trainer to QZ and you pair QZ to Zwift. It’s a common solution to problems connecting some spin bikes and treadmills directly to Zwift, and used successfully by people who were experiencing low resistance from using modern MTB gearing.
That isn’t what people are asking for here
“So these only show up for smart trainer users who are doing a workout with ERG mode turned off.”
I agree it might currently be only available with ERG OFF but I have been asking myself if it is available in ERG OFF why isn’t it also available in Free Ride ?