I’m new to virtual cycling. Forgive my ignorance about how things work.
I have a Merach MRK-S09-76 with power, cadence and controllable features.
When doing a free ride, the app increases and decreases resistance based on the incline of the course I am riding. ERG doesn’t work in workout mode but that’s a different issue.
I just did the Beach Island Loop (fairly flat) and for the most part I’m spinning at about 100rpm. It feels like I’m stuck in 1st gear. Other riders are zooming past me.
I know there’s no way that they are spinning 200rpms.
If I manually adjust my resistance from level 1 the game just drops it back about 10 seconds later.
I would expect that my speed would continue to pick up and effort would adjust just like it would if were changing gears. Am I missing something? Is my bike just not being controlled correctly?
I really like the app and the gamification, but I feel like I’m going to lose motivation if I cannot match up with others and feel like I’m making progress.
I don’t have your equipment so I’m not really in a position to answer your inquiry. But I did want to welcome you to the community. You’ll get some help here. Also, just so you know, activity will tend to pick up on this platform in about a month, which is when the northern hemisphere enters cooler weather. Welcome to the community!
They make good equipment at Merach, I love their water rowing machine (;
Are you spinning at 100 rpm on the flat ? Which is already not bad… but how many watts are displayed on your screen?
It does sound like the bike is not being controlled correctly.
I wonder if the bike is supported by the QZ app (qzfitness.com) which can act as a bridge between some fitness equipment and Zwift. @Roberto_Viola do you know anything about this Merach bike?
(QZ offers virtual gears which lets people increase the resistance using the 3rd party app)
Are you in ERG mode/doing a workout? Or Freeriding? ERG mode will maintain a set wattage.
Or are you still connected to the native app, phone or other device?
Disconnect the Merach from your phone, computer, tablet, etc… Check the device Bluetooth in Settings for each device and ensure ALL are Disconnected. ONLY connect in the Zwift game at the connection screen.
I am not only referencing apps…I am saying the BT connection should only be through Zwift. In iPad Settings, BlueTooth- Apps connected…the bike should be DISCONNECTED…in your phone under Settings/BT/Apps…the bike should be DISCONNECTED…PC, mac, whatever else you might have connected the bike must be disconnected…the only connection is through Zwift application.
My primary zwift device is an iPad Pro 11" about a year old.
I installed QZ. Set ERG off. All other settings defaults. Connected to my bike. Launched Zwift and connected to the network Kicker. Started a free ride on a hilly course. Default resistance was set to 5. It raised and lowered 1 level for each +/- of grade. It definitely felt better. Not like riding in 1st gear. I would probably want to use the virtual gears for the extra increase in power.
Next, I turned on the ERG setting and started a workout. About halfway through the warmup segment, it bumped the resistance to 8. About 15 seconds later it jumped to 13 (16 is the max). My power target was like 105. I rode for another 30 seconds or so to give it a chance to reset back to something lower. It didn’t. I had to stop and exit.
For grins, I wanted to see if any of this behaved differently if I ran the app on my macbook (loaded M2 max). I had the same experience using direct BT connect to my bike. Ran QZ same as above and tried a workout. Once again it started jumping around and left me at 13 while still in the warmup phase.
I did take notice that even though my devices are all within about 3’ of each other, the BT signal is only 1 bar. I’m wondering if I have a defective radio in this bike or if it is some other defect.
Thanks again @Roberto_Viola. I tried some more tests this morning. All of the below were done on my iPad Pro (M1).
Correction to my previous comments: My bike supports 24 levels of resistance not 16.
Uninstalled QZ and reinstalled.
Run QZ to connect to bike and set ERG switch in settings.
Exited QZ and restarted.
Launched Zwift. Selected Wahoo devices.
Launched Companion on Phone and Watch to pair HRM.
Started workout “Slow Motion”.
By 100W in warmup, still no resistance.
Watch failed to stay connected. Paused workout to reconnect the HRM.
Resumed workout. New target was 115 but registered as 0W → 115W in logs. Resistance went to 15, then 24 and back down to 14.
This resistance is not only severe but even though I was generating 212W for the 130W target, the resistance remained at 14. I continued for another 30 seconds and despite generating above the target, it never reduced the resistance. Photos below showing Zwift and QZ screens at these moments.
Being a software engineer myself, I wanted to dig into this further so I sent myself the logs from the ride in Zwift and took a look at their FTMS output. Pasted below and you can see the progressive requests for target power.
[9:29:32] [FTMS] Updated state from 0 to 4 and opcode from 255 to 0
[9:29:33] [FTMS] Updated state from 4 to 5 and opcode from 0 to 1
[9:29:33] [FTMS] Updated state from 5 to 3 and opcode from 1 to 0
[9:29:34] [FTMS] Updated state from 3 to 6 and opcode from 0 to 7
[9:29:35] [FTMS] Rider weight is 150.00 kg.
[9:29:35] [FTMS] Updated state from 6 to 15 and opcode from 7 to 127
[9:29:35] [FTMS] Updated state from 15 to 7 and opcode from 127 to 17
[9:29:35] [FTMS] SIM Grade 0.00% --> 2.37%
[9:29:36] [FTMS] Updated state from 7 to 15 and opcode from 17 to 127
[9:30:56] [FTMS] Updated state from 15 to 8 and opcode from 127 to 5
[9:30:56] [FTMS] ERG 0w --> 80w
[9:30:57] [FTMS] Updated state from 8 to 15 and opcode from 5 to 127
[9:31:12] [FTMS] Updated state from 15 to 8 and opcode from 127 to 5
[9:31:12] [FTMS] ERG 80w --> 85w
[9:31:13] [FTMS] Updated state from 8 to 15 and opcode from 5 to 127
[9:31:27] [FTMS] Updated state from 15 to 8 and opcode from 127 to 5
[9:31:27] [FTMS] ERG 85w --> 90w
[9:31:28] [FTMS] Updated state from 8 to 15 and opcode from 5 to 127
[9:31:42] [FTMS] Updated state from 15 to 8 and opcode from 127 to 5
[9:31:42] [FTMS] ERG 90w --> 95w
[9:31:43] [FTMS] Updated state from 8 to 15 and opcode from 5 to 127
[9:31:43] [FTMS] Updated state from 15 to 8 and opcode from 127 to 5
[9:31:43] [FTMS] ERG 95w --> 100w
[9:31:44] [FTMS] Updated state from 8 to 15 and opcode from 5 to 127
[9:31:57] [FTMS] Updated state from 15 to 7 and opcode from 127 to 17
[9:31:57] [FTMS] SIM Grade 0.00% --> 1.00%
[9:31:57] [FTMS] Updated state from 7 to 15 and opcode from 17 to 127
[9:34:08] [FTMS] Updated state from 15 to 8 and opcode from 127 to 5
[9:34:08] [FTMS] ERG 0w --> 115w
[9:34:09] [FTMS] Updated state from 8 to 15 and opcode from 5 to 127
[9:34:09] [FTMS] Updated state from 15 to 8 and opcode from 127 to 5
[9:34:09] [FTMS] ERG 115w --> 120w
[9:34:10] [FTMS] Updated state from 8 to 15 and opcode from 5 to 127
[9:34:24] [FTMS] Updated state from 15 to 8 and opcode from 127 to 5
[9:34:24] [FTMS] ERG 120w --> 130w
[9:34:25] [FTMS] Updated state from 8 to 15 and opcode from 5 to 127
[9:35:04] [FTMS] Updated state from 15 to 8 and opcode from 127 to 5
[9:35:04] [FTMS] ERG 130w --> 145w
[9:35:05] [FTMS] Updated state from 8 to 15 and opcode from 5 to 127
[9:35:18] [FTMS] Updated state from 15 to 7 and opcode from 127 to 17
[9:35:18] [FTMS] SIM Grade 0.00% --> 1.00%
[9:35:19] [FTMS] Updated state from 7 to 15 and opcode from 17 to 127
[9:35:43] [FTMS] Updated state from 0 to 4 and opcode from 255 to 0
[9:35:43] [FTMS] Updated state from 4 to 5 and opcode from 0 to 1
[9:35:43] [FTMS] Updated state from 5 to 3 and opcode from 1 to 0
[9:35:44] [FTMS] Updated state from 3 to 6 and opcode from 0 to 7
[9:35:45] [FTMS] Updated state from 6 to 15 and opcode from 7 to 127
[9:35:46] [FTMS] Updated state from 15 to 7 and opcode from 127 to 17
[9:35:46] [FTMS] SIM Grade 0.00% --> -0.88%
[9:35:46] [FTMS] Updated state from 7 to 15 and opcode from 17 to 127
I remain suspicious that something is actually wrong with my bike, unless you have some additional thoughts that would explain this behavior. I’m open to suggestions. What else should I try?
Hi Cameron, I’m interested in the MERACH S09 Auto resistance bike, but only providing it offers good compatibility with Zwift modes. Have you resolved your issues? Interested in the setups that you’ve found working, or did you give up on the MERACH s09?
Are you really interested in buying a bike that needs 3rd party workarounds to function with Zwift? It’s OK if the answer is yes, maybe you have your reasons, but to me this seems like signing up for extra work and uncertainty that’s only worthwhile if you already happen to own the bike.
I have the same issue as well. Just purchased the MERACH S09 auto resistance bike. While I really like how resistance changes based on going uphill and downhill, it’s impossible to keep up with anyone competitively on a flat road as it’s stuck on the first gear.
Is this a spin bike issue? I know this bike was advertised as being Zwift compatible, so it’s really unfortunate if this is an unfixable issue. Have you found any solution to this yet?
