Hello!
I’ve started using Zwift with my Ascend S2 smart bike and am quite new to all this. Everything seems to be working great, besides the bike’s resistance going back to 1 (out of a 100) on flat surfaces. I can’t get any tension going on and have to manually change it… that’s until Zwift switches it back to 1.
Would a default resistance be something that’s tweaked on the Zwift side or on my bike’s side?
Thanks!
Hello @Shawn_Pavlin and welcome to Zwift forums.
Shuji at Zwift HQ here. This is not one of the trainers that Zwift officially supports so I’m not familiar with the [Ascend S2] (Ascend S2 Magnetic Spin Bike Black - Auto-adjusted resistance exercise bike), so I’m going to refer you to the manufacturer to see if resistance can controlled by the Zwift app, or if you have to manually turn the resistance knob.
Normally on the Zwift pairing screens, you’d pair a trainer’s 1) Power signal over Bluetooth 2) click the Resistance button and wait ~ 15 seconds for the trainer’s signal to appear before pairing to it then 3) pair to the Cadence signal.
Are you doing those things in that order and allowing time for the Resistance trainer to start broadcasting?
Hey Shuji, thanks for the reply!
The manufacturer claims that the Zwift app should be able to control the resistance of the bike (and it does). They claim:
“It utilizes FTMS Bluetooth technology to connect with various bike apps like Zwift, Kinomap, and more.”
The pairing works. On the pairing screen, all three devices connect:
Zwift does change my resistance while in game, but sets it to resistance 1/100 when the game reaches a 0% incline. It sets it to different values at different inclines, but the fact that it constantly resets my bikes resistance to 1/100 every few seconds makes it virtually impossible to train using Zwift. When that happens, I can manually set the resistance higher, but the game constantly resets my resistance to what Zwift wants it to be.
Thanks!
@Shawn_Pavlin I think this is the key takeaway here:
Hey Mike,
I do understand that. The manufacturer of the bike claims that it is compatible, which is why I’m going around trying to make it work. I now believe that their claim that the bike is compatible is untrue and misleading (and that’s a whole other issue) yet I’d be eager to make it work.
Cheers,
I hear ya, very frustrating that companies do that without any actual support from Zwift. Unfortunately it happens a lot 
Many spin bikes that have marginal compatibility with Zwift can be “fixed” using the QZ app (qzfitness.com). I have never heard of that bike and I don’t know if it would help, but the developer @Roberto_Viola has a good track record of working with people to resolve problems or add support for new equipment. QZ acts as a bridge between the bike and Zwift, so you would run it on a phone or tablet, pair the bike to QZ, pair QZ to Zwift.
Hey Paul, thanks for this tip!
@Roberto_Viola , I’d love to use my Ascend S2 bike to use Zwift, and I know that @Vivi_L probably will as well! 
Hi! Send me an email to Roberto.viola83 at Gmail.com with a screenshot of your bike from the free app nrf connect and I will let you know!
Thanks to everyone who helped out, @Roberto_Viola 's app resolved the problem. Cheers to all! 
Hi @Shawn_Pavlin Shawn, I got the exact sane problem. It seems like everytine there is a route change, it set the S2 bike level to 1 or below what i would need. It doesn’t happen during training but always during events.
Can you tell me how you fix your issue ?
I know that zwift supported gear come with some calibrating interface.’
Thanks
