Hey everyone. I’m extremely new to smart trainers and Zwift so I’m stumbling through things a little.
I am currently using a Tacx Neo 2 trainer in an upstairs apartment. Initially I liked the idea of using the “road feel” option until I realized how much vibration that seems to create and I really want to keep chances of annoying my downstairs neighbor to a minimum (even though I’ve informed them I have a trainer).
As a result, I would prefer to disable the “road feel” option and have been able to do that. However, today I noticed that no matter what gradient I rode the intensity felt almost the same. It seems I discovered ERG mode. The strange thing is, I’m sure the previous couple rides required shifting gears on gradients, but road feel was disabled. I don’t recall changing any options.
In the end, I would like to keep road feel disabled and also keep the ability to do my own shifting during generic rides/routes. I understand the purpose of ERG mode for workouts, but I’m not doing those at this time.
Is it possible to do what I want or do I only have two options:
- Tacx road feel disabled, ERG mode automatically enabled with no way to disable
- Tacx road feel enabled, ERG mode automatically disabled due to road feel option
Thanks for any input.
Road feel and erg mode are two completely separate settings, so you should be able to turn each on or off independently of the other.
Also, a trainer mat (or, as someone else recently suggested, a car mat, underneath the trainer will help to dampen the noise/vibration, also.
Maybe the problem is that I’m having difficulty locating the settings. I definitely know where to enable/disable ‘road feel’ in the settings menu when doing a generic route ride, but I can’t find anything about ERG mode anywhere.
If I open the workout menu before choosing a selection, I clearly see an option to enable/disable ERG mode.
As far as reducing vibration, I’ve bought some foam mats to raise up the trainer and hopefully isolate noise. I’m located in Japan now so some options are limited and sometimes way more expensive than if I were back in the States. I’m hoping this solution would do, but I’d still like to avoid the additional vibration of road feel if possible since Japanese apartment residents are quite famous for being concerned about noise levels.
Erg mode is only an option in zwift during a workout.
Unless you are playing with another app at the same time (is there a tacx app you have played with erg mode?)
I do have a Tacx app on my phone, but it’s never open when I use Zwift. In fact, I’ve only opened the Tacx app a few times. I just checked the Tacx app while connected to the trainer (Zwift wasn’t open) to check the settings and there’s no ERG mode option and the road feel option in Tacx is disabled anyway.
As far as I’m aware, I’m only using the Zwift companion on my phone to connect to my various sensors via bluetooth to my PC while riding on Zwift.
I’ve uploaded some analysis photos from Strava for the last 3 Zwift rides (May 20, 21, 22 respectively). I’m pretty confident May 20 was allowed me to notice change in gradient and normal gear shifting. I’m less confident about May 21 and today I definitely noticed I was able to stay in the same gear the entire ride.
Make sure at the pairing screen you are connecting the tacx as a controllable. You may have just connected it as a speed device and hence didn’t feel any gradient changes.
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