Purchased Zwift Hub One in Nov '23. Used it most of the winter (in Canada). Didn’t have any issues over the winter. Roll ahead to Nov '24, as I get to having to renew my membership and I’m having issues with the Hub One the 1st time I jump back on the bike for the winter.
The resistance never seems as natural as it was in the Spring, but the biggest issue is these random spikes in resistance that happen, pretty much a minute or two in. Totally random and I can’t get rid of the issue.
These happen in ERG and regular modes.
I’m technical and have tried a lot and can’t figure it out. Before I throw the towel in I wanted to check with the forums to see if I’m missing something. I love zwift and don’t want it to end this way.
Setup:
Zwift Hub One
firmware: 5.2.2
Hardware Ver: 1
Play Controllers
firmware: 1.3.1
Hardware Ver: B.0
Macbook Pro (2017)
OS: Ventura 13.7
Polar heart rate monitor
note sure the model, it’s a bluetooth armband one
Shuji at Zwift HQ here. Thanks for the detailed troubleshooting. Looking at the server logs, you’ve done all the right things to make sure the Virtual Shifting is working correctly.
Tell us a little more about this? Does this spike in resistance happen right after your avatar spawns in the world and you start pedaling? Does it feel like a mild stuttering of the resistance?
If yes - does it last ~15 seconds before it stops? Looking at your server logs, all of your sessions after mid-October are all less than 1 mile in length, so I’m guessing that the wonky resistance happens right when your avatar spawns.
If yes - and you have Virtual Shifting enabled in your game settings menu, that stuttering resistance you feel is a thing called Real Gear Detection. The system is reading your pedal RPM and flywheel velocity, and determines what physical gearing is on your bike before it starts you in an easy-to-pedal virtual gear 8.
Does that sound like what might be happening? If yes - this happens only once per session. You can go on riding an use the Virtual Shifting and your resistance should not spike for no reason.
I was thinking the same thing, except for the comment about testing with the Play controllers off, which presumably would disable virtual shifting right? But it might be worthwhile to double check that it’s actually the same with and without the Play controllers.
Usually everything starts out ok, I spawn in, wait a few secs and then start pedalling. The huge spike feels random, and usually is within a few minutes, as you can tell from my logs as I usually pause to figure out what’s up or I bail totally to go do more googling.
My last couple of tests have been with my Play controllers turned off. Tonight is a typical test: I spark up the app, everything (minus the controllers) connects perfectly, I pick a 30 min or less workout, pick a route and jump in. Start pedaling. It could be my mind because I’m hyper sensitive now with paying attention, but everything just feels a bit off, say 5% with what the screen is saying to maintain and what I’m doing. THEN, within a minute or two the resistance spiked to near impossible. It’ll drop off to almost near nothing and then bounce around random.
I thought it could have been my old macBook Pro, that’s when I introduced a clean install on my wife’s iPad Mini (6th gen) - which had the same issue.
The only thing I haven’t tried (just came to me but is a crazy thought) is to move the bike+zwift hub to another room in my house just to see if that triggers something - perhaps with bluetooth interference or something?!? My pain cave setup is in my basement though and I don’t have any new BT devices in the house compared to the spring…
Looking through your server logs, I’m seeing a Max Cadence of 36 rpm and an average cadence of 18. That’s pretty low compared to most workouts that ask you to hold anywhere from 60 to 100 RPM.
What you’re describing might be the “Spiral of Death” that happens if your pedal cadences drops too low.
In ERG mode, it’s important to pay attention to the cadence target the game is asking you to hit. As you spin faster / slower, your resistance will automatically increase / decrease which in turn helps you hit your wattage target.
Would you try the same workout again, but increase your pedal RPM and see if that solves it?
I just did a workout test at about 8:30pm est. It’s only 1-2 min. In that time, at first I’m matching the required cadence during warmup. Then the resistance “ramps up” for lack of a better term, really quick, like in 1-2 secs, hits a very hard max, then drop down to a normal area, then ramps right back up again. It’s almost like the system is confused or not getting the full info from the trainer.
If you are able to look back at any of my logs from say Jan-Feb '24, those all worked like butter, both workouts and free rides.
The logs from Oct-Nov '24 will all have this quick oscillation (or maybe the logs don’t show what I’m experiencing). I may have 1 full workout in the month of Oct, but boy did I ever have to fight through these bounces in difficulty.
Ironically enough, today is 1 year for me on the zwift platform and it’s also the day I say goodbye. I can’t figure out why my Zwift Hub One doesn’t work the way it did only a few months ago. The oscillating max tension problem doesn’t make sense to me in late 2024 when I’ve done tons of runs in early 2024 and late 2023 with no issues. Farewell folks, and I hope tech issues in the future don’t affect people like me… This really sux as I chuck my hub one into the garbage next week.
Hello. I have similar issues happening. For me, it occurs when there is a gradient of more than 10%. The power increases and my cadence drops, then the power decreases again, and I can pedal normally once more. And this keeps happening until the gradient is less steep. I don’t understand anything. You can check my ride from September 22, 2024. Climb Portal: Cote de Trebiac at 100% Elevation in Watopia
Tried moving my bike to a slightly different place in the pain cave while also plugging the Hub One directly into the wall vs going through a power bar. I tested with a regular bike ride - using the Play controllers, heartrate monitor and fan all back in play. This setup was having the same issues earlier this fall…
and it worked!
So moved the bike back to where it was before the issues, and left it plugged directly in the wall. Did a 40 min free ride and all was great.
I’ll go back and do an ERG Workout test this weekend to see if that plays along…