Here are enhancements I’d like to see for Virtual Shifting:
The ability for virtual shifting to replicate drive trains. In addition to the standard 24 gear range, the ability to set your chainrings or chainring and cassette in Zwift to mimic a bike’s setup.
The ability to store and choose from multiple drive train profiles. As a use case, I ride two different 1x setups. One has a 38t chainring and an 11-44 cassette. The other has a 42t chainring and a 10-36 cassette, I’d like to be able to have the option of those two variations of 12 gears, rather than 24. I’d like my virtual shifting to mimic my road bike or gravel bike, as desired.
If I just had the ability to limit my shifting to 12 gears, and had to manually enter 12 different gear-inch calculations, I could be happy with that.
NEXT: The ability to mimic various electronic shifting systems’ customizable shifting behaviors. I set my shift levers reversed so that the left shifter moves the chain to the outside, and the right, to the inside. I’d like to be able to do this on the Play Controllers. If I ran 2x, I’d want to be able to implement sequential shifting on a virtual 2x12 setup.
Thanks.
Maybe too complex for a first ask. How about just press-and-hold gets you a jump of 12 up or down. So at least some psuedo big ring/small ring transitions.
1 Like
Big ring/small ring transitions might be a useful use-case for 2x riders, but wouldn’t address my desires. I figure if I’m going to make a feature request, I might as well spell out my use-case, even if seeing those features is way down the road, if ever.
Also, that’s not how big ring/small ring shifts affect gear ratios. It’s not 12 lower gears on the small ring, and 12 higher gears on the big ring. There’s huge overlap across the cassette between the two chain rings. This is why sequential shifting for electronic groupsets is such a big deal. Again, 1-12 on one ring and 13-24 on the other is NOT how 2x shifting functions.
Virtual Shifting as it is, is a wonderful thing, but it’s really manual control over 24 steps of resistance in a linear manner that doesn’t bear any particular relationship to peoples’ actual drive trains. With manual resistance management already enabled, what I’m describing is entirely a matter of enhancing the software. It’s just a matter of mapping those resistance variations to be a virtual representation of a Zwifter’s prefered drive train.
Changing from big to small or small to big chainrings isn’t like skipping the whole a cassette so jumping 12 gears is probably way too many. The ability to jump 3 at a time or something would be useful though.
Like shifting the lever all the way over not just to the first click on a mechanical shifter.
On the SB20 you can configure both the number of gears, and also how many gears to jump from the left buttons. So as an example, I have it configured for 40 gears. Right buttons shift one gear at a time. Left buttons shifts 3 gears at a time. Not a bad setup, especially since one gear at a time when there are 40 gears is quite small. (Nice for feathering power but sometimes you need a lot more or less)
2 Likes
StagesBike SB20, one of the 4 smart bikes
Fine, let’s say 8, 6 or 5 then, but 3 is just no point. Count it out for yourself, 3 presses versus press and hold. Even if trying to just emulate a typical 2-ring setup, the difference is more near 4 or 5 steps. (Never invite me to your house for tea if 3 is your idea of generous with the cake.)
I made a feature request. I’m smart enough to figure out how to manage without the requested feature. I wasn’t seeking advice, or trying to create a place for people to argue about my feature request. I might have misunderstood the purpose of this part of the forum.
2 Likes