Virtual shifting up gears too harsh

Does any one find going up certain gears too much of a jump??

I have the Zwift Ride frame and use the JetBlack Victory trainer. I changed my virtual gearing to match my outdoor bike which is SRAM.
On my outdoor bike I would regularly be in gear 2-12 but in Zwift I can barely go past gear 2-8.

I could be on the flat doing decent watts and my cadence would start to go towards 110 rpm. At this point I would decide to go up a gear to allow me to increase power and drop cadence slightly.

I would be in say gear 2-6 or 2-7 at this stage. If I choose to go up to the next gear it feels like I cycled into a wall.

I have to drop the gear down to previous gear.
Even on a descents, outdoors on a descent I would be in gear 2-12 but if I try that in Zwift if feels like I am going uphill.

I don’t think this should be the case.

I have already raised this with JetBlack and they said virtual shifting is done on the Zwift side.

Has anyone else experienced this? What is the general consensus on the feel of going up virtual gears?

There’s some discussion of that buried somewhere in this topic

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Using the below support article as the guidelines, you mentioned you have SRAM setup enabled; what Gear Range option did you choose? Are you sure you’re not doing all of your shifting while in the virtual “big chainring”? You mentioned that on your outdoor bike, you’re always in gears 2-12. That means you never use your large chainring IRL? In neither case (virtual or IRL) you never mention gears 13-24?

ht tps://support.zwift.com/en_us/zwift-ride-shift-style-and-gear-range-rksYezzIC

When I say 2-* I mean 2 would replicate the big front ring and the *-12 would be the small cog in rear cassette…
I would often be in that gear ratio outdoors.
Gear 2-1:12 would be gears 13-24 in Zwift sequential shifting.
I find if I am in gear 2-6 (Zwift gear 18) and then change to gear 2-7 (Zwift gear 19), it just feels too big of a change and is not smooth. It results in me having to drop back down to gear 2-6 (gear 18).

Hey Paul, I am also following that thread and have inputted what I found in the JBV. Based on what Zwift were saying in my virtual gear support ticket - I should create a forum for it - I decided to create a new thread to discuss this one single area.
A friend of mine has the Zwift ride but he paired it with Wahoo Kickr core. He also feels the gear change up in some gears feels way too hard.

Ok, got it. I think I was thrown by you saying you are often in gear 2-12 outdoors – you’re saying you are often riding in your bike’s hardest gear? That’s a bit unusual.

Anyway, does the game display the actual 2-X gear, or is it displaying 18, 19 etc.?

Reason I ask, is was wondering how Zwift might handle it if you choose SRAM style, but combine with the 1-24 sequential mixed terrain. Eg. Here’s an IRL hypothetical cassette, emulating Zwift’s “Flat” gear range 10-28 cassette.

Gear 18, if chosen sequentially by the software to be the 6th hardest gear would be actually choosing the 39-11 combo, not the 53-15 large ring option. I have no idea how Zwift manages gear changes, but thought I’d throw this out there.

What Gear Range option do you have selected though?

Hey John, sorry for getting my point lost in translation :slight_smile:
That is correct, using Zwift ride and if you choose SRAM it shows the gears in ratio format and not sequential.
I choose the “all rounder” option under hardware settings which is “All-Rounder (43-35, 10-33)”.

Outdoors, I would be in “hardest” gear often enough to know I have been in it. While in Zwift I get nowhere near those gears. “Hardest” gear in Zwift I get to is gear 2-9, even on descents I would expect to be able to spin the legs in hardest gear 2-12 but it just feels too hard.

Hey Ray, how are you ? I’m new to the Zwift Ride and as well, I found that when I change the gear sometimes I don’t feel it and sometimes is like also hitting a wall. I’m on the SRAM / Flat configuration! But did you find why this is happening or an explanation? Thanks for the feedback in advanced !

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Hey Ricardo, a part for the odd shifting issue I hope the Zwift Ride is treating you well. For me the shifting is good except for when it comes to the gear range when it feels too harsh and it shouldn’t be.

Thanks for your reply! Yes it’s so cool, but the difference between gear 2-3 and 2-4 it’s so big and so hard, seems to be not logic ! And if I go to the 2-12, well is like a stone ! So I was wondering is this is a bug, I saw that some users feel the same! Did you found any way to fix the hardness bug ?

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Are you using 100% Trainer Difficulty in Zwift?

The reason you can’t get to hardest gear is also cause Zwift will use Half of the gradient on Descents.

Example if you go downhill on -10% you will actually feel as it is -5%

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I set the trainer difficulty to 100% based on JetBlack Victory maxing out at 16%. When I had Neo 2T I had it set to 70-75%. Even with 100% difficulty I just find the jump in some gear to feel like hitting a wall.
In one gear I am spinning nicely and know I need to go up a gear, but when I do that the feels unmanageable. For me it’s changing from 2-8 to 2-9.
The last few gears are unusable, even on a descent.

Hi, I have just invested in the Zwift Ride and have switched the gears to Shimano style as per outdoor bike.

I too have found that the gear changes can be a little harsh compared to my outdoor bike gearing. Have you found any solution to this?

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No change for me Ollie. Changing certain gears still feels too hard. I am just glad I am not the only one…