I just purchased a Wahoo Kickr smart bike and set it up according to the provided instructions (updated the firmware etc…). I noticed while riding in Zwift the bike does not tilt when I go up/down hills. I am new to Zwift and don’t know what to do.
I have only gone up/down hills with a +/-2 gradient and stopped when I noticed the bike wasn’t tilting. I confirmed the bike was not tilting by using the Wahoo Utility android app where it displays the current gradient of the bike.
The smart bike is in the “unlocked” mode and can be tilt manually via the buttons. The trainer difficulty is also set to 50% in Zwift for what it’s worth.
@John_Picchi
Being at Zwift HQ, I can see the session logs from your rides on our server. It looks like the most recent session was in the Zwift Cycling 101 workout plan, is that right? That happens to be a great introduction to structured workouts, introduces what Functional Threshold Power is, and why determining your FTP is super important. Stick with that plan! Day 3 is a mini ramp test that will determine your FTP number.
This also explains why the bike isn’t tilting. Another important feature of Workouts is ERG mode. In ERG mode, your resistance will not change as you climb / descend hills. Instead, ERG mode is training you to hit a wattage target and maintain it for X minutes. The idea is that you’ll being to understand where your power threshold is, and how long you can maintain a certain power output.
In ERG mode, the more watts you put out, the faster you climb the hill. What changes on a climb in ERG mode is your speed, not the pedal resistance. This is true for any resistance-controllable trainer, even ones that lack the tilt feature.
Your bike’s tilt feature comes into play during Free ride mode, aka SIM mode. This simulates the pedal resistance changes of going up or down hills, and the bike will tilt to match the gradient.
Next time you log in - skip the workout plan, and instead select the Watopia tab, then “Routes.” This will give you a menu of different routes available in that world. Scroll down and pick Hilly Route. You’ll come across some hills shortly after you leave downtown Watopia. You should quickly feel the pedal resistance change in SIM mode, and your bike should tilt accordingly.
@shooj I just confirmed your hypothesis and you were correct.
I also noticed something weird with the Wahoo android app (the one I was using to confirm if the bike was in fact tilting). When I don’t let the app pair with the bike (by turning off bluetooth on my phone) the tilt function works as intended. However, when I pair the bike with the Wahoo app while on a gradient in Zwift the bike will return to 0% gradient and will not tilt until I unpair the phone again.
I’ve just got my Kickr Bike today - having the same issue as you John… but I’ve not been in ERG mode at all… just free riding. The tilt hasn’t worked at all unless i do it manually. I’ve locked and unlocked a couple of times. I’ve even turned off my phone completely do there’s no danger of interference!!
@T_he_Omnisis you have pretty much done everything I have done. (You have checked that it is in the unlocked mode and turned off your phone.)
Have you updated the firmware of the bike?
What is your trainer difficulty set to in the settings? I believe that if you set it lower it will decrease the tilt by that percent. So if you are on a 8% gradient it will only tilt like it is on a 4% gradient if your trainer difficulty is set to 50%.
Have you tried riding up extreme gradients? Sometimes I cannot tell if my bike is actually tilting when I’m riding up gradients less than (or greater than) 6%… and that’s with my trainer difficulty set to ~50%.
The trainer difficulty is a good point - I think I’ve got it set at 30% at the moment… firmware was updated before I started… always the first thing I do with any new hardware!
I had the Wahoo app open at first and I was watching the Tilt metric - it didn’t move from 0% and I kept watching the menu on the bike - never moved from the gears - until I manually tilted.
That’s when I shut down my phone to see if it would just use the ANT+ to talk to each other.
I’ll up the trainer difficulty tomorrow to 100% and go and have a blast up Epic KOM and see what it does!
By making sure I had the trainer difficulty at least past 50% (I started at 100% and then gradually moved it down - I think I finished at about 60-70%) it was fine - worked right away. I didn’t connect the Wahoo app at all.
@El_Santo_Ambrosi
If you’re using any resistance-controllable trainer, trainer difficulty is an in-game setting that changes the pedal resistance you feel on uphills / downhills. Your default setting is 50%, meaning that if you ride a 16% gradient climb, you’ll experience half that resistance (in SIM mode) of 8%.
Trainer difficulty affects the pedal resistance on both the climb and the descent of any given hill. So you won’t have the benefit of coasting down a hill you just climbed, does that make sense?
See this explainer video:
I’m not familiar with Wahoo’s automatic tilt feature beyond what I described above. You might want to ask about that on the Wahoo support site.
I had the same issue , it was solved by closing down the Wahoo App whilst Zwifting .its important that the Wahoo bike is only connected to Zwift. Also start in 100% Trainer difficulty. Hope that helps.
@John_Picchi when riding a Kickr Bike in Zwift, is there a way (in the works?) to set resistance difficulty and grade difficulty separately ? It seems that a lot of folks want to separate these.
Also, being new to Zwift and the Kickr Bike, why is the default trainer difficulty in Zwift not 100%?
why is the default 50%?
Why do some KOLs like DC Rainmaker prefer 10-20%?
New to this, so I don’t have a strong opinion, but opinion seems to be quite divided.
Certainly people who by a CLIMB or KICKR bike want their gradient change…
but apparently DC Rainmaker’s wheelbase hack is not available for the KICKR bike (not sure??)
hi there I’ve just bought my bike 3 days ago and have tried everything on here I’ve gone on to the wahoo app and it says locked 4.6% I’ve unlocked the bike many times the gradient will change but not to the right one without Me manually changing it can you help me.
My kickr bike won’t go down only down 4% wile I’m doing a lot more on zwift ! Trainers difficulty is 100% no problem with climbing. So wy will it not go down all the way and stops at -4% ? Zwift doing -10 kickr bike -4% updateds are all done! pleas answer
Hi, I do not see any reason why the tilt function shall be connected to the trainer difficulty level? Obviously everyone wants the Kickr Bike to tilt even if Zwift gives you the opportunity to limit the gearing. The bike should correspond to the terrain you are in regardless. At least we should have the option to choose. I got my Kickr Bike yesterday and this is just silly. Is this a Zwift or Wahoo issue? If zwift; please correct. I cannot imagine a single person riding on low difficulty would like the bike to tilt less than the terrain. Can anyone fix this?
updateds are all done! pleas answer