Ian, thanks I will try that…I previously understood that Wattbike would only connect to 1 device at a time, but maybe if I do ant stick on laptop and wattbike hub via Bluetooth from phone I can do that. will try tomorrow.
thanks for the heads up.
Hi everyone.
I have been using zwift for a few months, and upgraded to a watt bike 2 days ago.
@Ian_Unsworth you have described the same issue I am having to a tee.
I will try your solution of multiple devices tomorrow. But it is very dissapointing as it seems like a real faff!
I would be interested to know - Using your solution, can you now start a ride without feeling like you need to drop an elephant on the pedal?? I find this hugely frustrating.
Thanks
Greg
I tend to find that if I turn on the bike before I start Zwift and start the quick ride on the Wattbike app before starting the ride on Zwift its normally ok, although not always for no obvious reason. If I end a ride and restart Zwift or pause a ride to use the menu it is much more likely to need the elephant. I’m still not really sure what works to get going, I used to think it took a certain amount of speed and power to gain some momentum, but a couple of times recently Ive just put in enough effort to get the pedals turning (still a small elephant) and over a few seconds its sorted itself out.
Multiple devices does seem a faff but doesn’t really take long, although if you can do without gear display you don’t need the wattbike app, the gears work through Zwift, you just don’t know when you’re about to run out.
Hope you get sorted, I really enjoy the Atom and Zwift together now I’m used to the slight occasional issues.
Hi ian
I have done a couple of rides now, and it does work well. I do like having the gear read out, so 3 devices is a must!
I seem to be getting more used to the atom in general which also helps.
I spoke to wattbike, and they said they do know about the issue and are looking to get it sorted. Hopefully they do. But for now, thank you for your efforts, it has really helped!
Greg
Hi Greg and Ian
I think I may be having the same problem and have contacted Wattbike and zwift. No response from zwift yet and no solution from Wattbike. I am fine when using ant+ on the desktop but when using Bluetooth on my iPad I need the elephant to get going and for the first minute or two control is really poor. This only seems to be when doing workouts in erg mode and if I do a free ride it’s fine with Bluetooth.
If I get a solution I will post up and please do the same if you work it out!
Be
Joe
Hi Joe,
I was pleased (ish) with the solution suggested by Ian, up untill today.
Funnily enough, I tried a workout for the first time today on the watt bike, and i experienced the exact same issue you mentioned! I. E. If you stop, not even an elephant was able to get me going.
I also found that the wattage reading was very jumpy even though my cadence was consistent. Did you have this issue also?
Watt bike have informed me they are going to send an engineer to my house once lock down is over.
I really want it to work, as having a dedicated indoor bike is so much better than a turbo trainer. However, my cheap turbo trainer seemed to be a lot less hassle than this!
Glad I came across this thread. I’ve been gradually falling out of love with my wattbike due to these issues. I’ve had one since they came out. I’m having the following issues
iPad:
Everything works as expected but gears can be slow. Also if you sprint, then stop pedalling, you need an elephant to get you going, even though in the game your avartar is moving fast.geafs do display
Windows 10 Bluetooth:
No EGR mode. No resistance changes for gradient changes. Gears do display
Windows 10 Bluetooth Companion app:
ERG mode and resistance for hills works. No gear changes displayed (I can’t live with that)
Windows ANT+:
ERG mode and resistance for hills works. No gear changes displayed
Yes Tommy, that is spot on. It sounds like everyone’s issues are at least consistent.
Im actually surprised this isn’t more publicised on the main stream reviews, and that watt bike sell as many as the do.
I just tried an iPhone device for the first time with atom and zwift. I just did a free ride, and it worked brilliantly (I hadn’t tried a sprint and noticed the issue you mentioned though).
More intriguing though is that my power average went up by about 20-30 watts, which was similair to what I used to achieve on my turbo trainer.
Workout mode still doest work on ios though. If I stop mid ride, the pedals will not move again. Watt meter very very jumpy also.
Hi Greg
Yes, same issue. Wattbike have said they think it is a Zwift issue - so no offer of an engineer for me. Its pretty frustrating!
Interestingly, tried a workaround today using Zwift on bluetooth with iPad but using edge 830 as control unit for workouts. Even that didn’t work when Zwift was running, even with the controller on Zwift turned off. It clearly has some glitch that interferes with other devices even when it shouldn’t.
bw
Joe
Interesting that you think the power may be different. I did the alp with the ipad at 245w on the iPad and the week after on my surface pro I couldn’t manage 210w. That said I always pair my Garmin for stats display and physio true up. It always matches Zwift so I guess the power is correct.
Seriously if could get hold of a kickr I’d buy it. Zwift is so much nicer on my surface than my iPad Air 2.
If it was possible to see the wattbike gears on the Garmin that would be epic and would solve it
I nearly changed to a neo 2t. But the convenience of the wattbike, and how nice and solid it feels to sit on (compared to my not so new road bike loaded on a tt) has made me perserve.
Tommy, What garmin device are you talking of please?
I actually need to buy a new device for the wattbike as Windows 10 is too buggy.
I was going to get an ipad air, as this shows gears and seems to work.
Sounds like the surface has benefits, and draw backs. What are they?
Also, there is a solution which Ian came up with earlier in this thread for seeing gear changes.
Use an extra phone/device set up with wattbike hub app connected via ble. Start a quick ride whilst having zwift on your main screen. You can then view the gear changes on the wattbike hub app.
Not sure if that helps…
I have an iPad Air 2. It works flawlessly in terms of Erg/Grade/gear display/connections reliability. However the screen is small, and the graphics are poor
The surface pro 6 i have is an i7 - 8GB version. The graphics look way better and the screen is much bigger. But as it is windows, i get no ERG or gradient.
I always have my Garmin Edge 830 paired and recording via ANT+ as i like to keep my stress, intensity and heart rate in garmin connect accurate (zwift uploads to garmin connect do not TrueUp to my watch). Its also useful to have average power displayed on there for Alp Du Zwift efforts. Its just a real shame there is no way to see the Wattbike current gear on a Garmin. Then i could just use windows on ANT+ and still see my gears
Thanks, I appreciate the feedback.
I think I will get an ipad then as it seems like the best solution. I have a lightning to hdmi convertor which I’ve been usung to port the image from the missus iPhone to a bigger TV. I agree though, the graphics are way better on my windows lap top.
The other downside to IOS is that my garmin vivo active 3 watch is only ant+ capable, so cannot get my HR on swift.
Gonna have to just accept that though as I’m not buying more gadgets any time soon!
Cheers
I can confirm the same issues everyone is experiencing for Windows (BLE no resistance change / ANT+ no gear icon).
It is a real shame the Atom doesn’t work properly on Windows as the Zwift experience is far superior compared to the iPad.
I think the right solution is three screens (Wattbike Hub iPad (BLE), Phone Companion (WiFi), Windows Zwift (ANT+), but this does seem like overkill!
Hopefully Wattbike / Zwift are working on it…
Wish I’d known about this issue. Have been using an ipad mini with the Atom and Zwift for ages and all works well. Wanted some better graphics, saw that a pc was meant to do this so splurged on a gaming laptop with windows 10. Screen makes it all look lovely but totally useless in respect of resistance and real life ride feel! A wasted purchase - really hoping that between zwift, wattbike and microsoft that there is a fix soon.
I have the same experience in that the Atom doesnt recieve the resistance changes for gradient changes when riding nor does the ERG mode work correctly as earlier reported when connecting directly to Zwift through my laptops native bluetooth.
I currently use the companion app as a bluetooth bridge which on some days can be troublesome but largely has worked flawlessly since starting in July.
However, I believe the problem is between the Software on Windows and windows itself. I have also used other “well Established” training platforms with the atom connected directly via bluetooth to the Atom and they work as desired so a problem within the Atom itself I don’t think is the problem.
Like other users, I prefer to use bluetooth to see the gear changes and know even briefly what gear I’m riding on the atom which keeps me away from using ANT+ but I also record my rides via ANT+ on my Garmin 530 to compile all the data alongside my outdoor riding so connecting to my Laptop via ANT+ is a non starter. I dont have a tablet to connect to and using the large screen is a must for myself to increase the immersion of the experience.
Happy to discuss more the problems I have encountered and the tests I have done over the past 3 months. Ride On.
Hi All, I bought a Microsoft Surface mostly as a Zwift/Wattbike device, unfortunately I wasn’t aware of the issues as everyone has described which is frustrating! I had previously used an iMac which although old worked very well but I wanted a tablet.
Main issue for me is ERG mode not activating in training mode, it’s not giving me the any resistance so I can effectively free wheel. Anyone know if there has been an update from Zwift / Wattbike which may help the issue? I use zwift for training blocks, so ERG definitely needed.
Oddly enough, I had a Gen 1 wattbike, set up was companion app and MS surface, which worked flawlessly. GF also used it with an iPad and again it worked perfectly each time.
We were that impressed by it that we decided to get the Gen 2 - talk about night and day… I have had constant issues with it… Issues include:
Inconsistent pairing via companion app
delay of between 20 - 30 seconds before resistance kicks in in free ride in Zwift
constant dropouts - sometimes reconnects other times refuses to connect without a restart
I even had instances where the resistance was “flipped” so resistance increased going down hill
Wattbike were initially helpful and sent an engineer, who said it all looked fine! advice since then has been to update to the beta firmware. This seemed to improve things for a short while but now its worse than ever.
I’m convinced that its the new bike - every other piece of kit is the same.
I’ve even resorted to putting together a new PC, but went for an internal Bluetooth 5 Wi-Fi combo card - and like everyone else above now have no resistance changes to match up and down hill sections. Reading this thread at least has made me realise that the BT issue looks to be separate (will try ANT+ dongle next) but I’m convinced there is something wrong with my Gen 2
I am so glad that I found this page on the forum!
I have been trying to get help from Zwift and WattBike for this exact issue. If I connect using my Mac or with iOS everything works perfectly, howevfer I cannot use ERG mode and gear changes make almost no difference with Windows 10.
For me if I connect using Bluetooth I consistently sit at about 60% of the required output in ERG mode, it never increases my resistance. Also, if I am riding I pretty much stay in gear 9 regardless of whether I’m going up Alpe du Zwift or back down it (I can sit at about 250 to 280 watts up and about 220 watts down in gear 9).
However, if I connect Bluetooth through the Companion App everything suddenly works (e.g. Gear 1 or 2 gives me about 280 watts up Alpe du Zwift and I need a high gear to descend)… It also works correctly with ERG mode.
I also bought an ANT+ sitck and this works for ERG mode but doesn’t give an option to change gear or resistance in regular cycling mode.
I’m really unhappy that nobody at Zwift or WattBike has simple acknowledged that this is an existing problem. Come on Zwift, you just raised $400m funding, this shouldn’t be a hard thing to fix.
1 Like
Also having this problem. Very frustrating.
The second issue with Zwift and a modern windows device (brand new dell xps 15) Other training softwares working great on same device. This is software related and unique to zwift.