I have been doing a little digging around online, but I am seeking some clarification on how the Zwift Hub and virtual shifting works with 1x gravel bikes. Does the virtual shifting and Hub functionality make it such that a 1x bike, with (for example) 40T chain ring, and a 10-44 (or similar) cassette can behave, shift, and have the same level of resistance as a 2x12 with (for example) 52/36 up front, and 11-30 in the rear? Or, is the chain ring on the bike a limiting factor in how tall/hard the gearing will feel, even with virtual shifting.
For a bit more context, I like being able to get out of the saddle on Zwift during endurance rides or intervals, and similar to outdoors, shift into a harder gear to temporarily lower my cadence and stretch my legs, use different musculature, etc. When I use Zwift with a normal 1x gravel setup, I am obviously limited by the gearing, and it is difficult to stand up and lower cadence, as I run out of gears. But, I am also weird about torturing my nicer road bike on the trainer constantly, and would prefer to mount my less high-end gravel rig, and let that take the abuse, if anything. However, I want the gearing/experience to be more similar to my road bike for intervals, standing, etc. The Hub and virtual shifting seems like a great solution, assuming it works how I hope it does.
The chain ring isn’t a limiter on the feel or number of gears or the ratios but without a Zwift Ride I think you will be stuck with sequential gears from 1-24. So you can’t easily switch from little to big ring on the front without flicking through a number of gears.
This article below discusses it in more detail and list the gears
I looked into this as well, the zwift eshifting is essentially just a range of virtual gears that will add or reduce resistance. Think of it as the trainer in erg mode and shifting adds or subtracts the watt demand required by 15ish in either direction.
It doesn’t matter what’s going on at the front of the bike - it’s all done through software.
Yes, because you wouldn’t be changing gears at all in real life. You could do it with a single speed. Indeed, if you get an Elite Square and mate it to a modern Elite trainer, you get a single-speed belt drive and all the virtual gears you want.
You can configure Wahoo’s Kickr Bike to have 1x12, 2x11 gearing with any chainring and cassette option you want. It is all software.
..new to Zwift, still in demo mode actually. How do I get to or find Virtual Shifting? I just did my first TR workout in Zwift, and I only had the options of incline/erg and 100% +/-. Am I missing something?
Also, I do not have the one/cog or “xbox” controllers but just have my 1x gravel bike on a wahoo kickr. I refuse to buy more stuff to sit on a trainer.
You need the Zwift Click or Play controllers to have virtual shifting. Otherwise, you use ERG for workouts and don’t shift, or use your on-bike gearing to shift in resistance mode or when freeriding in Zwift.
Thanks… Also, how do I get the “resistance” to change with the rolling terrain? Was that not happening because I was in a workout? Does this just work if im on a ride and not in a workout?
