9 December 2024
Zwift has announced an expansion of compatibility for the Zwift Cog and virtual shifting for three additional trainers today, which are:
– Elite Direto XR
– JetBlack Volt V2
– Decathlon’s Van Rysel D100
In the case of all three, firmware updates are available immediately for existing users to update their trainers and start using virtual shifting, either with or without a Zwift Cog. Though, to use Zwift’s Virtual Shifting you do need at a minimum the Zwift Click button, seen below (so you can virtually change gears):
As a brief reminder, Zwift Virtual Shifting is a trainer-level firmware feature that is controlled by Zwift. It’s not quite as simple as just changing the ANT+/Bluetooth resistance level, but rather, has a bit more smarts involved so the inertia feels correct when you shift. Hence why each company has to roll out a unique firmware update for it. In order to shift, you’ll use either the Zwift Click button, or, the Zwift Play controllers (seen below):
The secondary but not actually required part of that is the Zwift Cog. This cog replaces your rear cassette with a single cog, such that you don’t shift at all in the back. Notably though, there are no electronics in this cog, hence, Zwift doesn’t actually know if you swapped it out or not. Instead, the main appeal of this is that’s it’s compatible with bikes of varying speeds (e.g. 10 speed, 11 speed, 12 speed, etc…). So you can mix and match different speed bikes on a single trainer without having to swap cassettes out.
Above you can see the orange Zwift Cog V2, which also has a new hardware indexing feature that basically lets you more precisely align your chain so it’s quieter. The black Zwift Cog V1 doesn’t have this.
But, the cool part of the Virtual Shifting bit is that if you’ve got one of the trainers above, and Zwift Play controller, or the Zwift Click, you can just update the firmware and use it without a Zwift Cog.
That said, the very uncool part of the Zwift Cog is that it requires Zwift to virtually shift. So, if you install the Zwift Cog on your trainer, you can’t use it in other platforms like Rouvy, BKool, or FulGaz, for any rides that require shifting. Structured workouts (aka ERG mode) still work, because no shifting is involved, but if you have to shift, you need a regular cassette. And yes, I’m going to keep beating the drum that Zwift leans on industry standards for everything else, but is pushing trainer companies to adopt it’s proprietary Zwift Ready (virtual shifting) system instead.
Now, what’s somewhat amusing about today’s announcement, is that 2 out of 3 of the trainers listed above, have already been shipping with Zwift Virtual Shifting for at least a month. Yet today’s update brings that firmware to existing users. The Elite Direto XR + Zwift Cog has been shipping since back in September, and the Decathlon D100 since I think early October or so. I don’t really understand why it took both companies this long to release a firmware update already released. Whereas, the JetBlack VOLT V2 update is legit new here, albeit, one promised over and over again over the past year.
In any event, I’ve been riding the Decathlon D100 lately, including with the Virtual Shifting update (when I accidentally stumbled into it via the firmware update late last week while troubleshooting something else), and then equally, I updated the Direto XR to the final V87 firmware this afternoon for a ride:
No obvious issues with either in terms of shifting and such. Here’s a quick workout today I did on the new firmware, in SIM mode, with one of the pacer groups:
A
And zoomed in as well:
As for trainers in the review pipeline, I’ve got both the Decathlon D100 trainer and Elite Avanti trainer in-depth reviews slated for the upcoming days. I haven’t decided which one will be first, many miles have gone onto both over the past 3-4 weeks (between myself, my wife, and also DesFit). But…just gotta finish AmazFit T-Rex 3 In-Depth Review first.
With that, thanks for reading!
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