Zwift already supported different shifting styles (Sequential, Shimano Style A, Shimano Style B, SRAM Style) using the Zwift Ride’s controllers, but last week they quietly added SRAM-Style support for users of the standard Zwift Play controllers and the Zwift Click.
Sequential vs SRAM Shift Styles
Zwift Play and Click have only used Sequential shifting up to this point. How does Sequential differ from SRAM Style shifting, you ask?
- Sequential: shifting up or down will move the chain on your virtual rear cassette from 1st gear up to 24th gear. It’s like having a virtual 24-speed cassette.
- SRAM Style: shifting up or down will move the chain on your virtual rear cassette from the 1st gear up to the 12 gear (since it’s a virtual 12-speed cassette). “Double tapping” – hitting both shift buttons at the same time – shifts your virtual chainring between the large and small rings.
Gear Range Options and Gotchas
Now, regardless of which shifting hardware you pair (Ride, Play, or Click), you will have four different gear range options:
- Mixed Terrain (1×24)
- Flat (53/39, 10-28)
- All-Arounder (48/35, 10-33)
- Climbing (43/30, 10-36)
Note: If you select “Mixed Terrain”, your shifting behavior will be the same whether you select “Sequential” or “SRAM Style” as your Shift Style, since this is a single-chainring setup. The only difference is the HUD shows “Gear X” with Sequential style, and “Gear 1-X” with SRAM Style.
As the names imply, the Flat, All-Arounder, and Climbing gear ranges are best suited for particular types of terrain. The Flat range assumes you’re riding on flat, fast roads, and thus gives you lots of gears in that range. The Climbing range gives you much smaller front chainrings and big “granny gears” on your cassette, so you can find that perfect gear on climbs. And the All-Arounder range is somewhere in between.
Choose “Mixed Terrain” if you want the maximum range of gear ratios, with fairly even spacing between each gear, without needing to think about shifting chainrings. Choose one of the other options if you want to use SRAM-style shifting and have your overall gearing and shifting experience more closely emulate IRL mechanical shifting.
Note: if you choose Sequential shifting but choose the Flat, All-Arounder, or Climbing gear ranges, your experience will be less than optimal. In my opinion, Sequential shifting should only be used with the Mixed Terrain (1×24) setup. This is because Sequential shifting basically sorts your available gear ratios, then shifts you between those ratios with each shift, magically swapping you between the large and small ring as well as shifting your cassette. The result? Uneven spacing between gears.
Example: Sequential shifting using the Flat (53/39, 10-28) gear range would mean shifting from 10-11 is a gear ratio change from 2.60 to 2.75, while shifting from 11-12 is a ratio change of 2.75 to 2.79. Those are two very different ratio gaps!
Want more detail? Here is the actual gearing each scheme emulates, according to Zwift, along with the calculated gear ratio of each combination.
Mixed Terrain (1×24)
This gear range basically behaves like a single 55-tooth chainring in the front, with a 24-speed cassette in the rear with a massive range between 10-73 teeth!
| Cassette | Gear Ratio |
| 1 | 0.75 |
| 2 | 0.87 |
| 3 | 0.99 |
| 4 | 1.11 |
| 5 | 1.23 |
| 6 | 1.38 |
| 7 | 1.53 |
| 8 | 1.68 |
| 9 | 1.86 |
| 10 | 2.04 |
| 11 | 2.22 |
| 12 | 2.40 |
| 13 | 2.61 |
| 14 | 2.82 |
| 15 | 3.03 |
| 16 | 3.24 |
| 17 | 3.49 |
| 18 | 3.74 |
| 19 | 3.99 |
| 20 | 4.24 |
| 21 | 4.54 |
| 22 | 4.84 |
| 23 | 5.14 |
| 24 | 5.49 |
Flat (Standard)
| Small Ring | Big Ring | |
| Cassette | 39 | 53 |
| 28 | 1.39 | 1.89 |
| 26 | 1.50 | 2.04 |
| 24 | 1.63 | 2.21 |
| 20 | 1.95 | 2.65 |
| 18 | 2.17 | 2.94 |
| 16 | 2.44 | 3.31 |
| 15 | 2.60 | 3.53 |
| 14 | 2.79 | 3.79 |
| 13 | 3.00 | 4.08 |
| 12 | 3.25 | 4.42 |
| 11 | 3.55 | 4.82 |
| 10 | 3.90 | 5.30 |
All-Arounder (Compact)
| Small Ring | Big Ring | |
| Cassette | 35 | 48 |
| 33 | 1.06 | 1.45 |
| 28 | 1.25 | 1.71 |
| 24 | 1.46 | 2.00 |
| 21 | 1.67 | 2.29 |
| 19 | 1.84 | 2.53 |
| 17 | 2.06 | 2.82 |
| 15 | 2.33 | 3.20 |
| 14 | 2.50 | 3.43 |
| 13 | 2.69 | 3.69 |
| 12 | 2.92 | 4.00 |
| 11 | 3.18 | 4.36 |
| 10 | 3.50 | 4.80 |
Climbing (Sub-Compact)
| Small Ring | Big Ring | |
| Cassette | 30 | 43 |
| 36 | 0.83 | 1.19 |
| 32 | 0.94 | 1.34 |
| 28 | 1.07 | 1.54 |
| 24 | 1.25 | 1.79 |
| 21 | 1.43 | 2.05 |
| 19 | 1.58 | 2.26 |
| 17 | 1.76 | 2.53 |
| 15 | 2.00 | 2.87 |
| 13 | 2.31 | 3.31 |
| 12 | 2.50 | 3.58 |
| 11 | 2.73 | 3.91 |
| 10 | 3.00 | 4.30 |
Why No Shimano?
The Zwift Ride controllers can support Shimano-style shifting since they have two shift buttons on each controller. The Play and Click controllers, however, only have a total of two buttons (one on each controller), which means they can only support Sequential or SRAM-style shifting.
Questions or Comments?
Got questions about Zwift’s virtual shifting? You might check out our “All About Virtual Shifting on Zwift” post. Otherwise, share below!
Actually, this was in the prior release for me. Switched a month ago
Hello, very nice update! Will Shimano be compatible with zwift play at some point ? Or did I miss something ?
It’s in the last bit of Eric’s write up:
Why No Shimano?The Zwift Ride controllers can support Shimano-style shifting since they have two shift buttons on each controller. The Play and Click controllers, however, only have a total of two buttons (one on each controller), which means they can only support Sequential or SRAM-style shifting.
I saw, but he speak about the Play and Click controllers, what about the zwift play ? Is it the same thing ?
Zwift Play is the same as “Play” in my post… just shortened it.
Do you know more details on the influence of the wheel size at least on the Wahoo trainers?
It definitely changes things around and allows some tweaks to the “biting” point (decreasing wheel size, for example 700×18, forces me to use higher gears than 700×32), but never understood exactly how.
Another super important update! Will really star to explore the depths of this new world in the coming weeks.
Wait until Zwift adopts AI, and it will decide for You…You will Comply! 😂
Zwift Play has two buttons on each controller, only issue is Zwift is using one of them for braking which has no use for 99.9% of users. No reason not to repurpose it for shifting.
Is there a firmware update for the Zwift Play controllers as well?
No.
In any of these articles it’s just assumed we know what SRAM style and Shimano style means. As far as I can tell this only refers to sram and shimano wireless/wired electric shifting. Which most people probably haven’t experienced. When I think of SRAM I think DoubleTap which is what my bike has. And shimano is shimano’s 2-trigger style mechanical shifting.
Maybe I’m just being dumb, but DoubleTap mechanical is not pressing both shift levers at the same time, it’s pressing the left or right side harder
Yeah, with etap (SRAM) the “double tap” changed to hitting both levers. Shimano is basically the same whether you’re talking about mechanical or electronic.
Because I like a visual, I mapped out those gear ratios if you were to use them ‘sequentially’ highlighting their ‘sweet spots’ (where you get more gears in the range than you do with the mixed terrain)
I agree that using them in that manner leads to uneven gear jumps but in certain cases having a few more gears in the right area (for the right terrain) could be useful when you know you don’t really care about having the extremes.
While I can understand the ‘holding two buttons’ with the play makes sense, not sure how practical that is for those with Zwift Clicks as I imagine most people have them in a place that a single thumb or finger can hover over
Concur re your last paragraph. This would be really useful for me as I often go up or down several gears at once, and jumping to a different front cog is basically what I’m trying to simulate.
But I’ve only got the click and can’t see how I can quickly and easily do the double tap..
Anyone share if they’ve got a solution would be great?!
Just push down both Click buttons at the same time.
One of the cool things about virtual shifting on the 1-24 system is the regular and well laid out jumps spread between 24 gearings. For Zwifting, for me it surely beats shifting on my bike’s derailleurs and doesn’t require much concentration mid ride. This one I don’t see getting any benefit or enjoyment out of. Coding for code’s sake?
Some people want their vbike to mimic their real outdoor experience. So there is that.
Can of worms warning…….
How does trainer difficulty setting fit in to all this ?
The same way it works with mechanical shifting. Easy answer! 😜
Surely there is something more pressing to work on. What’s wrong with 24×1? Who complained about that?
The marketing department.
Gonna look good on the product sheet.
The standard way of describing gear ratios is to list the number of gears on the front chainring (1,2,3) and then the number on the cassette or freewheel (5, 6, 7,8,9,10,11,12,13) Thus a bike with three up front with eight in the rear would by 3×8. SRAM offers one or two up front and ten, eleven, or twelve on the rear right now.
I got my play controllers in the first half of January and the SRAM style was available to me straight away.
Other than wanting to duplicate your indoor and outdoor shifting, why would anybody want to use anything but Mixed Terrain/Sequential? Nearly perfectly spaced gearing and no fooling around with what the next gear is when shifting between chainrings. Two chainrings doesn’t get you wider gearing. Sheesh, three chainrings doesn’t get there.
I’m hoping this works on my Wahoo Kickr Bike cuz I’d love to just shift up and down without thinking about which ring I’m in…
Can you change it mid-race when you realise you have run out of gears because you left it in climbing setup after that last attempt up the Alpe?
Yup. But your starting gear will probably be all wonky. Shift fast!
@eric are you sure?
A few days ago, after reading your post about the new mode of changing virtual gears, I did some tests in each configuration.
I’ve posted a comment about it here.
To summarise my tests – changing the mode or version of the gear ratios (while active!) makes absolutely no difference to the feeling of resistance.
Could you, with the time you have, check that there is definitely a difference between modes/versions of gear ratios during activity?
Thank you.
regards
Artur
I already did. Was changing things on the fly to test for this post.
That’s strange then.
I have Kickr v6 (latest firmware), ZwiftPlay (also current firmware), Zwift also current (v1.83.2) – and changing the “GearRange” mode doesn’t make any changes 🙁
U mnie też nic się nie zmienia. Ustawiłem opcję 10-28 i nadal mam 24 biegi. Ponowne uruchomienie nie pomaga.
Well I’m happy they implemented this! Now they just need to give us the option to customize our chain ring sizes and how many chainrings from 1-3 and do the same for the cassette. That way people can replicate basically any groupset be it 9 speed or whatever.
I did some tests today with different gear ratios for both ‘Sequence’ and ‘SRAM’.
‘Seguence’ always sets the starting gear ratio to “5” except for ‘Mixed Terrain’ – here it is an ‘8’ gear ratio.
But what did I do as a test?
I chose ‘Oh Hill No’ for myself and once the climb started I went into the settings and changed the drive type to the different options (Flat, Allroound, Climbing). The result? In my opinion, absolutely nothing changed in load, i.e. for the ‘5’ gear ratio I feel no difference between “Flat” and ‘Climbing’.
I have exactly the same impression after changing from ‘Sequence’ to ‘SRAM’. Here the starting gear ratios are set as ‘1-5’. Again, I feel no difference between ‘Flat’ and ‘Climbing’.
Hmmm.
aha – I use “ZwiftPlay”, I always have “TD” set to 100% (after all, this is the only thing that makes sense for “Wahoo Climb”).
Someone guide me where I am making a mistake? 🙂
cheers
Artur
The controller buttons for shifting gears are too flat and narrow. When will it be possible to swap them instead of the brake. Completely these buttons are badly designed. Too narrow and too hard to press. I made myself a button cap to make it more noticeable under a towel or to press in the dark. I see that better buttons are designed in bike zwift.
I want to know if I can get up that 12% hill IRL with my SRAM 48/35 10-33 this spring and not stall out vs. spin up it in Zwift at85 RPM at 50% Trainer difficulty. What’s the right gear ratio for the bike on the trainer? 42/14 like Zwift ride and cog (3.0 gear ratio)? With trainer difficulty at 100%? PS- for sure I stall out on 12% IRL right now but bring it on spring – Gonna see Camp 9 again, it’s been a minute- thanks Zwift.
Who actually uses SRAM style etap shifting when sequential mode is available. Incidentally when pressing both shifter the rear cog also changes to compensate for the chain ring change
It would be handy to set up each type of ratio to match your bike. Obvious example, Flat with your TT frame, Climb for the frame you mainly use when climbing and all-rounder for anything else. This should ensure you don’t have the wrong ratio on start-up.
It seems counter-intuitive to me that the Mixed Terrain has a lower first gear than the Climbing gearing. I’m going to leave my settings at Sequential, Mixed Terrain, and never think about it again!
Is there any way to pair my Axs shifters to Zwift so that I can control the in-game virtual shifting with my Axs shifters instead of the Zwift Click buttons?
Currently no.