Zwift Virtual Shifting: Which trainers support it now, and which trainers will support it soon?

July 17, 2024

LAST UPDATED December 9, 2024

Zwift’s virtual shifting is arguably the most popular innovation they’ve brought to the indoor hardware space. Ever since the Zwift Hub went on sale in October 2022, riders have been looking forward to virtual shifting capabilities being rolled out for other trainers.

Supporting Zwift’s virtual shifting is no small project. It requires adding support for Zwift Protocol, a Bluetooth protocol Zwift created to deliver a consistent virtual shifting experience for any combination of supported hardware.

I see questions every week from riders wondering when virtual shifting will be available on their trainer, so I’ve created this page to share what info I know about the current status of Zwift virtual shifting support for all the major trainer brands.

This page will be updated as new information is made available.

Wahoo

These Wahoo trainers currently support virtual shifting:

Fusion Media, Wahoo’s media agency, tells me, “Wahoo has analyzed the hardware and software capabilities of both KICKR v4 and KICKR v5. Unfortunately, these older models are unable to support the required protocols for Zwift Virtual Shifting and will not be receiving a future update for this functionality.”

Garmin/Tacx

I can’t get a meaningful answer from Garmin/Tacx apart from, “Unfortunately, this is proprietary information at this time.”

Speculation: Garmin must know it’s losing market share to more affordable trainers that offer an increasingly impressive list of features. Adding virtual shifting capabilities to its two premium trainers (the NEO 2T and NEO 3M) seems like the smart move, unless they’ve got a new trainer releasing in the next few months.

Elite

The following Elite trainers currently support Zwift virtual shifting:

Elite Direto XR with Zwift Cog and Click
Elite Direto XR (via firmware update)
Elite Direto XR-T (via firmware update)

Elite announced their first Zwift Ready trainer, the Direto-XR with Zwift Cog and Click, in mid-September 2024. They rolled out the firmware update to current Direto XR users in early December 2024.

And it sounds like virtual shifting is coming to more Elite trainers soon! Elite says, “After introducing the Cog and Click integration with Direto XR, we’re thrilled to extend this to all standard models. Firmware updates for Justo, Justo 2, and Avanti are expected in early 2025, with updates for Suito(-T), Direto, Direto X, and Direto XR Team coming this spring.”

JetBlack

The following JetBlack trainers support virtual shifting currently:

JetBlack Victory
JetBlack Volt V2 (via firmware update)

JetBlack tells me, “Unfortunately, due to electronic technology, the V1 will not support virtual shifting.”

Saris

According to Saris_Karen, apparently a Saris employee, “Saris is actively working on updating smart trainer firmware for virtual shifting and Zwift hardware compatibility. It’s going to be a couple of months before it is released.”

This was posted on a Reddit thread on September 23, 2024.

Zwift

The Zwift Hub trainer was the first to support Zwift’s virtual shifting. Two different versions were sold:

Zwift Hub Classic (shipped with a standard cassette and no virtual shifting device)
Zwift Hub One (shipped with the single-sprocket Zwift Cog and Zwift Click for virtual shifting)

Both versions used the same trainer body and internals. The only difference was the included cassette and virtual shifting device.

If you have a Zwift Hub Classic, you can convert it to a Zwift Hub One using the Zwift Cog + Click Upgrade Kit. You can also simply purchase the Zwift Click or Zwift Play controllers and immediately have access to virtual shifting on a standard cassette.