Zwift steering

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Mr Ted

Original Poster:

251 posts

113 months

Sunday 9th February 2020
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So Zwift have implemented steering on an off-road section off Titans Grove and I finally got round to trying it today!

Basically to use it you need a phone running Zwift Companion mounted on the handlebars, and you need to release the stem pinch bolts so your bars move freely.

Take the route 'Dust in the Wind' and after about 4km you come to a route choice with a turn right option with a question mark, select this right turn, as you go off-road it asks if you want to try out steering, select YES, then it prompts you to centre the bars, do this and follow the on screen prompts.

Then I suggest you get off the bike before riding down the section as you will need to select the steering sensitivity, on the main Zwift display a small box appears bottom left with a centering option and a sensitivity slider, waggle the bars and adjust the slider to give you sensible steering sensitivity. The default slider position is middle which was way to sensitive, I moved it to the 1/4 position which was fine. If you have it too sensitive you tend to zig-zag until you crash!

Then ride the section, great fun! Being a MTB section there is a steep climb at the end, I have my trainer difficulty at 100% to give me true feel of the hills which is fine on the road parts of Zwift but with road gearing on my bike (using Tacx Neo) my cadence was a bit low on this off-road section so next time I will reduce the trainer dificulty to say 75%.

My iPhone SE worked really well, the accelerometers were a lot smoother than my Cat S41 so you might need to experiment to find a good combination of phone and steering sensitivity setting.

As a rider who prefers off-roading I really enjoyed the new off-road section and hope Zwift expands the routes, interestingly, I left the pinch bolts undone once I got back on the road and, although the steering function doesn't work on the road, I found myself using small steering movements which actually made the riding experience even better, so try undoing your pinchbolts!

My system uses an Alienware gaming pc running Zwift with the iPhone SE running Zwift Companion, bike mounted on a Tacx Neo.

HardtopManual

2,520 posts

172 months

Tuesday 11th February 2020
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Turning a loose stem is an excellent way to score the steerer and create a point of failure.

Mr Ted

Original Poster:

251 posts

113 months

Tuesday 11th February 2020
quotequote all
HardtopManual said:
Turning a loose stem is an excellent way to score the steerer and create a point of failure.
Haha, I guess if I spent all year twisting a lubed aluminium stem on a steel steerer I might just about get a witness mark!!! What the f**k is your bike made from LOL

addey

1,085 posts

173 months

Tuesday 11th February 2020
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Well most people's steerers are probably carbon these days so I'd agree that what you are suggesting is probably not a very good idea. Is this something that zwift are actually promoting? Loosen your stem and pretend to steer?

frisbee

5,121 posts

116 months

Tuesday 11th February 2020
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My bars move pretty freely on the trainer anyway, I don't see why you would need to loosen the bars. Even if you need to raise the front wheel you could just use a plain block of wood etc..

keith2.2

1,100 posts

201 months

Thursday 13th February 2020
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Mr Ted said:
HardtopManual said:
Turning a loose stem is an excellent way to score the steerer and create a point of failure.
Haha, I guess if I spent all year twisting a lubed aluminium stem on a steel steerer I might just about get a witness mark!!! What the f**k is your bike made from LOL
Jeeze I haven't seen an alu steerer in about 5 years. There's no way I'd countenance loosening the stem as a way of using the steering.

I'm pretty sure the idea is for the front wheel mount to slide - which may or may not be possible on your mount or flooring. I'm sure there will be 'steerable' front wheel mounts imminently.