Virtual shifting lets you change gears in ROUVY without touching the shifters on your bike.
ROUVY tells your trainer how much resistance to apply, so the trainer does the work a cassette and a derailleur would do outdoors, and your drivetrain stays in one quiet position for the whole ride.
This article walks through what you need, how to connect it, and what to check when shifting does not respond.
What You Need
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A compatible trainer or smart bike, on the latest firmware.
Check your model in Supported Trainers: a lit Virtual Shifting badge on the card means ROUVY can shift gears on that device. -
A Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection to that trainer.
ANT+ does not carry the commands ROUVY needs, so a trainer connected over ANT+ cannot shift. - A free Bluetooth slot if you shift with a controller, since the controller needs a connection of its own.
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A shifting controller, which is recommended but not required.
Without one you shift from the screen or from the ROUVY Companion App.
Your Bike: Zwift Cog or a Normal Cassette
Virtual shifting changes the resistance your trainer applies, and it does that on top of the gear your bike is physically in. That is why it is worth setting the bike up once before your first ride, and then leaving it alone.
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On a single-sprocket setup such as a Zwift Cog there is nothing to set.
The chain sits on the one sprocket, every gear you use is virtual, and the range feels the same on every ride. Zwift Ready trainers ship with a Cog already installed, so many riders start here.
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On a normal cassette, the gear you leave the chain in decides where your whole virtual range sits. Leave it in an easy gear and the range sits low: comfortable on a climb, but on a fast descent you run out of gears and the pedals spin without resistance.
Leave it in a harder gear and you keep something in reserve for the descents.We recommend a small sprocket at the back, somewhere in the 11 to 13 tooth range, together with the large chainring at the front. Switch to the small chainring when you have a long climb ahead and want easier gears.
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Once the ride starts, leave the chain where it is and shift virtually. Moving the physical gear changes the basis your virtual gears work from, so the gear shown on screen stops matching what your legs feel. |
Setting Up Virtual Shifting
You do not connect virtual shifting on its own. You connect the trainer first, switch virtual shifting on for that trainer, and then add a controller if you have one.
1. Connect your trainer
Turn on your trainer or smart bike, then connect it in ROUVY the way you normally would, over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Full instructions are in the connection guide.
2. Turn on virtual shifting
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You can skip this step if you use a shifting controller. Connecting a remote control switches virtual shifting on by itself, so go straight to step 3 and come back here only if shifting still does not work. |
Virtual shifting is switched on for the trainer itself.
The trainer appears on the Controllable tile in your sensors.
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The option appears only once a trainer that supports virtual shifting is connected. If you cannot find it, the app is telling you something: either the trainer does not support virtual shifting, or it is connected over ANT+. |
To correctly connect the trainer,
- Select Change on your connected trainer to open the list of trainers.
- Choose the trainer that supports virtual shifting from the list, and make sure the Virtual Shifting toggle is on.
3. Connect a shifting controller, if you have one
A controller connects as a remote control, not as a trainer.
Add it in your sensors the same way you added the trainer:
- select Add on the bottom-right tile,
- pick the correct one from the list of available remotes and add it.
| Both devices are connected correctly when you see them both on the connected sensors screen. |
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Zwift Click V2 and Zwift Ride pair as a pair Both halves, left and right, have to be paired at the same time. Both LEDs need to be blinking blue when you start. Once the pairing succeeds, both LEDs turn solid blue. If only one side is blinking, wake the other one before you connect, or ROUVY will pair half of the controller. |
4. No controller? Shift from the screen or the Companion App
Plus and minus controls on the riding screen do the same job as a clicker, as long as your trainer supports virtual shifting. They work on a touchscreen, and on desktop the period and comma keys shift up and down without any setup at all.
You can also shift from the ROUVY Companion App, where gear controls are available on every riding screen. That is the easiest option when your screen is out of reach.
If you shift only from the Companion App and would rather keep the riding screen clean, you can turn the on-screen controls off. To do that,
- in the ROUVY app, select your profile picture in the top-left corner,
- in the menu, choose Settings,
- in the General tab, scroll down to On-screen virtual shifting and switch the toggle off.
Virtual Shifting Is Not Working
Start with the connection, then the controller, then the ride you are in.
Almost every report we get comes down to one of these six.
I cannot find the virtual shifting option at all ▶
It appears only after a trainer that supports it is connected, and only over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Check the connection type first, then look up your model in Supported Trainers and read its firmware note.
My controller will not connect ▶
Confirm it is charged, in range, and not still paired to another app or device.
On Zwift Click V2 and Zwift Ride, make sure both halves are blinking blue before you connect. On Zwift Play, the remote needs firmware version 2.0.1 or later, which you can update through the Zwift Companion App.
On Apple TV, check that a Bluetooth slot is free at all: see the limitation below.
The controller is connected, but pressing the buttons does nothing ▶
Check that virtual shifting is switched on for the trainer, on the Controllable tile, and that a button is still assigned to shift up and shift down in Remote controllers and control mapping. An unassigned action does nothing until you set it again.
The gear number changes, but the resistance does not ▶
If you are in a workout, check ERG mode first: in an ERG interval the trainer holds your target power and gears have no effect, so switch ERG off or ride a route instead.
On a route, and especially if the low gears feel like nothing on the flat, the usual cause is the wheel circumference stored on the trainer itself.
Open the manufacturer's app, find your trainer's device settings, and set the wheel circumference to the correct value, around 2100 mm for a road bike.
If the value already looks right, change it to something else and change it back, which is what forces the trainer to reapply it. Then force close the manufacturer's app, reconnect in ROUVY, and try again.
I have to press the button once for every single gear ▶
That is expected. Holding a shift button down does not run through the gears, so a jump of ten gears is ten presses.
Everything worked yesterday and does not work today ▶
Check whether your trainer or controller installed a firmware update, and whether another app grabbed the Bluetooth connection first. Closing the other app and reconnecting in ROUVY usually settles it.
Limitations
Bluetooth slots on Apple TV
Apple TV offers only two Bluetooth connections. If your trainer and your heart rate monitor take both of them, there is no slot left and your shifting controller cannot connect.
ROUVY tells you twice. A message says the device cannot be connected as a remote control, and the controller stays on Connecting until you select Cancel, because the attempt never times out on its own. Both mean the same thing: there is no free Bluetooth slot, not that anything is wrong with the controller.
The way around it is to move the trainer off Bluetooth: if your trainer supports Wi-Fi, connect it that way and both Bluetooth slots stay free for your controller and your heart rate monitor.
ANT+
Virtual shifting needs Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. ANT+ does not carry the commands ROUVY sends to the trainer, so a trainer on ANT+ cannot shift, even if the same model shifts perfectly over Bluetooth.
BKOOL Smart Bikes
Virtual shifting is no longer supported on BKOOL Smart Bikes. Earlier app versions offered it in a limited form, without the bike's own shifters and with cadence missing over Bluetooth, and it is not part of the current app. The bikes still work with ROUVY as smart bikes, so your rides, workouts, and events are unaffected. You shift with the gears on the bike instead.
Supported Shifting Controllers
Any of these can shift your virtual gears once your trainer supports virtual shifting. Open the one you own to see how it connects.
| Update Zwift hardware through the Zwift Companion App before you pair it in ROUVY. It brings the remote to the newest firmware, which is what most pairing problems turn out to be. |
Zwift Click V1 ▶
How to connect: hold the button on the unit until the LED blinks blue, then add it in your sensors as a remote control and select it from the list.
Click V1 is a single unit with two buttons, plus and minus, and nothing else. It shifts, and that is all it does, so there is nothing to map beyond shift up and shift down.
Zwift Click V2 ▶
How to connect: wake both halves so that both LEDs blink blue, then add the controller in your sensors as a remote control. Both LEDs turn solid blue once the pairing succeeds. If you connect with only one side awake, ROUVY pairs half the controller.
Click V2 adds a D-pad and action buttons on top of the shift buttons, so it can also move through menus, send kudos, and take screenshots. The default layout is in the button mapping table below, and every button can be reassigned.
Zwift Ride ▶
How to connect: the same as Click V2. Both levers pair at the same time, both LEDs blink blue, and they turn solid blue when the controller is connected.
On the bars, both buttons on the left lever shift down and both buttons on the right lever shift up. The analog paddles and the orange button on each lever are not used by ROUVY.
Zwift Play ▶
How to connect: update the remote to firmware version 2.0.1 or later in the Zwift Companion App first, since ROUVY does not recognize older firmware, then add it in your sensors as a remote control.
The plus and minus buttons handle shifting. The analog paddles are not used by ROUVY.
CYCPLUS BC2 ▶
How to connect: switch the clicker on and add it in your sensors as a remote control.
The BC2 is a compact handlebar-mounted clicker with two buttons, increase and decrease. Take a look at the product page.
Keyboard, on desktop ▶
Nothing to connect. On desktop the keyboard is set up as a remote automatically and works right away.
The period key shifts up and the comma key shifts down. The plus and minus keys shift as well.
Gamepads and other game controllers can shift too, and every button in ROUVY can be reassigned. Both are covered in Remote controllers and control mapping.
Smart bikes shift on their own
A smart bike connects to ROUVY the same way a trainer does, and its shifters are not remote controls.
Virtual shifting is handled inside the bike. ROUVY sends the gradient of the route, and the bike works out the resistance for the gear you are in.
That is why you will not find the bike's shifters in the list of remotes, and why nothing changes if you remove the bike from the remote control slot.
Shifting During a Ride
Your current gear is shown on the bottom left of the riding screen, so you can see every shift land. You can hide that panel by customizing your riding screen.
In a workout, the shift buttons do something slightly different. On a route and in slope or free-ride intervals they shift your virtual gears. In an ERG-mode interval there are no gears to change, so the same buttons move your target power by 2% per press, for the current interval and the ones that follow. FTP and ramp-test segments are protected, so their targets never move.
Default Button Mapping
This is the layout a controller with action buttons arrives with, such as Zwift Click V2 or Zwift Ride. Click V1 has shift buttons only, so the rest of the table does not apply to it.
| + and - | Shift virtual gears up or down on a route, or increase and decrease your target power in a workout. |
| Z | Take a screenshot. |
| Y | Send a kudos. |
| B | Acts as Escape, where supported. |
| A | Acts as Enter, where supported. |
Any of these can be reassigned, and the full list of actions ROUVY can map is in Remote controllers and control mapping.
Which Trainers Support Virtual Shifting
Every device we have tested is listed in Supported Trainers, and each card shows whether it supports virtual shifting.
Open Supported Trainers, find your trainer or smart bike, and look at the badges on its card. A lit Virtual Shifting badge means ROUVY can shift gears on that device, and the card also carries connection types, firmware notes, and any known limitations.
Manufacturers add virtual shifting in firmware updates, so a device that could not shift last season may shift now. Update the firmware in the manufacturer's app, then connect the trainer and look for the virtual shifting option: if it appears, your trainer can shift.
If virtual shifting still does not behave the way this article describes, let us know and tell us your trainer model, your platform, and how you shift. It helps us test the right setup.