FFitMyTrainer
Checker

Zwift Cog (virtual shifting)

Zwift · 8/9/10/11/12-speed · min 14T

Quick answer

A single 14 t sprocket: no cassette to match. Gears are changed in software (virtual shifting), so the Zwift Hub One works with 8–12-speed drivetrains via the Zwift Click/Play controller. 5 trainers offer a Zwift Cog (virtual shifting) body, and 5 ship with it as standard.

Trainers offering this freehub

The Zwift Cog is a sprocket, not a freehub standard

Underneath the Cog is an ordinary Shimano HG freehub body. That one fact answers both directions: take the Cog off and a cassette fits the body already on the trainer, or put a Cog on and the cassette comes off.

Elite trainers get an 18-tooth sprocket instead of the 14-tooth one.

Going back to a cassette

Yes. Take the 14-tooth Cog off with a chain whip or cassette vise + an HG cassette lockring tool and an 8–12-speed Shimano or SRAM cassette mounts on the body that is already there — there is no freehub body to buy. Cassettes with 11/12 speeds need no spacer; 7/8/9/10-speed ones need one behind them, because the body is the long 11-speed road type. You lose virtual shifting and go back to your bike’s own gears.

Putting a Cog on a trainer that did not ship with one

The Cog contains no electronics. It bolts onto almost any HG body, but the gears come from the trainer’s own virtual shifting plus a Zwift Click / Zwift Play. Without both, a Cog is simply a single-speed drivetrain.

Where the model name is not enough

  • Van Rysel D500 — the first generation has a square housing and handle; the current one is shaped like the D100, and Decathlon are not releasing firmware for the older unit
  • Van Rysel D100 — sold in two boxes at two prices — only the dearer one has the Cog and the Click in it

Frequently asked questions

A single 14 t sprocket: no cassette to match. Gears are changed in software (virtual shifting), so the Zwift Hub One works with 8–12-speed drivetrains via the Zwift Click/Play controller. It accepts 8/9/10/11/12-speed cassettes with a smallest cog of 14 teeth.