Zwift Hub Review

For about eighteen months the Zwift Hub was the most disruptive product in indoor cycling. It was a competent direct-drive trainer, it came with a cassette fitted, and it undercut everything. The Hub One went a step further and removed the cassette from the equation entirely: a single 14-tooth Zwift Cog on the freehub and a wireless Click controller in your hand, giving 24 virtual gears with over 700% of range, on any bike with an 8- to 12-speed drivetrain.

It is no longer made. Zwift discontinued the Hub line after resolving a patent dispute with Wahoo, and the two companies now collaborate — the Cog-and-Click idea lives on inside Wahoo's range rather than as a Zwift product. Since people still shop for Hubs, and plenty of good ones are still in circulation, this review covers both the trainer and the decision.

What happened to the Zwift Hub

The short version: Wahoo alleged patent infringement, the dispute was resolved, and the outcome was a partnership rather than a continued rivalry. The Hub Classic was withdrawn, the Hub One followed, and the Cog-and-Click virtual shifting system reappeared as a Wahoo product — first as the Kickr Core Zwift One and now as the Kickr Core 2 with Zwift Cog.

Why this matters to a buyer: a discontinued trainer from a company whose actual business is software is a genuinely different proposition from a discontinued trainer from a hardware company. Spares, warranty service and long-term firmware attention are all uncertain. The hardware works today; the question is what happens in three years if a freehub bearing goes.

Virtual shifting: the idea worth understanding

This was the Hub One's real contribution, and it is worth explaining properly because it is now spreading across the category.

A normal direct-drive trainer needs a cassette that matches your bike's drivetrain. Get it wrong — an 11-speed chain on a 12-speed cassette, a SRAM XDR body when you need Shimano — and shifting is poor and wear is fast. Our cassette guide exists because this trips up a large number of first-time buyers.

Virtual shifting deletes the problem. One 14-tooth sprocket sits on the freehub, your chain runs on it in a straight line, and gear changes happen in software when you press the Click: the trainer simply changes its resistance to simulate the ratio. The upsides are real — no cassette to buy, no compatibility question, no chain crossover noise, no derailleur adjustment, and a bike that can be swapped in and out in a minute regardless of what it runs.

The trade-off is that you are shifting a game rather than a bicycle, and the feel is different: instant, silent and slightly abstract. Some riders love it. Riders who use their indoor setup to rehearse real shifting patterns do not.

How it actually rides

Better than the price suggested, which was the whole point. The 4.7 kg flywheel is respectable for the tier — heavier than the 4 kg Elite Rivo, lighter than the Kickr Core 2's 5.4 kg — and flywheel mass is what carries your momentum through the dead spots of the pedal stroke. It feels like a proper direct-drive trainer, because it is one.

Noise is a non-issue, as on every direct-drive trainer, because the tire is out of the equation. With a single cog and a straight chain line, drivetrain noise is arguably lower than on a cassette-equipped trainer. A mat is still worth having for sweat and vibration.

The 1,800 W ceiling and 16% gradient limit are identical to the Kickr Core 2's and are not a practical constraint for most riders — 16% is steeper than most of what Zwift throws at you, and most people run trainer difficulty below 100% anyway.

±2.5% and what it costs you

Two and a half percent is about six watts at 250. For your own structured training that is immaterial: training runs on repeatability, so a trainer that reads consistently gives you correctly graded intervals and an honest fitness trend regardless of the absolute offset. Our accuracy guide makes that case at length.

It costs you when your number has to be compared with someone else's — racing on Zwift against riders on ±1% hardware, or following a plan built on an FTP measured outdoors with a power meter. There is a certain irony in a Zwift-branded trainer being a mediocre choice for Zwift racing, but that is where the figure lands.

Buying one used: what to check

Confirm which version it is. The Hub Classic came with a conventional cassette; the Hub One came with the Cog and Click. A Hub One without its Click is a much less useful object, because that is the shifter — check it is included and that it pairs.

Listen to it under load for bearing noise, which is the usual failure on any direct-drive trainer. Run a spindown if you can. Confirm the power supply is present. And price it as a product with no warranty behind it, because that is what it is.

Who should buy it

Buy a used Hub if it is cheap, you want the least complicated setup available, and you are comfortable owning an orphaned product. It genuinely is a good trainer, and the setup simplicity is still its strongest feature.

Buy the Kickr Core 2 with Zwift Cog otherwise. It is the same idea, better executed, still made, and it adds the WiFi that removes the most common cause of indoor training frustration. Our best trainer for Zwift guide covers the wider field, and best budget smart trainers ranks the tier the Hub competed in.