Smart trainer gear ratio on Edge 1040 for Wahoo Kickr

• This has bothered me for ages and is preventing me from properly using my trainer with my 1040 and previously the 830.  The resistance is all wrong when simulating a climb on a course loaded onto the 1040 and using my trainer

Smart trainer works in 2 modes, ERG or non ERG. ERG means the trainer will stay at a constant resistant, no matter the gear ratio you change; while Non-ERG is vice versa. Subjected to your workout plan (either ERG mode or not), the smart trainer take the instruction from the app or your Edge 1040 in this case. 

Therefore, if the workout is not ERG mode and on a planned route on a rolling hill, you have to change your gear just like you are riding on the road. IF it is ERG mode, the trainer will generate the constant resistant as per the app/bike come program, no matter what gear ratio you change. 

Understood but I’m talking about the gear ratio setting in the trainer sensor setting on my 1040. I have a 52-36 crankset and a 12 speed 11-34 cassette and even in the lowest gear (36/34) the trainer resistance is way too high when I’m riding a course with moderate gradients. This is making my 1040 useless for me for training since I cannot ride a course with any degree of realism. I also use Fulgaz and that is far more realistic when it comes to matching trainer resistance with the gradient of a hill.

Fundamentally, I have no idea what the gear ratio setting in the 1040 trainer is meant to do and neither the 1040 manual nor looking through years of forum posts have shed any light on this. If you know the answer I’d be really grateful :-)

Thanks a lot for getting me!!! Finally someone understands! 

The gear ratio does not make any sense to me as it changes as the gears are shifted. So what's the point of having it?? 

Even though it will not sound like the best approach but you might try to find your optimal setting by first riding your bike outside, get the sense of the feeling of the slopes and try different gear ratios on the trainer simulating the course you ride in real life until the feeling matches to that of your real life ride. It's very frustrating I know, but it's even more frustrating not getting any response from Garmin itself. 

I thought it was there to allow configuration of the reported speed from the trainer. Dates back to wheel on trainers where the ratio was the wheel circumference to the drum circumference.

Good idea but that’s way too much hassle for me. As someone who has spent thousands of dollars on Garmin products in the last two years, this lack of support and transparency for what the trainer gear ratio setting is for is very disappointing.

Thanks - Garmin could have just stated that it applies to wheel-on trainers only instead of direct-drive ones like what I have. But Garmin didn’t and we’re left scratching our heads. At any rate the trainer resistance does not appear to correctly correspond to a given gradient when using an Edge device to ride a virtual route.

As far as i understand, the gear ratio setting in 1040 just to let you display the correct gear position on the screen, if you enable the screen. Typically, the riding feel on the trainer is "harder" than on the road with the same power output. If you feel that with 36/34 resistance is still way too high, i guess it could be the communication issue btw the trainer and the 1040, try to test with other indoor cycling app like Zwift to see if it still the same problem. Another possibility is the percent setting of the resistance in 1040 trainer screen.  

So far i never encounter this with my Wahoo Kickr V6, but some times with my old Magene T300 (the reason i changed over to Wahoo).   

What I mean is setting the gear ratio of my Di2 for the data screen display.