Tell us about yourself

[Natepepper]

I'm a new home beta user and just received my sensor kit yesterday and expect to complete the set up and try it out today.  I have an old Schwinn recumbent bike--don't know the model.

The crank arms for my pedals are smooth and cylindrical (no flat sides), about 3/4" diameter, and close to the body of the bike.  So my concern here is that the sensor may rotate around and bump into the body of the bike.  Will have to try it out and see if that is the case.  My initial thought was that it would be nice if the back of the sensor had a higher friction surface and also would like the option of a smaller elastic band for a tighter fit.  I like the feel and friction of the elastic bands.  I realize it's difficult to make a one-size-fits-all solution.

My second observation was that the handles for my bike are about 1 1/2" in diameter--too big for the clasp on the button.  Do you have a suggestion for dealing with that?

Looking forward to my first test ride.

Welcome to the party, Julia! I know exactly the bike you're talking about -- my father-in-law used to have that bike and we struggled with the same issue trying to set him up on Zwift using the Wahoo cadence pod (a different one than the VZfit pod). Our solution was to attach the cadence sensor to his shoe rather than to the crank. I'm not sure whether that will work with the VZfit pod but it would be quick and easy to try. For the controller button, I was actually thinking about wearing it like a ring around my index finger rather than putting it on my handlebars for easier thumb access. Happy riding!

[emalafeew]

I'm a new home beta user and just received my sensor kit yesterday and expect to complete the set up and try it out today.  I have an old Schwinn recumbent bike--don't know the model.

The crank arms for my pedals are smooth and cylindrical (no flat sides), about 3/4" diameter, and close to the body of the bike.  So my concern here is that the sensor may rotate around and bump into the body of the bike.  Will have to try it out and see if that is the case.  My initial thought was that it would be nice if the back of the sensor had a higher friction surface and also would like the option of a smaller elastic band for a tighter fit.  I like the feel and friction of the elastic bands.  I realize it's difficult to make a one-size-fits-all solution.

My second observation was that the handles for my bike are about 1 1/2" in diameter--too big for the clasp on the button.  Do you have a suggestion for dealing with that?

Looking forward to my first test ride.

Welcome to the party, Julia! I know exactly the bike you're talking about -- my father-in-law used to have that bike and we struggled with the same issue trying to set him up on Zwift using the Wahoo cadence pod (a different one than the VZfit pod). Our solution was to attach the cadence sensor to his shoe rather than to the crank. I'm not sure whether that will work with the VZfit pod but it would be quick and easy to try. For the controller button, I was actually thinking about wearing it like a ring around my index finger rather than putting it on my handlebars for easier thumb access. Happy riding!

Nate--the VZ Sensor needs to rotate and therefore be attached to the crank not pedal or shoe.  But holding the VZ Button in your hand can work fine, especially for Desk Cycles that don't have handlebars

Julia--if the VZ Sensor can't fit on the inside of your crank without hitting bike body, then it will work fine on the outside of your crank.  For smaller cranks we recommend wrapping its band all the way around the Sensor to its starting point to provide a tight fit.  I'll make a blog post about different ways to mount the sensor and button!

[Julia]

I'm a new home beta user and just received my sensor kit yesterday and expect to complete the set up and try it out today.  I have an old Schwinn recumbent bike--don't know the model.

The crank arms for my pedals are smooth and cylindrical (no flat sides), about 3/4" diameter, and close to the body of the bike.  So my concern here is that the sensor may rotate around and bump into the body of the bike.  Will have to try it out and see if that is the case.  My initial thought was that it would be nice if the back of the sensor had a higher friction surface and also would like the option of a smaller elastic band for a tighter fit.  I like the feel and friction of the elastic bands.  I realize it's difficult to make a one-size-fits-all solution.

My second observation was that the handles for my bike are about 1 1/2" in diameter--too big for the clasp on the button.  Do you have a suggestion for dealing with that?

Looking forward to my first test ride.

Welcome to the party, Julia! I know exactly the bike you're talking about -- my father-in-law used to have that bike and we struggled with the same issue trying to set him up on Zwift using the Wahoo cadence pod (a different one than the VZfit pod). Our solution was to attach the cadence sensor to his shoe rather than to the crank. I'm not sure whether that will work with the VZfit pod but it would be quick and easy to try. For the controller button, I was actually thinking about wearing it like a ring around my index finger rather than putting it on my handlebars for easier thumb access. Happy riding!

Nate--the VZ Sensor needs to rotate and therefore be attached to the crank not pedal or shoe.  But holding the VZ Button in your hand can work fine, especially for Desk Cycles that don't have handlebars

Julia--if the VZ Sensor can't fit on the inside of your crank without hitting bike body, then it will work fine on the outside of your crank.  For smaller cranks we recommend wrapping its band all the way around the Sensor to its starting point to provide a tight fit.  I'll make a blog post about different ways to mount the sensor and button!

Thank you.  I was able to complete the setup.  Wrapping the band all the way around did the trick and I just held the button which worked.

---

In addition to being new to VZfit, I am also new to Oculus Go and to posting on forums. So I'm not sure where to post questions about issues and I may have some definitely newbie questions.

That said, I just took my first ride in Explorer in Arches National Park to familiarize myself with the options and controls.  First of all, I definitely got motion sick.  The background would pixelate once or twice a second and some of the distortions from Google flattening and stretching portions of the screen were distracting.  After I was done I checked my network connection and was not on my 5G network, so I will switch to that next time and see if that makes a difference for pixelation and motion sickness.  

Despite that, the surroundings were engaging and I probably rode longer than I should have given the state of my stomach ;-)  You've done a good job with the uphill and downhill distinctions.  I really felt the need to push harder to go up and could relax more going down.  Nice!

I stopped somewhere along the road and switched through all the rider perspectives and suddenly found myself in what appeared to be a sinkhole.  It was like I was underground (or under water) as most of my surroundings were blue.  If I looked up, I could see the land and sky in a circle above me.  I was unable to switch perspectives out of it and had to push the power button on the Oculus Go to get out of it.  

Also it is not obvious to me how to exit the app gracefully and go back to the Oculus menu or to switch between Play and Explorer.

[bdushok]

I'm a new beta user from Pennsylvania.   I've just received my sensor kit last evening and used it for the first time today.

I am impressed with Explorer.   It's amazing how the app is able to render 2d Google Maps images as well as it does in 3d.

I would like to suggest you add a quick tutorial when the app is first launched like Play.   While using the app I found nearly every location I selected placed me heading in the wrong direction down a road   It didn't realize there was a reverse option, a quick tutorial would have helped with that.  

I had a crash about 30 minutes into using Explorer.   The problem occurred immediately after I changed directions followed by a view change.   I'll see if I'm able to reproduce the problem and will give you more details if I'm able.

Thanks for a great product!

Bob

[Milton_Kuo]

Thank you.  I was able to complete the setup.  Wrapping the band all the way around did the trick and I just held the button which worked.

If you need more friction between the sensor and the crank arms, some double-sided adhesive tape might help.

[emalafeew]

Thank you.  I was able to complete the setup.  Wrapping the band all the way around did the trick and I just held the button which worked.

---

In addition to being new to VZfit, I am also new to Oculus Go and to posting on forums. So I'm not sure where to post questions about issues and I may have some definitely newbie questions.

That said, I just took my first ride in Explorer in Arches National Park to familiarize myself with the options and controls.  First of all, I definitely got motion sick.  The background would pixelate once or twice a second and some of the distortions from Google flattening and stretching portions of the screen were distracting.  After I was done I checked my network connection and was not on my 5G network, so I will switch to that next time and see if that makes a difference for pixelation and motion sickness.  

Despite that, the surroundings were engaging and I probably rode longer than I should have given the state of my stomach ;-)  You've done a good job with the uphill and downhill distinctions.  I really felt the need to push harder to go up and could relax more going down.  Nice!

I stopped somewhere along the road and switched through all the rider perspectives and suddenly found myself in what appeared to be a sinkhole.  It was like I was underground (or under water) as most of my surroundings were blue.  If I looked up, I could see the land and sky in a circle above me.  I was unable to switch perspectives out of it and had to push the power button on the Oculus Go to get out of it.  

Also it is not obvious to me how to exit the app gracefully and go back to the Oculus menu or to switch between Play and Explorer.

First of all, thanks for the feedback! I realize I never answered about your wide handlebars. The VZ Button holder should have a pair of outward-facing screws meant to attach a band like the VZ Sensor to hold onto such handlebars. Regarding motion sickness, head turning with the Go can be sensitive so don’t tilt more than you need to follow a smooth line. Also you can slow down your pedal-to-virtual speed by upping difficulty in the HUD. Regarding bandwidth, you’ll need about 5 Mbps for consistent image delivery, and we skip images if they can’t be loaded fast enough. That shouldn’t cause motion discomfort per se, but would lead to more stretching artifacts. About your sink hole, we would love to know about where that was. On the pause menu we alternate between your current address and lat/lon for such reports. Lastly you can press the Oculus home button on their controller to navigate between our apps and their menu. For future feedback, you can post new threads using the button below, to keep topics more organized and findable!

[emalafeew]

I'm a new beta user from Pennsylvania.   I've just received my sensor kit last evening and used it for the first time today.

I am impressed with Explorer.   It's amazing how the app is able to render 2d Google Maps images as well as it does in 3d.

I would like to suggest you add a quick tutorial when the app is first launched like Play.   While using the app I found nearly every location I selected placed me heading in the wrong direction down a road   It didn't realize there was a reverse option, a quick tutorial would have helped with that.  

I had a crash about 30 minutes into using Explorer.   The problem occurred immediately after I changed directions followed by a view change.   I'll see if I'm able to reproduce the problem and will give you more details if I'm able.

Thanks for a great product!

Bob

Thank you Bob! We’ll look for your crash in our logs, but it may be helpful to report your approximate location. The pause menu alternates between showing your current address and lat/lon for such reports. We’ll look into adding a startup or search tip about reversing directions. A longer tutorial like Play’s would be nice, we are trying to balance all the possible improvements so you may learn some new things from this forum or our blog, so keep following!

[jwarburg]

Hey, I'm Jason Warburg, VP of Operations at VirZOOM.  I've been making games with this emalafeew character for almost 20 years now and I'm sure it feels like 30 years to him.  And many of the other members of our team are long time colleagues of ours.  It's a very powerful and agile team and I'm super proud of the work we're doing here.

I'm really looking forward to helping build a fun community here, so if there's anything we can do, please let us know.  We want you all involved in the process of growing this product.

[bdushok]

I'm a new beta user from Pennsylvania.   I've just received my sensor kit last evening and used it for the first time today.

I am impressed with Explorer.   It's amazing how the app is able to render 2d Google Maps images as well as it does in 3d.

I would like to suggest you add a quick tutorial when the app is first launched like Play.   While using the app I found nearly every location I selected placed me heading in the wrong direction down a road   It didn't realize there was a reverse option, a quick tutorial would have helped with that.  

I had a crash about 30 minutes into using Explorer.   The problem occurred immediately after I changed directions followed by a view change.   I'll see if I'm able to reproduce the problem and will give you more details if I'm able.

Thanks for a great product!

Bob

Thank you Bob!  We’ll look for your crash in our logs, but it may be helpful to report your approximate location. The pause menu alternates between showing your current address and lat/lon for such reports.  We’ll look into adding a startup or search tip about reversing directions.  A longer tutorial like Play’s would be nice, we are trying to balance all the possible improvements so you may learn some new things from this forum or our blog, so keep following!

Unfortunately, I don't recall where I was located when the crash occurred.   I attempted to reproduce the crash today but was unable.   Sorry!   I'll pay closer attention to my location if I encounter any other crashes.

I used Play for a bit today and encountered something odd there as well.   I selected the bike ride workout and selected a 45 minute workout time.   All was well until just after gate 10, about 10 minutes into the ride.    At that point the road disappeared.   It appeared like I was riding off a cliff.   I road for about 10 minutes in what appeared to be clouds.   The road never reappeared so I quit the app.

Bob

[CrashFu]

Hello everyone, you can call me CrashFu! I'm a long-time VirZoom user (pre-ordered the original bike, in fact!)  who sadly fell out of use for awhile between moving sometime last year, picking up a second job, and... well let's just say I have issues with the Steam platform, which was previously a requirement to use the VirZoom apps.

So I'm quite excited to see VirZoom available on Oculus Go, and relieved that the old VirZoom bikes are still supported!  I look forward to trying out the new features and making VirZoom a regular part of my life again  (or as regular as I can, between the two jobs).   See you all on the leaderboards!