All About the New Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8 on Zwift

This week’s big Zwift update includes the welcome addition of several new bike frames, including two versions of the highly respected Tarmac SL8 from Specialized. Today we’ll look at the in-game performance of the S-Works Tarmac SL8, since it’s the fastest of the four “production” frames added this week.

You’ll need to be updated to game version 1.86+ to see the S-Works Tarmac SL8 in Zwift’s Drop Shop. You’ll also need to be at level 40+ with 1,750,000 Drops to buy it. Here’s how it’s described in the Drop Shop:

“Nothing is faster than the Specialized Tarmac SL8 thanks to the bike’s synergistic combination of aerodynamics, light weight, and ride quality previously thought impossible. After eight generations and over two decades of development, it’s more than the fastest Tarmac ever – it’s the world’s fastest race bike.”

Those are big words, and while cyclists doubtless have differing opinions as to their veracity, what we’re concerned about here is in-game performance. Just how fast is this bike in Zwift, and how does it compare to other frames?

See our master list of all frames in Zwift >

It’s rated 3 stars for aero, 4 stars for weight, like a handful of other top newish all-arounders. But a 4-star system isn’t the most granular of performance measurements, so we ran this frame through our precise tests to measure performance at nerd-level detail. Let’s dive in!

Note: test results below are from a 75kg, 183cm rider holding 300W steady using Zwift’s stock 32mm Carbon wheelset.

Aero (Flat/Rolling) Performance

The S-Works Tarmac SL8 is very slippery, trimming 61.9s off our baseline Zwift Carbon frame over an hour of flat riding.

That puts it within 1.1 seconds of the game’s fastest frames, and when you consider that our tests have a 1-second margin of error, one could reasonably lump this frame in with the other fastest frames in terms of performance on flat roads.

Climb Performance

If you thought the S-Works Tarmac SL8 was fast on the flats, wait until you see how it climbs!

This Tarmac shaves 56 seconds off of our baseline Zwift Carbon’s time on an hourlong climb, which means it beats the S-Works Aethos (which was the fastest climbing bike in Zwift until this week) by 1.6 seconds.

That’s right, folks. We have a new top climber, and it’s super aero. There’s a new king in town.

Upgrading Your S-Works Tarmac SL8

Like all frames in Zwift, the S-Works Tarmac SL8 can be upgraded in five stages. As a high-end race bike, each of the five stages results in a performance improvement. The S-Works Tarmac SL8 upgrade stages are as follows:

1. Ride 200km, pay 100,000 Drops for an aero upgrade
2. Ride 260km, pay 200,000 Drops for a weight reduction
3. Ride 320km, pay 350,000 Drops for a drivetrain efficiency improvement
4. Ride 380km, pay 500,000 Drops for an aero upgrade
5. Ride 440km, pay 750,000 Drops for a weight reduction

You can expect a fully-upgraded S-Works Tarmac SL8 to be approximately 28 seconds faster on a flat hour and 36 seconds faster on an hourlong climb vs the “stock” S-Works Tarmac SL8.

Conclusions

What we’ve seen in IRL road cycling, we’re seeing on Zwift: the industry moved away from the pure (but heavy) aero bikes and toward all-arounders that are nearly as slippery but weigh much less.

The Scott Addict RC was the first strong all-arounder on Zwift to give the Tron bike a run for its money. But in the past several months, Zwift added the Canyon Aeroad 2024 and Pinarello Dogma F 2024, which both outperform the Addict RC. And now the S-Works SL8 comes along, setting a new benchmark.

These fast all-arounders are within 1 second of the “pure” aero bikes (think S-Works Venge, Felt AR, Cervelo S5 2020) over an hour on flat ground in Zwift, but climb much faster. And that’s why we’re seeing them replacing the pure aero frames in Zwift race pelotons.

Other frames are within a few seconds of the S-Works SL8, so riders have the luxury of picking from a handful of top performers without feeling like they’re on a slow bike that will cost them the race. That said, if you want the frame that turns in the best all-around performance in Zwift, it’s the S-Works SL8.

Questions or Comments?

To answer one question: no, it doesn’t come with a color slider. (You can have any color S-Works Tarmac SL8 you want, as long as it’s white!) What other questions or comments do you have? Share below…