Fastest Aero TT Bike Frames and Wheels at Each Zwift Level

If you’re racing time trials on Zwift, upgrading your frame and wheels will cut some significant time off your efforts. And in the “race of truth” where there is no hiding in the draft, every bit of savings counts!

But figuring out where to spend your hard-earned Drops can be confusing, so we’ve put together these tables listing the fastest TT frame and wheelset available at each Zwift level.

Keep in mind this list applies only to flat and rolling routes. The list below is essentially a simplified, flat-race-focused version of our complete Zwift Shopping Guide. If the climbs in your time trial race are steep and/or last more than a few minutes, you may want to consider a more climbing-friendly setup.

Fastest TT Frames

* the Zwift Steel and Carbon frames aren’t TT frames, but they are the fastest frames available at their respective unlock levels, so they’re listed here as a baseline reference.

Fastest Wheelsets

Total time savings of fastest TT frame and wheelset over stock Zwift setup (Zwift Steel frame and Zwift Classic wheels): 189.8+73.5=263.3 seconds

Times above based on our flat speed tests, done with a solo 75kg, 183cm rider at 300 watts on Watopia’s very flat Tempus Fugit route.

Strategic Shopping

It may seem simplest to just purchase each TT frame or wheelset on the list as soon as you level up, but you won’t have the Drops to do so. Plus, if you want to maximize performance, you also need to take Zwift’s Bike Upgrade functionality into account, since it rewards riders who stay on the same frame long enough to fully upgrade it.

Speaking of upgrades: all the time data in this post is from un-upgraded versions of the frames. Upgraded frames will be even faster. Get more details here >

Don’t have enough Drops? Keep riding – you’ll get them soon enough! (Learn how to earn more Drops here.) And if you’re wanting to level up faster, check out How to Earn More XP and Level Up Faster on Zwift.

What About the Pinarello Espada?

The Pinarello Espada is currently the only TT Halo Bike in Zwift, but it wasn’t included in the list above for two reasons:

• It takes a lot of work to unlock. You’ll need to fully upgrade three Pinarello frames before you can purchase the Espada, and even then you’ll need 10 million Drops to add it to your garage!
• It’s not the fastest TT setup on Zwift. Not even close, actually. It’s 236.8 seconds faster than the base setup on flat roads but as explained above, the top TT frame (CADEX Tri) coupled with the top wheelset (Zipp 858/Super9) is 263.3 seconds faster. And let’s not even talk about how slow the Espada is on climbs!

The Espada is a status symbol on Zwift, for sure, but it performs like what it is: a TT bike that’s over 30 years old.

Read all about the Pinarello Espada >

Improvement by Level

The biggest TT performance gains come early in a Zwifter’s level progression, just as they do with road bikes. Here’s how much time you would be saving across an hour of flat riding if you upgraded to the recommended setups above at each level:

The biggest percentage improvement comes when you upgrade to the Zwift TT frame (your first TT frame) at level 4. This frame alone accounts for 57% of the overall improvements you can receive by upgrading equipment! By level 16, over 86% of your possible improvement has already been achieved. And once you’ve hit level 40, the only way you’ll get faster is by racing smarter and training stronger!

Digging Deeper

Want to dig deeper into the speeds of various frames and wheels? Check out our ranking charts and public test data.

Your Thoughts

Hopefully this helps you select a rig for your next TT effort, no matter your Zwift level. Got questions or comments? Post below!