This week, Zwift releases a new wheelset from ENVE: the SES 4.5 PRO. The real-life ENVE SES 4.5 PRO wheels were announced in July of this year, and ENVE shared that the wheels were developed with direct input from Tadej Pogačar and UAE Team Emirates XRG over two seasons. When the wheels were announced, they had amassed 25+ victories this season alone … before Tadej won the Tour de France!
Here’s what the Drop Shop says about them: “Designed for the cyclists seeking the ultimate wheelset, where low weight, aerodynamics, and rolling efficiency meet.”
The wheels are now available in the Drop Shop, accessible at level 29 and above, for a price of 675,000 Drops. This is the only wheelset in the Drop Shop with a 4-star rating for both aero and weight, so we expected them to be both fast on the flats, and light on the climbs! Since Zwift’s 4-star rating system isn’t precise enough for our taste, we ran these wheels through our standard battery of tests to determine exactly how they perform in Zwift and stack up against other wheelsets in game. (Spoiler alert: they’re fast.)
Let’s dive in and learn all about the performance of this new wheelset from ENVE…
Aero (Flat/Rolling) Performance
The ENVE SES 4.5 PRO is definitely in the upper echelon of aero performance in Zwift, with our tests showing that it is bested by only three non-disc wheelsets: the ENVE SES 8.9, ENVE SES 7.8, and DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT 65.
The ENVE SES 4.5 PRO is 5 seconds slower than the ENVE SES 8.9 wheelset (the most aero non-disc wheelset) across an hour of flat riding. If you include disc wheels in the picture, the ENVE SES 4.5 PRO is 10.8s slower than the fastest disc wheels in game, the DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT 85/Disc.
Climb Performance
The climbs are where this wheelset really shines. It turns in a time that puts it within a half second of the top climbing wheels (Zipp 353 NSW, Lightweight Meilenstein, and Roval Alpinist CLX) across an hour of climbing. All of these wheelsets trim 9+ seconds off of our stock Zwift Carbon wheels’ times in our tests.
So the ENVE SES 4.5 PRO is essentially tied with the best climbing wheels in game, while delivering much better aero performance than the other top climbing wheelsets.
Note: all test results above are from a 75kg, 183cm rider holding 300W steady using the Zwift Carbon frame.
Conclusions
These wheels show exceptional performance as climb-focused all-arounders. Perhaps the best way to see this clearly is to compare them to the best aero all-arounders in game, the DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT 65. Consider this:
- The ENVE SES 4.5 PRO wheels save 9.4 seconds across an hour of climbing compared to our stock Zwift Carbon wheels. The DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT 65 saves just 2.7 seconds. A 6.7s difference.
- The ENVE SES 4.5 PRO wheels save 41.7 seconds across an hour of flat riding compared to our stock Zwift Carbon wheels. The DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT 65 saves 46.2 seconds. A 4.5s difference.
So if you swap from the DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT 65 to the ENVE SES 4.5 PRO, you’re essentially trading seconds gained on the flats for seconds gained on the climbs.
Another way to see it clearly: check out the Tron vs Top Performers chart, which we’ve just updated by swapping out the Zipp 454 wheels with these new ENVE SES 4.5 PROs, since the new ENVE wheels effectively replace the 454s as climb-focused all-arounders, beating them in our flat and climbing tests.
These wheelsets have been, or will soon be, added to the following posts:
- Master Zwift Wheels List
- Zwift Speed Tests: Wheel Ranking Charts
- The Top 10 Wheelsets on Zwift
- Zwift Shopping Guide: What To Buy from the Drop Shop at Each Level
- Speed Tests: Concept Z1 (Tron) Bike vs Top Performers
- Zwift Speed Tests Public Data (Google Sheet)
Questions or Comments?
Share below!
Important note: this post contains speed test results for Zwift frames or wheels. These results may change over time, and a bike's performance relative to others may also change. We don't always revise posts when performance rankings change, but we do keep current, master versions of our speed test results which are always available. See the frame charts, wheel charts, and Tron vs Top Performers for current performance data.
By the looks of it, the wheel choice by race type is: ENVE 4.5 Pro for courses that finish on a climb or have a big separator climb; DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT 85/Disc for completely flat races; and DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT 65 for everything else.
I think I’ll be using the Enves on almost any course with climbs (even short sharp ones), as it’s the climbs where the big watts start flying in these races and where it’s most crucial to stay at the front. 4.5s lost per hour to the 65s is nothing when you’ve got a big group to draft
I’m not sure if zwift physics are detailed enough to calculate wheel weight/inertia into accelerations, but, ever since the DT65s came out I’ve been using them in flat/sprinting races as well under the assumption that, if it’s like real life, a lighter wheel lets me spin up faster and spinning up faster is better than the tiny fraction of a second you save on a sprint with the 8.9s or disk wheels.
If that’s true (not sure it is in Zwift), that would also apply to accelerations up rollers and the like and say the ENVEs are better for most racers most of the time (barring TTs).
Wheels have the biggest impact on high speed sprint finishes, where the aerodynamic impact spikes significantly. But in the grand scheme of things, these wheels are so close that you’d rarely notice a difference.
When you replace a wheel in the tron scatterplot, as in this case dropping the 454 for the new 4.5s, can you directly compare the two wheelsets? Either in that post, or here (or both). e.g. “The new 4.5s are faster than the now-deprecated 454s by __ seconds per hour of climbing and __ seconds per hour on the flats.”
Related, you still have the 7.8s on the tron scatterplot chart even though they’re made irrelevant by the DT65s. Time to retire them from that chart if you’re dropping the 454s off of it.
Agreed. The write-up fails to mention any difference from the 454s. It may be implied, or it may be the 454s are dropped just because they are similar/same in performance but these are newer. Those of us using the 454s need to know if there is any point in changing.
Towards the end of this post, I say…
Another way to see it clearly: check out the Tron vs Top Performers chart, which we’ve just updated by swapping out the Zipp 454 wheels with these new ENVE SES 4.5 PROs, since the new ENVE wheels effectively replace the 454s as climb-focused all-arounders, beating them in our flat and climbing tests.
The truth is, I worry people will get overwhelmed with the minutiae of “this wheelset beats this one on climbs by X seconds”. So I try to keep it simple, and refer people to the data if they want precise numbers.
All of it is minutiae. A single sentence in this post comparing to an outgoing-best would be a lot more clear than comparing both against the base wheels and leaving it to readers to figure out from there.
Or ignore the minutiae altogether.
Are you suggesting shutting down ZI? Just go pedal, don’t worry about the details that aren’t available either in-game or on any official Zwift website (implying ZI isn’t part of Zwift)
I fixed the last paragraph for you:
The truth is, I worry people who are not Cat1/2 IRL will get overwhelmed with the minutiae of “this wheelset beats this one on climbs by X seconds”. So I try to keep it simple, and refer people who get $0.00 or even so much as a 1% discount on Zwift socks to the data if they want precise numbers.
🤓
I looked at the previous charts. Zwift Speed Tests: Wheel Rankings Charts.
The 454 were 34 seconds faster in the Flats and 7.3 seconds on the climb than the standard zwift wheel. If I did the math right then the SES 4.5 are 2.1 seconds faster in the climb and 7.7 seconds faster on the flats then the 454. That’s a noticeable difference. Especially for a light rider on the descents trying to keep up with the heavier riders. The Halo just got pushed back another month :
I wish I could spare the drops for this but am already struggling to save up for upgrades and a Halo!
A better wheelset than the 454, but not so overpowered that is the must go to for all routes. Nice to still have options.
Great information. Thank you
I don’t see them in the drop shop. I’m level 97 using Zwift level 1.95.0 on apple. They don’t show under ENVE in my drop shop.
Just update to version 1.96 and you’ll see them.
Done. thanks
are there going to be new cycling kits available for the 100 plus level riders?
So,
Let’s say someone (ahem) was a 100kg rider, because crisps aren’t going to eat themselves…
As weight increases, would this shift the dial towards picking the lightweight wheels?
Perhaps an interesting comparison:
Wheels and frame at 50kg, 75kg and 100kg
@Eric Schlange one for you to answer?
But of course. The higher the weight, and lower w/kg, the lower the speed. The aero effect won’t be as pronounced. You’ll spend more time on the climb. And the lightweight wheels would then better in that scenario.
I suspect it’s the opposite. Weight savings matter more the lighter your system, as 1kg is a greater percent of 50kg than 100kg.
Weight doesn’t impact flat speed as much, so the aero benefit is mostly unchanged between a waif and a wafer lover.
Can’t wait to see the updated TT comparison, especially for TTTs! Thanks Eric!
Particularly like the look of the ENVE wheels on the SL8 frame so close enough to go with those across the board! Thanks for the info as ever.
“If you include disc wheels in the picture, the ENVE SES 4.5 PRO is 10.8s slower than the fastest disc wheels in game, the DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT 85/Disc.”
Is that on a TT or a road bike? Is there a standard offset between discs on TT/road?
Speaking of minutiae, just an fyi, under the “conclusion” section 1st bullet point, the time between the 2 wheel sets is 6.7 seconds, not 6.6.
Do you need a specific bike to see the ENVE SES 4.5 PROs in my garage? I only see my current wheelset.
Are you on a gravel bike? These wheels are for road and TT frames only.
He mentioned in his garage.
Maybe same case as for me: bought and used them on my windows-version but cannot see them (not even in the shop) on the android-version, so far.