Today’s Zwift update includes the “Kona Drop” – the largest release of TT frames ever on the platform, with 7 brand new frames and updates to 3 existing frames. Here’s what arrives in the Drop Shop with game version 1.123:
New TT frames:
- Factor Hanzō (requires Level 42+ and 1,800,000 Drops)
- Cervelo P5 (requires Level 39+ and 1,600,000 Drops)
- Cannondale SuperSlice LAB71 (requires Level 40+ and 1,500,000 Drops)
- Quintana Roo V-PRi (requires Level 41+ and 1,450,000 Drops)
- Cube Aerium C:68X (requires Level 38+ and 1,400,000 Drops)
- Giant Trinity Advanced SL (requires Level 37+ and 1,300,000 Drops)
- Liv Avow Advanced SL (requires Level 37+ and 1,300,000 Drops)
Updated TT frames:
- Canyon Speedmax CFR (requires Level 40+ and 1,650,000 Drops) price increased from 1,250,000 Drops
- Van Rysel RCR-X (requires Level 40+ and 1,200,000 Drops)
- Specialized S-Works Shiv Disc (requires Level 37+ and 1,000,000 Drops)
All of the frames above are rated 4 stars for aero and 1 star for weight, except for the Canyon, which gets 2 stars for weight as it’s the lightest of the crowd.
But Zwift’s star rating system isn’t very precise, so we’ve run our standard tests to see exactly how each of these 10 frames performs in game. Read on for details!
Aero (Flat/Rolling) Performance
The new crop of TT frames is slippery indeed, with three of the frames beating what was, until July of 2026, the fastest TT frame in game: the Cadex Tri. The new frames that don’t beat the Cadex are fast, too – faster than all the older TT frames, in fact.
The fastest aero performer is the new Factor Hanzō, with a flat time gap of 54 seconds compared to our base Zwift TT frame across an hour of riding. That beats the next-fastest frame, the Canyon Speedmax CFR, by ~3 seconds. A very significant margin!
Climb Performance
Zwift updated the already-fast Canyon Speedmax CFR in this week’s release, making it lighter. That gave it even more of an edge over the other TT frames when the road tilts uphill. The Speedmax CFR is the best climbing TT frame in Zwift – 33.7 seconds faster across an hour of climbing compared to our base Zwift TT frame.
The Factor Hanzō, on the other hand, turns in a standout climbing performance on the negative side. Zwift is using the manufacturer’s stated weights in these frames, making the Hanzō is aero but heavy in game, just like in real life. It turns in the slowest climb time of the new TT frames, gaining just 14.4 seconds on our baseline Zwift TT across an hour.
Comparison Chart
How do all the new and updated TT frames compare to each other? Here’s a simple chart of their performance when paired with leading wheelsets, showing what each combo saves you across 1 hour of riding at 300W (4 W/kg) compared to the stock Zwift TT frame with 32mm carbon wheels.
- Items marked with a * are older items that were former category leaders, included in this chart as reference points.
- If you’d like to see charts comparing all the TT frames in game, see our TT Bike Frame Ranking Charts.
Frames
Wheelsets
Bikes with wheel combos also require a wheelset selection.
Upgrading Your New TT Frame on Zwift
Like all frames in Zwift, these 10 new/updated TT frames can be upgraded in five stages. They all use the Duration, High-End upgrading scheme, giving them the following characteristics as you proceed through the upgrade process:
Performance At Each Upgrade Stage
This chart shows how many seconds this frame will save across 1 hour of riding compared to our stage 0 baseline frames (Zwift Carbon or TT). This is based on a 75kg rider, 183cm tall, at 300 watts, riding on tarmac.
Upgrade Stages (Duration, High-End)
- 6 hrs: Aero Upgrade for 100k Drops
- 7 hrs: Weight Upgrade for 200k Drops
- 8 hrs: Drivetrain Upgrade for 350k Drops
- 9 hrs: Weight Upgrade for 500k Drops
- 10 hrs: Aero Upgrade for 750k Drops
Conclusions
This new crop of TT frames (7 new and 3 updated) raises the performance ceiling significantly, with the fastest bikes outperforming the popular Cadex Tri in both aero and climbing performance. With so many riders on fully upgraded Cadex Tri bikes, decisions will have to be made. Is it time to buy a new TT rig and put in the work (40 hours of riding) to upgrade it fully?
Of course, we’re cyclists: it’s always easy to answer the question of whether you should buy a new bike. But Zwift has set up the performance of these new bikes in such a way as to force us to make a choice. Do you go with the most aero bike (Factor Hanzō), which is what you’d want on most TT courses since they’re often quite flat? Or do you go with the next-fastest aero bike (Canyon Speedmax CFR), which climbs significantly better than the Hanzō?
Many riders will have already purchased the Canyon when it came out in July as the new fastest bike. It’s a frame worth upgrading, for any TT that includes a significant climb. But riders may now want to upgrade two frames… one for flat races, and one for all the rest.
That leaves all the other frames in the awkward place of being quite fast, but not the fastest. Riders may still buy these bikes for the look (the Cube Aerium C:68X’s paint job is sweet) or to match their real-life rig. But I bet the vast majority of TT frame purchases will be the Factor Hanzō and/or the Canyon Speedmax CFR. Because in the race of truth, only speed matters!
These bikes have been, or will soon be, added to the following posts:
- Zwift Shopping Guide: What To Buy from the Drop Shop at Each Level
- Zwift Speed Tests Public Data (Google Sheet)
- Fastest Aero TT Bike Frames and Wheels at Each Zwift Level
- Zwift Speed Tests: TT Frame Ranking Charts
- Speed Tests: TT Top Performers Chart
- Top 5 TT Frames and Wheelsets on Zwift
- Master List of Zwift Bike Frames
Questions or comments?
What do you think of all these new TT frames? Which (if any) are you going to buy and begin upgrading? 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.
I’m waiting for TT bike rated 4 stars for aero AND 4 stars for weight
Thanks for the moment of sanity. I had been annoyed that the month I spent upgrading the CFR felt wasted. August was Z1-only for me, so a perfect time to upgrade a TT bike while farming drops from a slow Bot (no draft from it, but long rides at 2.5x drops were just the thing to build up my stash after depleting it buying/upgrading a halo bike).
Your description lets me know that it’s still going to be usefule for many iTT and TTT races, including next week’s ZRL race even if it’s no longer the one hammer for every job that I had imagined when upgrading it..
That’s an odd curve. What are the odds that zwift made a mistake and/or tweaks some of these frames?
You can still buy the Canyon at the cheaper price if you do it on a device that hasn’t been updated yet
It would be interesting to see comparisons a route like Three Little Sisters which has a few hills. This would give a more rounded understanding of the bikes performances.