5 New Or Updated Disc Wheels: Learn All About Zwift’s Kona Wheelset Drop

Yesterday’s Zwift update included the “Kona Drop” – the largest release of TT frames ever on the platform, along with 3 brand new disc wheelsets and updates to 2 existing disc wheelsets. Here are the wheels that arrived in the Drop Shop with game version 1.123:

New Disc Wheelsets:

• Reserve Infinity Disc-set (requires Level 42+ and 1,100,000 Drops)
• CADEX 4-Spoke/Disc (requires Level 41+ and 1,000,000 Drops)
• Black Inc THREE/ZERO (requires Level 40+ and 950,000 Drops)

Updated Disc Wheelsets:

• Shimano DURA-ACE C99/Disc (requires Level 28+ and 900,000 Drops)
• Princeton CarbonWorks Mach TSV2/Blur Disc (requires Level 42+ and 1,100,000 Drops)

All of the wheelsets above are rated 4 stars for aero and 1 star for weight. But Zwift’s star rating system isn’t very precise, so we’ve run our standard tests to see exactly how each of these wheelsets performs in game. Read on for details!

Aero (Flat/Rolling) Performance

The new crop of disc wheels is faster than we’ve ever seen on Zwift, with the three new wheelsets all turning in a flat performance better than any existing disc wheelset. This is big news, especially in the TT world.

The fastest aero performer is the double-disc Reserve Infinity Disc (shown above), with a flat time gap of 72.1 seconds compared to our base Zwift 32mm wheels across an hour of riding using the Zwift TT frame. Prior to this update, the fastest wheelsets were the DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT 85/Disc and Swiss Side HADRON Ultimate 850/Disc, which both turned in a flat time gap of 68.6 seconds.

Climb Performance

As mentioned above, Zwift adjusted the Shimano DURA-ACE C99/Disc wheelset in this week’s update. Specifically, Zwift lightened the wheelset a bit, to match the manufacturer’s spec. This made the Shimano DURA-ACE C99/Disc the best climbing disc wheelset in game.

The Cadex 4-Spoke/Disc isn’t far behind, just 1.3 seconds slower than the Shimano disc across an hour of climbing (while being 2.2s faster on the flats). These are the two top climbing disc wheelsets, both beating the former top climbing disc (Zipp 858/Super9) by 11-12 seconds.

Comparison Chart

How do these new disc wheelsets compare to each other? Here’s a simple chart of their performance when paired with top TT frames, 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.

Conclusions

Yesterday’s disc wheel release/update delivered five very fast wheelsets to the game. Time trialists, in particular, will head to the Drop Shop to buy the top performers, which easily beat the former leading disc wheelsets. The CADEX 4-Spoke/Disc is especially enticing, given its impressive light weight and strong flat performance. (Purists may also pick up the double-disc Reserve Infinity for its slight aero edge and unique look.)

This update will also find more road racers riding on disc wheels, since the new fast discs are lighter and faster than the old crop. Even though disc wheels get a performance penalty on road frames, they still outperform non-disc wheels on road bikes by a small margin, when the road is fairly flat. See the “Time Savings at 300W (TT vs Road)” chart on our wheel charts page to drill down into that data.

These wheels have been, or will soon be, added to the following posts:

• Master List of Zwift Wheels
• Zwift Speed Tests: Wheel Ranking Charts
• 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
• Fastest Aero Bike Frames and Wheels at Each Zwift Level
• Top 5 TT Frames and Wheelsets on Zwift
• Speed Tests: TT Top Performers Chart
• Speed Tests: Tron vs Top Performers Chart

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