This week, Zwift’s much-anticipated Bike Upgrades feature goes live, allowing Zwifters to trade Drops and accumulated riding for performance upgrades.
But how does it work? What sort of performance improvements can we expect? And what exactly is a “Halo Bike”? Dive in and find out!
Table of Contents
Bike Upgrade: the Basics
Every bike frame in Zwift now has 5 “stages” of upgrades available. As you ride a particular frame, you work your way toward completing the current stage. Completion progress is visible in your garage:
Completing the work required unlocks the ability to purchase that upgrade for your bike:
There are five types of bike upgrades:
- CDA (aero) improvements
- Weight reduction
- Drivetrain Efficiency improvements
- Drops earning increase (5%)
- XP earning increase (5%)
Why Upgrades?
It seems that, with every new feature Zwift releases, there are people who comment, “Why did Zwift put the development resources into building this feature? I won’t be using this. Etc, etc…”
Bike Upgrades add another carrot to the game – a fresh incentive to get on your bike and put in the work. Will that carrot be attractive to all Zwifters? Of course not. No feature is. But Zwift is betting it will appeal to many.
Additionally, most experience Zwifters have millions of Drops saved, with nothing to spend them on (I’ve currently got 81 million.) Bike Upgrades give Zwifters a place to spend our Drops.
Lastly, Bike Upgrades add a strategic element for racers who may want to put some thought into which bike(s) to upgrade and when, for maximum in-game performance.
Upgrade Variations
While every bike in Zwift now has 5 stages of upgrades, it’s not the same upgrades for every bike. The upgrades available for a particular frame are based on two factors:
- Bike Type: climbing bikes get more weight reductions, TT bikes get more aero upgrades, and all other bikes get a more even mix of upgrades. Example: a maxed out TT frame compared to its un-upgraded version is about 45 seconds faster over an hour on flat roads, and 26 seconds faster on an hour of climbing. By contrast, a maxed out S-Works Aethos is about 21 seconds faster over an hour on flat roads, and 58 seconds faster on an hour of climbing, compared to its un-upgraded version.
- Bike Price: entry-level bikes get bigger performance increases in the early upgrade stages, while latter stages unlock Drops or XP bonuses. Higher-level bikes don’t unlock Drops or XP bonuses, but rather spread the performance increase upgrades across all 5 stages so you really have to put in the work to max out a top-level frame.
Additionally, the type of work you must do to unlock upgrades, the amount of work you must do to unlock an upgrade, and the cost of each upgrade vary between bikes based on three factors:
- Bike Type: climbing bikes require accumulated elevation, TT bikes require accumulated time, and all other bikes require accumulated distance. Example: to unlock upgrade stage 1, the S-Works Aethos (climbing frame) requires 2000 meters of climbing while the Cadex Tri TT requires 6 hours of use and the Felt AR 200km of distance.
- Upgrade Stage: each stage requires more effort to unlock than the stage before. Example, the S-Works Venge requires 200km of riding to unlock stage 1, but 440km for stage 5.
- Bike Price: just like outdoors, higher-end bikes cost more to upgrade. Example: in the climbing bike category, the S-Works Aethos requires 4000 meters of climbing and 750,000 Drops for its stage 5 upgrade, while the more entry-level Trek Emonda SL requires just 2000 meters of climbing and 200,000 Drops for its stage 5 upgrade.
Upgrades vary widely in price. A basic bike’s stage 1 upgrade only costs 25,000, while a Halo Bike’s stage 5 upgrade costs an astronomical 5 million Drops!
Performance Improvements
The big question on everyone’s mind is: just how much faster will upgraded bikes be?
While we can’t tell you exactly what each stage’s upgrade will trim off of your time (not yet, anyway), we can share overall time improvements for a “stage 0” (completely un-upgraded) frame vs its maxed out “stage 5” version. Here is the time savings you can expect across an hour of riding at 4 W/kg:
| Bike Type | Flat Roads (Stage 0 vs Stage 5) | Climbs (Stage 0 vs Stage 5) |
| Climbing | -22s | -60s |
| TT | -50s | -26s |
| All Others | -28s | -37s |
Note that the 1-hour time savings above is estimated based on test results with our bot (75kg, 183cm tall, at 300W). Flat tests are done on Tempus Fugit, while the climb test is done on Alpe du Zwift.
Halo Bikes
This update from Zwift also adds a new, highly prestigious set of bikes to Zwift: Halo Bikes! These are fast and unique bikes that take a lot of work to unlock, a ton of Drops to purchase, and oodles of work and Drops to fully upgrade.
There are four available today:
- Pinarello Espada
- Specialized Project ’74
- Cannondale R4000 Roller Blade
- Concept Z1*
* the Concept Z1 (Tron bike) is unique on this list, because many Zwifters already own it after completing the Climb Mt Everest Challenge. This is still the only way to unlock it, but if you want to upgrade your Tron bike, you have to fully upgrade 3 Zwift frames first.
Halo Bikes can be seen as brand loyalty rewards, because unlocking a brand’s Halo Bike requires you to first fully upgrade three frames from that brand. Simply unlocking a Halo Bike doesn’t mean you own it, though. You still have to purchase the bike, at a hefty price of 10 million Drops. Yes, you read that right: 10. Million. Drops.
Once you own it, a Halo Bike can be upgraded in 5 stages, just like every other bike in Zwift. But the work and cost of each upgrade is around 5x more than even the best non-Halo Bikes! So while Halo Bikes will be somewhat rare, fully-upgraded Halo Bikes will be rarer still.
Upgrading Tips
Zwifters – especially racers and riders who collect unique in-game bikes – will probably be asking two questions:
Question #1: Which bike should I upgrade first?
If you’re a racer, it’s probably smart to upgrade the bike you race the most. Maxing out high-end race bikes like the S-Works Venge or Pinarello Dogma F 2024 requires 1600km of riding and 1.9 million Drops. That’s no small ask, but it is also doable in 3-5 weeks for many experienced riders.
If you just want a particular Halo Bike, and aren’t concerned with race performance, you’ll get there quickest by upgrading three lower-end bikes, because lower-end bikes can be upgraded to stage 5 much quicker than higher-end bikes.
Question #2: Are there ways to speed up the upgrade process?
The simple answer is “yes,” but a full explanation could be an article in itself. As explained above, depending on which type of frame you’re riding, upgrades will be unlocked based on accumulated elevation, distance, or time on the bike.
Shortening your upgrade time, then, means figuring out how to accumulate more elevation, distance, or time on the bike. A few ideas:
- To gain elevation faster, do your structured workouts on climbs like Alpe du Zwift or Ventoux. The workout won’t feel any different, but you’ll be gaining more altitude than you would riding on a flat route.
- To gain distance faster, ride in groups. Robopacers are an obvious choice, but group rides or races are also a good option.
- To get more time on the bike, try adding another long, slow zone 2 endurance ride to your week. These sorts of rides do wonders for your riding, delivering increased mitochondrial density, improved lactate clearance, and new muscle capillaries, among other things.
One last tip for upgrading as quickly as possible: once you’ve done the work to unlock an upgrade, spend the Drops to buy it before you begin a new session! If you’ve unlocked an upgrade, then start a new session, that new session’s work won’t be added to the next step of the upgrade.
So when you see the upgrade unlock notice mid-session, just remember to purchase the upgrade at the end of that session. Any additional work you did after unlocking the upgrade will go toward your next upgrade if you do it this way. (You can also stop right there and buy it, if you’re willing to stop. But that can be a hassle.)
Your Thoughts
Got questions about bike upgrades? You might check out Zwift’s support post for Bike Upgrades.
What bike are you going to upgrade first, and why? Comment below!
Will Halo bikes be faster than the Upgraded TT bikes?
Are they all considered TT bikes?
Just the Espada. The Cannondale and Specialized halo bikes are considered road bikes.
I know the Halo road bikes aren’t faster than TT bikes. But I need to finish testing them all (complete with upgrades) to find out.
OK, so we’re going to want to work on upgarding our Cadex Tri bike (for TTT and TT events) even though that doesn’t lead to a holo bike. Unless the upgraded Espada is better than it. In which case, I might work on upgrading Pinarellos rather than buying the new S-Works Tarmac and upgrading it the Aethos, and the Epic (as my 3 main race bikes of fast all-rounder, climber, and gravel racer).
The Project 74 and Cannondale are roadbikes Eric? Is that true? The Specialized looks like a TT bike visually. The Cannondale looks like a cross between a TT bike and a roller skate.
Thanks.
Yes, Project 74 and Cannondale Roller Blade are considered road bikes in Zwift. Espada is the only Halo TT bike. Tron bike is also considered a road bike.
This will be interesting. Are Halos purely a collectors item or will they beat other frames in performance. If the latter, will that result in a performance improvement for Tron? Very interested to see the test results when done 🙌🏼
I cannot believe there is a roller skate bike that is insane
Doesn’t work on cobbles or gravel. 😅
More incredible, it exists in real life….
That was a Cannondale concept bike in the ’90s
This is going to be discussed and questions asked about it for a long time i think. Its massive!
What happens when you ride the roller skate bike on gravel?
😬
Right to jail.
You get a rock stuck between two of the inline wheels, which causes them to lock up, which is then followed by the “stoppie from hell” and a broken clavicle.
Well, that does kinda explain the Skater’s Helmet from The Zwift Spin events.
Any timeline on tests for the new S-Works SL8 and the Cannondale SuperSix EVO LAB71? Curious to see if they stack up against the Aeroad 24 and Dogma 24. Thanks!
Just added the data to https://zwiftinsider.com/performance-changes/
That gap is huge. How much did they pay? Anyway according to your data the SL8 is the new one bike then, dethroning the Dogma and Aeroad. Any room for error or patch fixes later?
Guess they dont have to pay if they let Zwift use their windtunnel 😉
Specialized are an investor in Zwift. Gotta get value for their investment.
Looking forward to seeing the re-tested Tron & halo bike times 🙂
Working on testing them now… all 5 upgrade levels, in fact!
Doesn’t this mess up all your data Eric? 😀
This Zwift update alone should keep ZI employed for a year 😉
Looking forward to all the analysis! Especially what a fully upgraded Tron will look like … they really make you have to want that one, going through the effort to update 3 Zwift bikes you’d probably otherwise never ride! Although the Atomic Cruiser and BMX are now high on my list …
Do you have to complete all 5 stages to get the full bonus for upgrade bike? Do you get any bonus for upgrading your bike on the first stage?
Definitely a better feature set around drops and bikes.
I also wish there were races available to join during US hours. Ideally, it would be without the same cheats blowing them up each time. Those same cheats will now have better bikes.
That is someone’s actual summary? How did you get it and wow that is beyond ridiculous.
Looks like someone REALLY wanted to get those new socks.
Does the accumulated time/distance/elevation have to be done on the bike that you’re trying to upgrade?
Yes!
Yep, the bike you’re trying to upgrade needs to be equipped for your activities to count toward the progress requirement
So, I could make progress on my climbing frame on Monday, then work on my tt bike Wed? If I’m doing all the miles and elevation, it seems weird to then have to pay in drops. Why not just have to do 10k of elevation to upgrade a climbing frame?
Yeah like I would 100% equip the Aethos going up the Alpe D’Huez or Ven Top or La Reine. For Robopacer rides, I’d probably switch to a race bike to get some distance knocked out.
Paying for the upgrades seems right to me. You’d pay for upgrades in real life (and in other games), so what’s the argument for giving them out for free in Zwift?
if doing a solo or group, or just dont care in a race; equip the bike you want to upgrade before any meaningful section…. here’s a sort of cheat which worked really well last night for me. Late Join FRANCE big spin at 29min to go and with luck you’ll not get in and be sent to somewhere on the map… (i did it twice and both times it sent me to near the summit of ventoux 3km to go) – i just rode that with the Atheos, then switched to my bike im leveling-up with distance, and then ez rolled down the mountain for 22k’s. “money in the bag”. so, for example on a group ride and you are about to do the KOM, switch to your climb bike, do the climb and switch back to distance or time bike etc. it all adds whatever you do onto those bikes upgrade throughout the ride; so zwift switches mission from 1 bike to another midride. (it doesnt combine)
OMG Eric, the testing, the charts…
The good news is, I’ve got a more efficient and accurate method of testing going now. But yes… so many tests. So many charts!
Does the new pack dynamics and autosteering impact your testing? I suppose you could run the bot constantly steering to one side to ensure it always takes the same line
Or test on an empty world.
Eric’s the only one that can confirm but I think I read somewhere that he disables the internet while running the tests, aka no other riders on the course. Every test “should” (famous last words) use the same line.
The time gained when having a completly upgraded frame is way too much for my liking. A minute on a climb is massive, same as 45s on a TT and even 36s on a normal frame is a lot.
This will render new teams or people who dont ride that much hopeless in races.
Seems like it, if you don’t upgrade you don’t stand a chance in races. And don’t even visually understand why people around you are going faster.
That might drive equipment-neutral races
Exactly this. Started Zwifting last autumn. My first races (even in ZRL) where on the Zwift bikes. Surrounded by people with at least level 40, not really an equal playing field. But okay, I can imagine I have to do something to come to a descent garage. Worked all winter towards reaching the highest possible level and spending my drops wisely. No it looks like next autumn I will be back to square one.
I get the point of people having loads of drops and to give them something to chase. But the gap with relatively new people will get big i’m afraid. And when you r level is B, you’ll be surrounded by good bikes again. Hopefully racing score will help on this a bit. But will ZRL use this one next season?!
We will have to wait for Eric to test all bikes once upgraded. I’m confident the Felt once upgraded will remain close in aero performance to the upgraded top dogs, representing a solid option for racing for the lower level riders
I’m with you … but then all the upgrade options wouldn’t make sense 😉.
I hope that no Halo Bikes are allowed in races if they would be much faster.
For my eyes, I would love to see only the best road bikes to compete.
Hopefully race organizers will find a good balance of neutral and not
Interesting point — I wonder if they’ll have any way to visually ID that a bike has been upgraded? I mean I can obviously see a competitor on an Aeroad or disc wheel obviously … but how would I know that bike has been partially or fully upgraded? Maybe it could trail different color sparkles, rainbow for full upgrade 😉
I have an upgraded S-Works Tarmac SL8 in real life, should I not be allowed to take part in group rides and races as I have an advantage over people on more standard bikes? With my bike I will have these sort of time advantages.
I don’t see how online is any different except everybody has the ability to upgrade to the best setup as the only limiting factor is how much time you put into riding Zwift and not wasting drops on undesirable bikes and wheels.
What makes a frame a climbing frame or not? Is there an easy way to tell?
The easy way to tell is… if the first step up the upgrade process requires you to accumulate elevation, then it’s a climbing frame. The Aethos and Emonda are climbing frames, for example…
ah ok thanks Eric … so the 1st upgrade option will show us 100% clearly the type of frame ? … elevation=climber frame … distance=aero frame … time=TT frame … correct ?
please can you tell us Eric, which type are the best allrounder frames like Dogma24/Aeroad24/S-W Tarmac SL8 … climber or aero ?
Do you have any idea why they put the MTB in the climbing range ? I know it says mountain but come on, nobody goes up the Alpe on a MTB …
I thought that 😂
Would be nice to have this included in the Frame Ranking Charts. Just got started this week but trying to get the Aeroad before they change the level.
I think it’s based on industry standards. i.e: If Specialized is calling the Aethos a climbing bike, then, in Zwift, it’s a climbing bike.
Do historical distances, elevation or time count toward the upgrades? Or does the “clock” start at zero?
Clock starts at zero.
I like how it shows at the top of the screen, (where you see the names for a Ride On received) when you start your ride, how many kilometres until the next unlock.
So for the Tron, I know you’ve called out I can’t unlock until I’ve bought it and upgraded three other Zwift bikes. Presuming that means I also can’t even start working through the upgrade criteria until the other pre-reqs are complete?
Correct. If you visit the Tron bike in your garage, you’ll see it says “You must upgrade 3 Zwift branded bikes to stage 5 before upgrading the Concept Z1.”
so when you say zwift branded bikes…like the zwift safety bike or zwift bmx? not any bike on zwift?
: Can I upgrade the Zwift Concept Z1 bike?
A: Yes, the Zwift Concept Z1 bike can be upgraded after any three other Zwift branded bikes—including the Atomic Cruiser and BMX Bandit—have been fully upgraded.
LOL we’re gonna see a lot more Atomic Cruisers in group rides …
Will there also be a list with the difficulty or amound of time/km needed on each bike ? Are the frames ordered in easy to spot cats or is every frame different in effort needed ?
Would I be wrong to say that to start on the Tron you would be best off with doing the Cruiser, Safety and the Buffalo since they will require the least work to get to level 5 ?
Safety cheap?
That was my understanding from reading the doc. And given that upgrades cost more for nicer bikes, it seems the shortcut to upgrading the Tron would be to ride & upgrade 3 cheap bikes to save time & drops. I just personally cannot imagine slogging out nice weather indoors just to upgrade the Tron, so this seems like a project for next winter.
I updated to latest version, rebooted, confirmed latest update, logged in and got the new banner from zwift that bike upgrades are live. I followed the directions to access them and I can confirm this feature is shipped broken. No upgrades available or unlockable on Aeroad, tarmac, dogma f or zwift aero. Totally broken, big fail from team zwift. They may eventually fix it and it sounds line an interesting change, less about being a strong cyclist and more about being a loyal video gamer.
Update rollouts are phased releases. Dollars to pizza slices you’re still on 1.85.
Yeah I was just double-checking after seeing the same thing. “Latest” update I see on the iOS App Store is 1.85 with no bike upgrades available.
I think you can do a rolling upgrade (if you’re an app company) on iOS so you don’t get smacked with a bug for everyone all at once (hey, bug reports are up! Kill the update!), but you’d kinda think they’d wait to announce if they were being conservative like that. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Plenty of folks are seeing the upgrade screens just fine, so I can confirm this update did NOT ship broken…
I can confirm it did ship broken for some. Regarding staged rollouts, I got a rollout of the banner saying the feature was live and a button to check it out in the garage where it doesn’t exist. You can do staged rollouts of a feature (this is a good idea) but you should also keep the advertising functionality staged as well. Otherwise it’s a broken feature, regardless of version number.
since there appear to be a few doubters I will take some screencaps and post them.
It seems the announcement appears even if you’re still on 1.85.2. So it’s that they announced an update we don’t yet have.
Yep – this, I got all excited with the news here and a z2 ride to get movin’. I saw the banner, but nope, I’m 1.85 everywhere. So they are advertising it to non-compatible versions at the moment. No big, but mystery solved at least.
I want to see how the Halo bikes stack up. Worth it to get the halo TT or Road bikes? Could affect which road frame I max out (Pinarello Dogma or Specialized SL8…) as it’ll count towards the halo that works, if one works performance-wise
Well having trouble uploading photos here, so had to use a hosting site. Proof it shipped broken, hope this helps.
hxxxs colon //ibb.co/nsQsBq3G
hxxxs colon //ibb.co/yBd3q5bQ
hxxxs colon //ibb.co/rGDwm208
Mike, your pictures show frames in the drop shop. That’s the wrong spot. Go look at the frame in your garage. That’s where the upgrades are.
Thanks Chris. There are no upgrades in the garage either. I’ll get screenshots up in a bit, it takes a while to downsize and get hosted.
Chris, sorry this took so long, it’s a real hassle to upload screenshots here for some reason I can’t get attachment uploads to work in chrome-latest. I can confirm this is from a fully up to date version of the iOS app, and that it opens to the “Garage updates are here” banner, and that the garage contains no updates (shipped broken).
I’ll try both a defanged and unmodified link:
https://ibb.co/ymBY2psK
hxxxs colon //ibb.co/ymBY2psK
I’m pretty sure version 1.86 isn’t in the Apple Store yet. I would guess you’re on 1.85…
I’m also getting the banner but I have no upgrades. But I checked and can confirm I’m still on 1.85.
So it’s marketing that’s broken (for me at least), not the upgrade itself. Great way to confuse/upset people who aren’t paying attention, though.
It is a game, and I’m actually pleased for once that Zwift are going the game route and not a mosh mash confused direction. Having challenges and things to aim for, albeit just sparkly things, keeps the interest.
Will there be a popup when you achieve the upgrade requirements (km, elevation, whatever) so you know you got there, or do we need to check in our garage constantly?
Will the halo bikes be anything more than a gimmick? Based on the star ratings there’s no point…will they have more impactful upgrades than regular bikes?
Yes, you’ll get a popup in game when you hit the unlock requirement.
Halo bike performance… working on a post that will dig into that ASAP.
Will I be able to instantly upgrade while still riding? Or a complete stop is required?
If, say, it is the last upgrade, I presume the remaining distances/elevation/time clocked will go to waste unless we stop the ride and start another ride afresh after changing the bike? Or we just swop the bikes as we normally do before?
Thank you!
No one answered here, so I wanted to mention (for anyone who finds this thread) that indeed you have to fully stop (as you would for swapping a bike frame) to upgrade. This is also true for even tracking progress: you get some kind of intermediate update for your progress, but you cannot track it anymore granular than that during a ride without stopping.
Not just a pop up when you are eligible for the upgrade, but also when you get an increment toward the upgrade. After riding the SL8 during last night’s ZG Queen Stage, on the descent back down the mountain, in the area that usually shows the route distance bar in the top center, it briefly said, “50 km completed, 150 km more needed for upgrade.” or something to that effect.
Finally, the Halo bikes
I can already see it coming… I upgrade my favorite frame to the highest level, and then a new and better version appears in the game that I like even better, and it’s all been for nothing.
Can the upgrades be transferred to another bike? Probably not.
Nice idea, but more for those who would spend $1,000 on a real bike to save 5 grams.
All for nothing, except all the health and fitness gains you achieved through all that pedaling. The entire point of this system is engagement. I’ll be shocked if they don’t release new, better bikes every so often that you have to get on the platform for another hundred hours to upgrade them.
Nice idea, but I get the fitness benefits just as well without upgrading my bikes.
I don’t train any more than usual during the week for this.
So now we get to go from 3 bikes on rotation depending on the course, to maxing out 12 different bikes so we can access 3 more. I like the gamification!
Now I need to figure out when and where I use which bikes for which brand.
Hey Eric, SUPER excited for this! My big question is this, “are there plans to introduce other Halo bikes anytime soon? I’m a Trek freak and would love to devote my sweat, and sweat drops, to upgrade one!
so before I start, any advice? Thank you for this!
What would a Trek Halo bike be in this context? Y-Foil?
Does past time spent on the bike count, or it’s gotta be net new once the update drops?
😂
Only new time counts.
So, instead of ridding my garage of unneeded bikes, I have to buy more unneeded garbage to upgrade just so I can get the bike I REALLY want. Geez.
Now now, sir. Remember: N+1.
Somehow it is not nearly as satisfying virtually.
I think I understand here something wrong. I can’t upgrade any of my bikes yet.
Did I something wrong ?
For Example I have the canyon aeroad 2024 and haven’t a button to unlock something.
Best regards,
Phil
Neah, you just didn’t read the article well or the comments 😉
i think you’ll find a clue 10 posts above this one.
Zwift messed up and is showing you the shiny into to upgrades even if you’re not on the latest version yet. Give it a few days and you’ll get the update.
Assuming you are on update 1.86, when you choose a frame and start riding, you will be told how many kilometres, how much elevation or how much time you need to get to the first unlock.
Kilometres for the all rounders
Time in the saddle for TT frames
Elevation for climbing rigs.
So Zwifterbikes is still accurate for base level bikes? Or has things changed?
I don’t know. I don’t run that website.
Zwifterbikes has a note saying it is not updated for changes to base level bikes and wheels.
Will there be any in game visual cues for the upgraded levels of the bikes, or will an un-upgraded and level 5 look identical during a ride?
No visual cues at this time.
So what’s the point of buying a top performing bike when you can just update a middle class one like Trek Madone?
Because top bikes are cooler! (And they’ll be faster once fully-upgraded.)
Do we know what the drivetrain efficiency improvement does yet?
Fingers crossed its ceramicspeed logo water bottles.
Do S-Works bike upgrades count towards the Specialised Halo bike at all?
yup!
Do I understand correctly that in order to get the Halo version of the Tron bike I have to pick 3 of the Zwift branded bikes and fully upgrade them?
Which 3 Zwift bikes are easiest/cheapest for that?
I have >30mil drops so should be able to buy some stuff once available.
Any 3 entry level ones is my understanding.
If the upgrades make the Steel reasonably mid-pack when finished, that’s what I’ll upgrade first. I want to be able to have my setup look like ME without too much of a performance hit. And since Zwift completely refuses to acknowledge any of the actual avatar customization requests, at least maybe I can put my bike back to something appropriate without tanking performance. (Sigh.)
There’s this weird thing where they seem to be completely confused by anyone who wants to customize their setup to look like themselves, rather than to maybe gain a hair of an advantage in a race. (And I expect these bikes will drastically increase the number of neutralized-equipment events; personally, I don’t race, I just train.)
I don’t race or train. I ride for fun!
Bad timing before ZRL Finals
Going to be an unfair playing field.
Going to have to choose whether you want to put your effort into the SL8 for individual glory or the Cadex for TTT. At my time availability these days, I’ll probably only get 1-2 levels up in whatever I try to upgrade at most before the ZRL finals start.
I hope the team at Zwifterbikes can keep up with these changes….. Very handy website/app
It’s going to get very complicated for them – pretty sure it will take a whole new interface (and possibly underlying database) to allow people to compare upgraded bikes.
“One last tip for upgrading as quickly as possible: once you’ve done the work to unlock an upgrade, spend the Drops to buy it! Because until you purchase it, your work on the bike won’t go toward unlocking the next step.”
Do you have to come to a stop to access the upgrade menu (like the garage menu)? It’d be annoying if so, if you are in a fast group or going for a climb KOM and don’t want to stop.
You do, and that IS annoying. I’ve raised the issue with Zwift.
Zwift should resemble real life experience. You can’t upgrade your bike while riding it.
Yeah, any progress towards the next upgrade level within a ride really ought to count, if Zwift aren’t giving us the opportunity to buy the upgrade without coming to a stand.
thank you so much that is so helpful!
I don’t see the upgrade options. Not sure if the is a bug. I see banner for it and when I click on it brings me to my garage but i don’t see the upgrade option next to my equipped bike
I. hate. this.
It’s quite simply the opposite of what they should do, which is make all bike models skins and just have 3 templates for an aero bike, a climbing bike and an all-rounder.
Training Peaks Virtual might be better then
You don’t HAVE to upgrade anything if you dont want to
What date will it be available?
It’s a rolling update that started releasing yesterday. Everyone should have it by Friday, if it’s like other updates.
I updated yesterday. Didn’t realize 1.86 gave us new bikes till this morning.Spent 1.7 million drops to buy the SL8 and did 15 miles before work. The miles are showing as credited toward the level 1 upgrade. So it all seems to be working (PC version) The SL8 seems to be available only in white. Maybe that will be part of one of the upgrades.
If anyone ever had any doubt about Zwift being a “game”, rather than a serious cycling platform, here is your answer. What a load of nonsense!
What makes it nonsense? Have you never upgraded your bike IRL?
Do you have to upgrade 3 bikes in the same brand to be able to upgrade the Tron bike? (which is all I care about!)
The article says three Zwift branded bikes.
Upgrading the cheaper Zwift bikes to upgrade the Tron is likely kind of a shortcut then actually.
Time to fit a Quad Lock mount to my road bike so I can Zwift when riding outdoors over the summer.
You don’t need to look at the phone, just start it, put it away and let it go.
#lifehacks
Can’t wait to see which upgrades go with which bikes!
I’d love to get a drop and xp boost on the Aeroad 2024, but only find out after thousands of kilometres that I’m actually going to gain 10s on the Alpe du Zwift… that’d be sad.
Yeah, no Drops or XP boosts on Aeroad (or any high-end bike). Those are just for lower and mid-tier bikes.
Working on a post that will explain all the upgrade steps for each frame so it’s clear, since the game is currently hiding those.
Thanks a lot and good luck for the post, that must be a lot of work!
Is there a fixed order for these 5 upgrades? Or can you decide the order yourself? I couldn’t figure that out in this article
Found it finally… On Zwift the upgrades show only in the Frame section Not in the Drop Shop.
Each frame has a fixed order of 5 upgrades.
I only really care about the Tron bike on Zwift as Zwift is not real looks best with the Tron, which is usually relatively fast. If you want to upgrade your Tron bike, you have to fully upgrade 3 Zwift frames first. You must upgrade 3 Zwift branded bikes to stage 5 before upgrading the Concept Z1. Upgrading the cheaper Zwift bikes to upgrade the Tron is likely a shortcut then actually! And avoids all the actual bike brands that paid them or spending any drops!
Some interesting analysis that will be able to be done – what is the fastest bike which still has the bonus drops or xp in their upgrade path? Useful for people who want to level up or farm drops
Yeah, I think this will be the best “daily rider,” unless you just don’t care about XP or drops. The extra 5% should be better than the difference between the absolute top performer and the best performer with bonus XP and drops. I’m seeing 3 levels of the first upgrade for non-climbing road bikes: 100km, 160km and 200km. 200km are obviously top performers, but I’m wondering if both the 100km and 160km will receive the XP and drop bonuses. Also wondering if the upgrade path and bonus amounts will be the same for all bikes of the same type/category. Meaning, will the relative performance of all non-climbing road bikes be the same once they are fully upgraded? Or do some receive more aero or weight bonuses compare to other? Do climbing bikes get proportionally more weight savings or will the relative performance of a fully upgraded non-climbing vs climbing road bike stay the same? I saw another comment that @Eric Schlange is working on a post explaining upgrades, so I’m assuming this is the type of stuff he’ll cover.
Eric’s new post with charts suggest Zwift aero would be the best for farming drops with pace partner and trek emonda SL would be the best climb portal bike – both the fastest in their category if you only look at bikes that can get the XP/drops bonus
@Eric Schlange When will Zwift think of adopting the same riding position (low grip) that we have on the tron bike also on other frames? It’s ridiculous and aesthetically ugly to see yourself at 45 km/h in a high grip. 🙂
For the rest these things all seem to me to be too nerd stuff that greatly distances the focus on doing activity and training, but that’s fine. A first-hour beta tester.
Not quite sure I understand. Do you want to do away with the visual indication that you are currently drafting? Most people find that very useful.
Ok correct, but when you draft at 45 km/h in truth, you don’t have the position that seems like you’re going to buy bread or doing a coffee ride! 😉 This thing is so useful that 3/4 of Zwift users (that can) use the Tron bike where you never change position.
Good luck Erick with creating a master list of bikes and their update path. and how each step compares. Like how a maxed out Zwift frame compares to a lvl1 S-Works.
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. I need them this week! 😅
I just want to know what the fastest all around bike is so I can attempt to achieve it and not be at a disadvantage to others. I only care about riding bikes to get fitter not all of this upgrading and such. This is too complicated, why did they make it so difficult?
S-Works Tarmac SL8 and either ENVE 8.9, ENVE 7.8 or Zipp 454 (from best for flattest to best for hilliest). All you need.
The one nuance that’s important to note is that in order to consent to the next upgrade step, you have to stop pedaling entirely, because otherwise your garage is locked (same as usual, as if you can’t pick a bike.)
So, after a little back and forth on Zwift forums, here was something non-intuitive pointed out to me which I ended up finding in the FAQ on Zwift’s site:
Pro Tip: To maximize your progress, purchase your bike upgrade as soon as you complete the ride that meets the distance, elevation, or time requirement for that stage. This way, any extra progress beyond the requirement will count toward the next stage. If you wait until your next ride to upgrade, you’ll start the next stage from zero.
That’s good. Everyone, please ignore my earlier comment 🤣
Maybe this has been answered, and I’ve missed it. But…
For racers I’ll guess we will still just see the same 2-3 frames being upgraded and used, as normal? I mean… upgrading a BMC to a 5-star, will still be slower than the S-works Venge 5-star, right?
Correct.
what zwift bikes can be upgraded to unlock the tron upgrade.
zwift carbon, zwift aero, zwift gravel, zwift mountainbike?
Atomic cruiser & BMX too.
Probably also the Buffalo (although if nitpicking isn’t really a Zwift owned brand) and Safety too.
This is a seriously great update. Providing new carrots for high level zwifties and long hours of Zwift play time to max out. Very excited about this and look forward to seeing the rollerblade Cannondale in the wild one day.
I guess we will see many bike changes at the top of big climbs from now on. Going up with a climbing bike to gain elevation, and descending with an allrounder to gain distance.