Zwift’s Big Spin 2025 kicked off March 3rd, and with it the much-loved prize spinner. This year’s big prize is the BMX Bandit, the first-ever BMX-style bike in game. Knowing I needed the bike in my garage in order to test it, I put the bot to work, and unlocked the Bandit on our first try. Lucky!
Here’s how it’s described in the Drop Shop:
“Rip through the pack on this throwback special that’s perfect in the dirt, the pump track, the streets, and everything in between.”
The bike is rated just 1 star for aero and weight, meaning it’s not going to perform particularly well on flat or climbs. And you can’t upgrade the wheels, since there is only one special BMX-sized wheelset in game. But you can pair it with Fire Socks and have fun laying down rubber all over Watopia, which is what I’ve seen lots of Zwifters doing in the past few days!
While riders will intuitively know that using the BMX Bandit in races against road bikes isn’t a good idea, we also know it’s fun to pull a “funny bike” out for the occasional Zwift group ride or recovery spin. So we put it through our typical speed tests, to see just how fast (or slow) it is.
See our master list of all frames in Zwift >
Here’s everything you need to know about the performance of the new BMX Bandit bike in Zwift.
Aero (Flat/Rolling) Performance
The BMX Bandit isn’t the best aero performer, but to be fair, it’s probably quite a bit faster in game than it would be in real life!
It turns in a time of 52:02 on our flat test course. Compare that to a time of 51:39.5 for the Zwift Steel road frame, and you’ll probably agree that the Bandit’s performance is a bit optimistic. Which isn’t a bad thing. Because if it was slower, nobody would ever use it!
In terms of overall ranking, the BMX Bandit’s aero performance on flat tarmac places it behind all in-game road bikes, but ahead of all in-game gravel bikes. It is 37 seconds behind our “baseline” Zwift Aero frame + 32mm Carbon wheels on our test course, which is two laps of Tempus Fugit totaling 34.6km.
Climb Performance
Can you imagine climbing Alpe d’Huez on a BMX Bike IRL? At least on Zwift you can change gears!
The in-game BMX Bandit turns in an Alpe du Zwift climb time of 53:05, meaning it is slower than all of the road, TT, and gravel bikes in game. It is 3 minutes and 37 seconds behind our “baseline” Zwift Aero frame + 32mm Carbon wheels on our test course up Alpe du Zwift, but it does come in over 2 minutes ahead of the mountain bikes.
Note: all test results above are from a 75kg, 183cm rider holding 300W steady.
Conclusions
Like last year’s Big Spin bike, the Atomic Cruiser, it’s probably best to treat the BMX Bandit like you would if it was in your real-life garage. It’s a novelty frame that will grab eyes and stir up nostalgia, but you definitely don’t want to ride it if you’re looking for speed!
So pull it out of your garage on recovery days and fun group rides, pop a few wheelies, nail a rad bunny hop, and remember that bikes are fun.
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.
wpDiscuz
