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.
Maybe remap the play controllers for a bunny hop and a wheelie and we’re halfway to full on game mode.
Give repack rush features that benefit the mtb and bmx bikes. That would make it worth doing.
Bring back Repack Ridge and make the MTB (and BMX) better at the steep twisty stuff (or the rocks). Let us choose our bikes. Make the Play steering work there. That would be awesome.
It is the perfect bike for Zwift Games, hopefully I’ll managed to get one before the final stage.
Most of the riders there still go for thwe usual bikes. Dont see that many Cruisers or BMX’s. But i am for sure going for the BMX on the ZG25 route 😉
Unless I get the BMX, I’ll be on the cruiser. I did see a couple of Buffalo bikes last week.
I was amused when somebody got on the chat surprised to see me on the bmx passing them going up the corkscrew climb. Always good for a laugh (even if they did beat me in the end).
Soo, do the wheels roll like road, gravel or mtb wheels? What’s its Jungle time?
“Can you imagine climbing Alpe d’Huez on a BMX Bike IRL?”
You just created a painful challenge for somebody out there. I’m sure somebody will eventually do that now that you’ve triggered the thought 😀
Reminds me of this brave effort:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isDrfiHHXok
xD Love it.
why bother the alpe if you could Everest:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3EsyyvfzU7U&pp=ygUMI3ZlcnRpY2FsYm14
This is the only reason I want the BMX!
But how does it do on dirt and gravel compared to the mountain bikes?😂
Does “Equipment Neutralization” for the Zwift Games apply to the BMX Bandit? The rules state “This means you can ride any road bike frame or wheels from your garage (even the Buffalo or Safety Bike!) and it will perform the same as everyone else’s frames and wheels.” but the Bandit isn’t really a road frame, is it? (I assume also from that wording that mountain and gravel bikes are not neutralized.)
Mountain and gravel bikes are neutralised too.
Yes, I have used BMX Bandit in 2 of the 5 Zwift Games so far! I used Atomic Cruiser last year and it was also neutralized.
This bike really needs a color slider and a wheelie function, if you put your fire socks on.
Details to the Groovy TT wheels?
In the last Big Spin, I was so excited to finally Win the
Atomic Cruiser! … I rode it all the time when doing the
Pacer Bot Rides as if it were a Badge of Honor, and then
learned real quick that it Sucked at Races… Well as time
went on, it got parked, and I haven’t ridden it since. I gotta
admit, I’m not to Jazzed/Excited about the BMX Bike. So far
after 3 Rides on the new Big Spin I’ve hit the Helmet 3 times! 😂
Was overtaken on the volcano climb today on someone riding the bmx. Truly humbled 😭
Road the BMX on Stage 2 of Spin to Win averaged 28.5mph was pretty good tbh came 20th out of 1046 3seconds behind winner. I did join the race late but did manage to catch up to leaders only dropping places in final sprint as I was on BMX. Average watts 408. Will do the race stage tomorrow on a different bike and see what happens
I won the Atomic Cruiser last year but its no longer in my garage… do the Big Spin prizes expire? Really want the BMX but wonder if it will also disappear.
No, the Atomic Cruiser is still in game and in people’s garages. I bet you’ll find it if you look closely!
Not for me! 🙁
I got the bike on the first full go. It’s fun and shouldn’t be used in real races. However, for the Big Spin it’s going to be seen, a lot.
Word of warning to those who want to use this in Zwift Games races where bikes are neutralized and riding a non-aero, heavy bike with high rolling resistance shouldn’t matter. On the first 2 (sprint) races, riding this is a lot of fun. You can’t supertuck with it, however, so it’s not so fun trying to recover on descents of the hillier final 3 Zwift Games races. Actually, if you’re racing me in those races, forget I said anything.
I wish I’d read this before using it. Didn’t make a difference to the final result but supertuck would have made catching up on the descent easier
Never been lucky on any of the Zwift spins but got it today after only two attempts and both this week.
I’ve had 30+ spins and still no BMX!
Just keep going, it’s good incentive to ride.
i think that bike secret is the speed it goes for 180-200watt and not 300watt if you run test at 190watt you will be surprise of the glitch…
Can the BMX draft?
Yes I rode the BMX this morning and my rider took the upright position when drafting behind others.I’m going to try it in a race tomorrow hopefully I can stay in the bunch
I don’t doubt the ZI testing, but today I was doing a Garmin workout. I was running steady power in a recovery period of 1.6 w/kg cruising along at about 30kph on a Shiv Disk with 4 of 5 upgrades complete riding on Tempus. I don’t recall if I caught him or he drafted up on me but I ended up riding with a guy riding a workout on a BMX doing 1.7 w/kg. He drafted on me for a while then a couple of minutes before the little bump in the middle of Tempus he started pulling away. He got a few seconds ahead of me and then for about 1/3 of the distance to the turn I never caught him. (Eventually my workout went zone 4 and I never saw him again). In any case, I’d have thought 0.1 w/kg wasn’t enough for a BMX to out distance a Shiv disk, esp with 4 of 5 upgrades finished.
Does the BMX get some super powers when upgraded?😋