Zwift’s latest update includes a new gravel frame from Cannondale, the company’s first gravel frame in game. Named the “Cannondale SuperX Lab71”, the frame in this colorway is currently only available as a standalone frameset from Cannondale:
On Zwift, you’ll need to be updated to game version 1.110+ to see this bike in the Drop Shop. You’ll also need to be at level 28+ with 1,000,000 Drops to buy it. Here’s how it’s described in the Drop Shop:
“Made to absolutely smash gravel races. Simple as that. This is full-gas road race performance engineered for the full thrash world of gravel. Elbows out, head down, get off the front and don’t look back. SuperX only has one destination – the top step.”
See our master list of all frames in Zwift >
It’s rated 2 stars for aero, 3 stars for weight, and before this week’s update, only one gravel bike (the Cervelo Aspero) had such high ratings. One would expect this bike to perform well against existing in-game gravel bikes, but since Zwift’s 4-star system isn’t the most granular of performance measurements, we ran this frame through our precise tests to measure performance at nerd-level detail. Let’s dive in!
Note: test results below are from a 75kg, 183cm rider holding 300W steady using Zwift’s stock gravel wheelset on the un-upgraded version of the frame.
Aero (Flat/Rolling) Performance
Cannondale’s SuperX Lab71 turns in a strong performance on the flats, beating all existing gravel bikes on tarmac. It’s even a bit faster than the new Canyon Grail SLX which was also released this week!
For comparison, the stock Zwift Gravel frame loses 145.4 seconds to our baseline Zwift Carbon frame across an hour of flat tarmac, while the (former) fastest gravel bike, the Cervelo Aspero, loses 115.2 seconds. The SuperX Lab71 only loses 112.4 seconds.
Climb Performance
The Cannondale SuperX Lab71 is a strong climber compared to the game’s older gravel frames, and also beats the new Canyon Grail SLX.
The stock Zwift Gravel frame loses 161.8 seconds to our baseline Zwift Carbon frame across an hour of Alpe du Zwift climbing, while the (former) fastest climbing gravel bike, the Specialized Crux, loses 122 seconds. The SuperX Lab71 only loses 118.7 seconds.
Jungle (Dirt) Performance
Of course, nobody really cares about how well a gravel frame performs on pavement, which is where we do our aero and climb testing (above). While those flat and climb tests help us tease out a frame’s aerodynamic capabilities and weight, when it comes to gravel bikes, people really want to know how fast they are on Zwift’s virtual dirt!
In that regard, the SuperX Lab71 performs quite nicely.
In fact, the Cannondale SuperX Lab71 is the new “king of the jungle” in our tests, putting 5.2 seconds into the previous leader, the Cervelo Aspero, across 1 hour of Jungle Circuit riding.
Upgrading Your Cannondale SuperX Lab71
Like all frames in Zwift, Cannondale’s SuperX Lab71 can be upgraded in five stages. As a high-end race bike, each of the five stages results in a performance improvement. The SuperX Lab71 upgrade stages are as follows:
- Ride 200km, pay 100,000 Drops for an aero upgrade
- Ride 260km, pay 200,000 Drops for a weight reduction
- Ride 320km, pay 350,000 Drops for a drivetrain efficiency improvement
- Ride 380km, pay 500,000 Drops for an aero upgrade
- Ride 440km, pay 750,000 Drops for a weight reduction
You can expect a fully-upgraded Cannondale SuperX Lab71 to be approximately 28 seconds faster on a flat hour and 36 seconds faster on an hour-long climb vs the “stock” Cannondale SuperX Lab71.
Conclusions
Cannondale’s SuperX Lab71 beats every other gravel bike in Zwift, making it the new go-to frame for races involving a significant amount of dirt.
Where gravel riders formerly had to choose between the Cervelo Aspero (more aero) and the Specialized Crux (lighter weight), the SuperX Lab71 is king on flats and climbs, making the choice an easy one.
Should you rush to the Drop Shop and buy the SuperX today? Maybe. I might do it myself, because it looks pretty sweet. But with rumors of fresh dirt roads coming to Zwift, my guess is we’ll see more gravel frames and wheels added to the game shortly. So it may make sense to wait, if you don’t have a key gravel race coming up.
We’ll be adding this bike to the following posts soon:
- Speed Tests: Gravel, MTB, and Road Frames on Zwift Dirt
- Zwift Shopping Guide: What To Buy from the Drop Shop at Each Level (added)
Questions or comments?
What do you think of Cannondale’s first gravel frame in Zwift? 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.
Hi
@Eric Schlange how the upgrades of bikes affects to their performance in the jungle. Do they improve the same as normal road bikes or TTs. Do MTB and gravel bikes improve more in dirt tracks, a bit like what happens with aero vs light road bikes?
See upgrade notes above. Gravel bikes upgrade like normal road bikes. Upgrading doesn’t change Crr, just changes bike weight and CDA.
Get it and upgrade to dominate the new gravel roads when they get here.
Or get the new Canyon SLX and be the crownprince 🤣
Odd that these comments are downvoted. 🤷♂️
Haters!
Oof, I hate the reality check of stock versus upgraded performance. I’m just finishing up getting a third frame to 5 to unlock a halo, and each of the 3 takes me about 30-40 hours of riding. Fully upgraded saves them 30 seconds per hour, so that’s about 4800 hours before I’ve “saved” the time spent upgrading, per frame.
Mind you, I’m not complaining and the carrot chasing is a fun incentive. I just think that the effort vs benefit of frame upgrades is a bit harsh, and would love to see a bit more performance at the end.
Get ready for upgrading the Halo….8000km!
Ha ha… that’s a funny way of looking at it, Chan. I like the way you think!
Think that riding so many hours maybe yo got an upgrade as well by improving your fitness.
Wait for the Halos and Tron bike if you think that’s slow.
Maybe I missed it, but how much faster on gravel is this bike vs. the baseline Zwift Carbon frame, and vs. the fastest non-gravel bikes, like the Specialized S-Works Tarmac?
See https://zwiftinsider.com/jungle-speed-tests/
(I haven’t added this bike to the charts there yet, but it’s 5.2 seconds faster on a Jungle lap than the Cervelo Aspero, as mentioned above.)
To compare the. bikes, it would be better to have a direct comparator, that is, where you can compare one / two / three bikes that interest you
Agree that something like a drop down selector for 3 frames and 3 wheel sets with results across flat, climb, gravel performance would be an excellent add-on to the existing performance charts!
What is the performance of the road bikes on gravel? Example: the Tarmac is much faster on normal roads but is it keep some speed advantage on gravel?
And gravel bikes will be mandatory in races like TT bikes?
Good questions that need answers
Good questions we’ve already answered 😜: https://zwiftinsider.com/jungle-speed-tests/
Summary: if it’s a dirt race, you want a gravel bike.
Thanks !
Thank you! 🙂
One would expect that in due course there will be a Specialised gravel bike that will be the best…
If not, Speshy will pay for it to be “faster” at some point in time…
Specialized doesn’t pay Zwift for in game bikes. Neither does any other brand. Always been that way!
not directly, but didn’t they let Zwift use their Win Tunnel? Hard to believe that generosity wasn’t in some way…. rewarded… 😉
I spent a lot of time/effort upgrading the Crux to level 5 on my way to getting the project 74 (which I now have on level 3). I really didn’t enjoy doing the Crux (mainly did road mileage with pace partners but just did 1-2 pace partner slower than usual). I’ll probably stick with my Crux for now and keep working on the Project 74 to see if anything better comes along. As it is, I’m not looking at a fully upgraded Project 74 for 5-6 more months, I’d hate to delay that any more. I just want to get back to doing Z2 rides without trying to figure out which bike I need to do them on.
Paul, I gave up on the Crux once I saw how much slower it was progressing compared to the SL8 & Aethos… ended up switching to the Shiv as my 3rd. It seems like the TT frames are probably the easiest because you can upgrade them during warmup/cooldowns without much effort. They can also be upgraded in fixed bike events/races like FRR (whereas with the Crux, not so much because it will put you on the slowest wheels).
It may put you on slow wheels, but you can just change them in the pens, right?
Yes, but in order to change wheels, you first have to change from the gravel bike you’re trying to upgrade to a road bike that you can then change the wheels on. But if you’re upgrading a TT bike, you can use whatever wheels you want.
Ah, yes. Makes sense.
Sounds like the fully upgraded previously best gravel bike is gonna beat a stage 0 version of this.
Wait. what. Another faster gravel bike than my level 4 Aspero. Oy vay. ok then, best be gettin to it then.
Why is the Cannondale in my shop 1.750.000 drops????
You are looking at the wrong frame that has a similar name, the gravel one is 1 million drops.
at wha lvl upgrade is the cannondale gravel better than the stock Zwift gravel lvl 5?
All levels. A level 0 Cannondale is 6s faster across an hour of flat riding vs the Zwift Gravel at level 5. And about 9s faster across an hour of climbing.
Wow, 1600 kilometers for a fully upgraded. I currently have a fully upgraded Specialized Crux, but I went ahead and spent a million swept drops for this upgrade. A lot of pacer rides ahead to get it fully upgraded for sure.
Will there be more gravel races added with the current TTTs and normal road races?