Your chosen bike frame and wheelset both affect speed in Zwift, so it makes sense for racers to do a little research and choose the best tool for the job.
While Zwift’s 4-star rating system for weight and aero is simple and easy to understand, performance varies even among wheels with the same star ratings, because the stars are just an approximation. Therefore, we’ve created several charts ranking all the wheelsets against each other based on their actual performance on flat roads and climbs. Data in these charts is continuously updated with the results of our latest speed tests.
If you’re just looking for recommendations on what to buy, here are some helpful posts:
- The Top 10 Wheelsets in Zwift
- Fastest Aero Bike Frames and Wheels at Each Zwift Level
- Fastest Climbing Bike Frames and Wheels at Each Zwift Level
- Fastest Aero TT Bike Frames and Wheels at Each Zwift Level
- Zwift Shopping Guide: What To Buy from the Drop Shop at Each Level
- Master list of all wheels on Zwift
Time Savings Over 1 Hour (300W)
We begin with a simple chart showing how much time a particular wheelset will save you across 1 hour of riding a road bike at 300W (4 W/kg) compared to the stock Zwift 32mm Carbon wheels.
The chart is sorted from the best-performing wheels to the worst, and you can sort based on flat performance or climb performance.
Time Savings Over 1 Hour (300W)
Time Savings Over 1 Hour (150W)
This chart is just like the one above, except the test was run at just 150W (2 W/kg). We would expect to see the flat performance rankings stay the same, while climb rankings may show lighter wheels moving up vs the 300W chart above.
Read all about Bike Upgrades here >
Use the toggle to sort based on flat performance or climb performance.
Time Savings Over 1 Hour (150W)
Takeaways
We don’t see any major rankings changes vs the 300W tests when it comes to flat performance, but that’s no surprise. At both power levels, on flat ground, aero performance is still the driving factor.
When you compare the climb rankings for 300W vs 150W, though, you’ll see quite a few changes. And this is what we expected: at 150W (2 W/kg) up Alpe du Zwift, a wheel’s aero performance doesn’t really matter, since you’re traveling so slowly (~7.7 kph). But at 300W your speed almost doubles (~14.8 kph), so aero performance is more of a factor.
Time Savings, Stacked (150W vs 300W)
Next, we have one of our favorite charts, ranking wheels based on total time savings across our flat and climbing tests on road bikes. This chart lets you easily see the best all-around performers, and whether their performance leans to the aero or climbing side.
Use the toggle to see data at 150W vs 300W.
Time Savings, Stacked (150W vs 300W)
Takeaways
As you toggle between 300W and 150W, what you see is the more “aero all-arounders” moving down in the list, while the lighter, less aero all-arounders move up. That’s because, as already mentioned, aero performance matters much less at 150W speeds.
Notice how the disc wheels’ heavy weight and poor climbing performance pushes them well down this list. This is why, if your road race includes any significant climbing, you’re probably better off going with a lighter non-disc wheelset.
Time Savings at 300W (TT vs Road)
So far, all of the charts you’ve seen have been based on results using a road bike frame. But on Zwift, disc wheels perform better on TT frames than road frames. Specifically, the wheels have a lower CdA on TT frames than on road frames.
So if you’re picking a wheelset for a TT or TTT race, you’ll want to pay attention to this chart, as it shows the boosted performance of the disc wheels. Wheelsets are ranked by their flat (aero) performance, since that’s where we see the variation caused by the CdA changes.
Time Savings at 300W (TT vs Road)
Takeaways
The big takeaway here is that disc wheels make sense for flat and rolling TT races, while they probably don’t provide enough of an advantage on road frames to be used in anything except the flattest races.
Compared to the fastest non-disc wheels (Swiss Side 650), the fastest disc wheels are 15.8 seconds faster across an hour of flat riding on a TT frame. That’s a big time gap. But on a road frame, the disc wheels are only 3.2 seconds faster, a difference which is easily overshadowed by the Swiss Side 650 wheels being 26 seconds faster across an hour of climbing.
Testing Methodology
The data above was generated using our standard bot testing procedure. Our bot rides alone on Zwift, set to 75kg weight, 183cm height, using the Zwift Carbon frame for road bike tests and the Zwift TT frame for TT tests.
The aero (flat) test route is Tempus Fugit, the flattest course on Zwift, while the weight (climbing) test is done on Alpe du Zwift since it’s a long, steep, and fairly steady climb.
All of the data used by these charts comes from our public Google sheet of test data.
Questions or Comments?
We’d love to know what you think of these charts, including suggestions for improvements. Share your comments below.
Interesting data on road vs TT frames. Any route with more than a blip of elevation, the Swiss Side ULT. 650’s would probably be better than any disc for a road bike. Though, once the elevation reaches a certain amount, the 6560’s are the better route to go. The DICUT 65’s will be put out to pasture.
Did you forget the Shimano C36, Eric?
I think they are quite nice for their really low level.
Not forgotten – they’re the one wheelset I still need to run a test on before I can include them in this dataset. They’ll be added very soon!
Added!
Thanks!
Not as nice as I thought, but still a good buy at level 6 😉
A thing I’ve been thinking about all my life: Pretty much every race starts and ends at the same banner (read: elevation), and none of the protocols takes descending into consideration.
So you keep talking about routes containing any major climbs, but then you descend to finish, don’t you? Or in a hilly race you would do up AND down 5 times, while your chart shows accumulated savings for all the flat and ascents.
If a disc wheel loses 30sec uphill, then gains 45 on the way back down, that seems quite relevant to me.
A few tests on th combined up and down Alpe Du Zwift, with some relevant commentary would be of great interest.
Nothing would gain back all the time lost on the climb by descending faster. And on zwift the draft is so important that you basically need to do whatever it takes to keep up with the group. That said, pretty much every loop has more than enough flat to make the aero option the best choice for a TT effort.
In a race you want to use the best option for the finish, that will get you to the finish.
You can probably consider flat performance as a proxy for downhill performance. Weight is an advantage on the descent, and aero is an even bigger deal.
“But on Zwift, disc wheels perform better on TT frames than road frames. Specifically, the wheels have a lower CdA on TT frames than on road frames.”
The numbers on the charts show the same 50 second benefit at 300w for both road and TT frames. The difference is 8 seconds on the climb side, with it being lighter, not more-aero, on TT frames.
I’m not sure where you’re getting those numbers, but I think you’re reading something incorrectly.
The last chart on the page shows a 50s flat savings for the fastest disc wheel (DT Swiss 85/Disc) on a road frame, but a 68.6s flat savings on a TT frame. That 18.6s is the result of the lower CdA Zwift assigns to these wheels when used on a TT frame.
I looked at it again, just bad chart labeling. “Road vs TT” doesn’t actually show on the chart, you have to see the tab in the corner and flip back and forth. A good “road vs TT” chart would have them both visible at the same time for easy comparison.
Hi Eric
Thanks for the charts once again, they are always very useful.
One thing that I spotted that looks odd – For the Zwift Tri Spoke/Disc the saving on the flat at 300W is +28.7 secs, but the saving on the flat at 150W appears to be -29.7 secs. Is that correct?
Ah, good catch! Bad data entry. Fixed above. 300W figure was accurate, 150W flat figure was not!