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.
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