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    ReferenceSpeed Tests

    All About Zwift’s New DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT DISC Wheelset

    Eric Schlange
    By Eric Schlange
    August 20, 2021
    41
    ARC 1100 Rear Disc

    Zwift’s August update includes a fresh wheelset from DT Swiss: the “ARC 1100 DICUT DISC”. This is DT Swiss’ second wheelset in game, with the first being the popular ARC 1100 DICUT 62 all-arounders.

    Released in August 2021, the IRL version of the wheel is disc brake-only and made to complete DT Swiss’ aero lineup. On the virtual side, the wheelset is the most expensive one in Zwift: 1,579,800 Drops, for level 42+ Zwifters. Rated at 4 stars for aero and 1 star for weight, here’s how it’s described in the Drop Shop:

    “The new ARC 1100 DICUT DISC is made to aerodynamically maximize your performance on flat to undulating courses with cutting-edge technologies. Developed together with aero experts from Swiss Side, the full carbon rear disc wheel is made for disc brake bikes only and with its 20 mm rim inner width optimized for wider tires to reduce rolling resistance and increase comfort. At its center is the 180 DICUT hub with Ratchet EXP System and SINC ceramic bearings, the jewel in its crown. The ARC 1100 DICUT DISC inspires every time trialist and triathlete to pedal even harder.”

    According to DT Swiss’ own website, this wheelset saves around 2 watts compared to Zipp’s 808/Super 9 disc. This is intriguing, since any Zwift racer worth their sweat towel knows that the Zipp disc wheelsets are the fastest in game (with the 808 wheelset perhaps 1 second slower over our 50-minute flat test than the 858 disc wheels.)

    Will the new DT Swiss disc outpace the reigning kings of Zwift racing wheels? That’s what we wanted to find out, so we ran the new wheels through a battery of tests to learn just how well they perform on Zwift’s virtual tarmac. Here’s what we learned…

    But First: What’s On the Front?

    This wheelset is called the “ARC 1100 DICUT DISC” on Zwift, but really should be called “ARC 1100 DICUT 80/DISC” in keeping with Zwift naming conventions and to provide clarity to what’s actually on the front of the wheelset.

    As you can see in this animation, the front wheel which comes with the new disc wheelset is deeper than the ARC 62 wheelset. It’s the ARC 80 wheel, the deepest wheel DT Swiss offers, and the one paired with the disc in their own tests.

    Aero Performance

    This is the big news: the DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT DISC wheelset turns in a flat test time that is 6.5 seconds faster than the Zipp 858/Super9 in our 50-minute test on a flat 34.6km route (Tempus Fugit).

    The ARC 100 DICUT DISC wheels turned in a time of 50:25.5 in our test. By comparison, the former fastest wheels in game (Zipp 858/Super9) turned in a time of 50:32, and the ol’ racing standby (Zipp 808) turn in a time of 50:43. (All of these test times were done with the Zwift Aero frame.)

    Climb Performance

    The ARC 1100 DICUT DISC is rated at just 1 star for weight, so we figured its time up the Alpe wouldn’t be anything impressive compared to other climbing wheelsets. But how would it compare to the fast aero wheels?

    These new wheels turned in an Alpe du Zwift time 1 second faster than the Zipp 858/Super9, meaning the DT Swiss disc outperforms the Zipp both in climbs and on the flats.

    By comparison, the ARC 1100 DICUT DISC turns in a time of 49:39. The fastest climbers currently in game (Roval Alpinist CLX) turn in a time of 49:12.5.

    Conclusions

    A 6.5 second gap over 50 minutes is massive in Zwift racing, and corresponds to ~2 additional watts of power, matching DT Swiss’ test results vs the Zipp 808/Super9 shown here. Because of this, the new disc wheel from DT Swiss is going to be purchased by Zwift racers everywhere – assuming they’ve got 1.5 million Drops to spare and are at level 42+!

    With TTT races often decided by just a few seconds, this wheelset is a must-buy for time trialists especially.

    Given the standout performance of the DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT DISC wheels, we’ll be updating the following posts soon:

    • Zwift Shopping Guide: What To Buy at Each Level
    • Speed Tests: Zwift’s Fastest Wheels
    • Fastest Bike Frames and Wheels At Each Zwift Level
    • Zwift Speed Tests: Wheel Ranking Charts
    • Speed Tests: Tron Bike vs Top Performers (Scatter Plot)

    Goodbye, Tron?

    The Tron bike is 3 seconds slower in our flat test than the 858/Super9 discs on the fastest frame available (Specialized S-Works Venge). But this new wheelset will beat the Tron bike by 9.5 seconds.

    Unless rules are changed, we predict you’ll be seeing far fewer Tron bikes in community races. All those blingy light bikes will be replaced by fast frames running the new DT Swiss disc.

    Opinion: Race Rules Revamp

    Zwift’s Esports Rules prohibit the use of disc wheels in top-tier “pro-level” Zwift races. They are allowed in time trials, of course, but not in draft-enabled road races. Perhaps it’s time for community race organizers to do the same.

    Why disallow discs in Zwift road races? Two reasons:

    1. Riding a road race on a disc wheel isn’t a good look. It never happens outdoors, so why should it happen on Zwift?
    2. The time gap between the DT Swiss disc wheelset and the fastest non-disc wheels (Zipp 858) is 13.5 seconds over ~50 minutes. That’s a crazy big gap, which means racers will be driven to use the DT Swiss discs in all races not involving significant climbs. In our opinion, variety is the spice of life – and cycling! If Zwift wants to see somewhat equal representation across wheel brands on the platform, they’ll have to make some changes.

    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.

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      Eric Schlange
      Eric Schlangehttp://www.zwiftinsider.com
      Eric runs Zwift Insider in his spare time when he isn't on the bike or managing various business interests. He lives in Northern California with his beautiful wife, two kids and dog. Follow on Strava

      41 COMMENTS

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      MATHEW M ROSE
      MATHEW M ROSE(@matrose617)
      11 months ago

      I’ll take the credit for Zwift brining this out now since I finally spent about 4 million unused drops on the 858/Super 9. I used them for all of a week before needing to replace them with this. At least Zwift is giving us new routes and a few new bits of top kit so we don’t just sit on a pile of ten million drops with nothing to spend them on.

      9
      Reply
      Tim
      Tim
      11 months ago
      Reply to  MATHEW M ROSE

      Thank you for your sacrifice. I just achieved level 45 but just had a feeling to put off buying the 858 disc for some reason.

      1
      Reply
      Adi Gaskell
      Adi Gaskell
      11 months ago

      The best climbing wheels are only 25 seconds faster than a disk setup up the Alpe? That seems a bit odd.

      4
      Reply
      Daniel Connelly
      Daniel Connelly
      11 months ago
      Reply to  Adi Gaskell

      Given a 75 kg rider with 8 kg of bike + kit = 83 kg baseline, that corresponds to around 700 grams added mass which seems about right. Maybe you under estimate the importance of body mass, versus bike + wheels, when climbing.

      4
      Reply
      temps 09
      temps 09(@quatre24)
      11 months ago

      Agree with you, the not allowing disc wheelset in races outside of TT or TTT to match IRL rules for everyone not just the premier/pro league people. Atleast there will be more variance in frame/wheels setups for races now then half to mostly tron at higher cats or many events which adds to racing difference either plus or minus between racers that should make better racing as as long the rules stay the same.

      0
      Reply
      Patrick Weir
      Patrick Weir
      11 months ago
      Reply to  temps 09

      It’s a game lol , get a life

      -16
      Reply
      justin
      justin(@justin)
      11 months ago

      Literally 1 week ago I unlocked the 858/Super 9

      Capture1.PNG
      9
      Reply
      Mirco
      Mirco
      11 months ago
      Reply to  justin

      Me too 😂

      0
      Reply
      ShakeNBakeUK
      ShakeNBakeUK(@bakeuk_2)
      11 months ago
      Reply to  justin

      F

      0
      Reply
      Yousif
      Yousif
      11 months ago
      Reply to  justin

      You were wrong though, not a month, just a week XD

      0
      Reply
      Vegz Farmer
      Vegz Farmer
      11 months ago
      Reply to  justin

      I was 30 minutes away from buying the 858/Super 9s. But don’t despair just yet, in 2020 the equipment specs (Canyon Aero?) were changed a month after the release cause they were faster than Specialized Tarmac Pro. I may have the names mixed up but specs were changed after we had all dropped the drops :-). Not getting caught again, waiting for the September update before I’m buying.

      0
      Reply
      Jim Haysom
      Jim Haysom(@haysom)
      11 months ago

      Just bought today 🙂 great timing.

      0
      Reply
      Marco NL
      Marco NL
      11 months ago

      I realise this must be somewhere down the bottom on the list of Zwiorities, but one welcome change to me would be to restrict Disc sets to TT bikes only. Then allow drafting off TT bikes if the event is set up as TTT event mode (shouldn’t be too difficult to create). It hurts the eye to see Disc wheel sets in scratch races, but those glowing bikes and road bikes during flat and rolling ITT and TTT events aren’t quite pleasing either. Last, it would be nice to have road bike upgrades (Ceramic bearings, faster tire, lighter saddle, whatever… Read more »

      -1
      Reply
      Simon
      Simon
      11 months ago

      Here’s a question I may have missed the answer to previously. I assume companies pay Zwift to have their kit in the game? If so can they pay more to make sure their stuff is the fastest/lightest? Or do Zwift base it on some kind of IRL data?

      0
      Reply
      Eric Schlange
      Author
      Top Member
      Eric Schlange(@eschlange)
      11 months ago
      Reply to  Simon

      This is a question I’ve asked Zwift several times, but never gotten an answer. My guess is they don’t have a formalized process for determining IRL performance levels then bringing those into the game.

      That said, as far as I know, there isn’t money being paid for performance.

      4
      Reply
      Yousif
      Yousif
      11 months ago
      Reply to  Eric Schlange

      I’m almost positive big companies don’t get to advertise there products to hundreds of thousand of people for free, most likely companies pay for the performance and the level at which they unlock, zwift only has to make them slightly faster than the last wheel for everyone to grab a pair. I mean i never new about the DT swiss disc wheels, but now i think they will go nice on my TT disc brake bike 😉

      0
      Reply
      Tim
      Tim
      11 months ago
      Reply to  Eric Schlange

      “Zwift hasn’t answered me….as far as I know it isn’t happening” hmm, those statements might be connected.

      1
      Reply
      Bruce
      Bruce
      11 months ago
      Reply to  Simon

      i understand Specialized is an investor in Zwift. … I am sure it is purely coincidental that their frames and roval wheels tend to be the best performers.

      0
      Reply
      TobinRacesBikes
      Active Member
      TobinRacesBikes(@tobinhatesyou)
      11 months ago

      Zwift really need to just create aero, all-rounder and climbing bike templates along with disc, deep, mid-depth and shallow wheel templates. Any specific bike would simply be a skin.

      6
      Reply
      Adrian Amos
      Adrian Amos(@ahamos)
      11 months ago
      Reply to  TobinRacesBikes

      I was literally just thinking exactly the same thing.

      0
      Reply
      Stuart Lynne
      Stuart Lynne(@sl)
      11 months ago

      Yes, that time savings is large and worthwhile for steady-state time trials.

      It is marginal at best for mass start. Too many other factors. Yes, it does give you a slight advantage. But overall random variations in draft depending on where you sit will make a larger difference.

      6
      Reply
      Eric Schlange
      Author
      Top Member
      Eric Schlange(@eschlange)
      11 months ago
      Reply to  Stuart Lynne

      Easy to say “it’s marginal”… harder to pick anything but a disc wheel when it’s actually time to race!

      4
      Reply
      Tim
      Tim
      11 months ago
      Reply to  Eric Schlange

      I do it all the time, I actually go even further into the climb and away from aero then just ditching the disc wheel.

      0
      Reply
      Derek
      Derek(@dpr4473)
      11 months ago

      Guess I’ll be buying some new wheels tomorrow and putting the Tron back in the garage. Now, the next question is, how does the new Cervelo S5 frame match up against the top dog S-Works Venge?

      5
      Reply
      Steve F.
      Steve F.
      11 months ago

      Zwift should have set the Level Unlock for these at 60.

      15
      Reply
      Joel
      Joel
      11 months ago
      Reply to  Steve F.

      I see what you did…protested these wheels and requested new levels all at the same time. I won’t give up my Tron Bike completely as I’m proud of the time it took to get it. But, I will check to see if I currently have enough drops to buy this new wheel set

      0
      Reply
      Andrew
      Andrew
      11 months ago

      Please sir, can I have some more Drops 😂

      0
      Reply
      abcd
      abcd
      11 months ago

      Organize races with only one kind of bike, all players be restricted in same frame&wheels, accept results those guys only in your club. That would not let u be worrying about what is the best benifit on bike setting again. But it seems zwift without such kind of game strategy.

      0
      Reply
      Natasha
      Natasha
      11 months ago

      Hi Eric,
      This is random but how do you unlock this kit? I see lots of Zwifters wearing it but I don’t know how to get it.

      9AE76E29-0074-4C32-8405-7F82B0CFA655.png
      1
      Reply
      Eric Schlange
      Author
      Top Member
      Eric Schlange(@eschlange)
      11 months ago
      Reply to  Natasha

      That’s the Zwift Prism 1 jersey, I believe. Unlocked at level 46.

      1
      Reply
      Natasha
      Natasha
      11 months ago
      Reply to  Eric Schlange

      Oh thanks so much

      0
      Reply
      Arnold
      Arnold
      11 months ago

      Do you have any data for disc wheels on TT bikes? Perhaps I’m not looking in the right place, but I see only data for TT bikes with the Zwift 32 mm carbon wheels.

      0
      Reply
      Eric Schlange
      Author
      Top Member
      Eric Schlange(@eschlange)
      11 months ago
      Reply to  Arnold

      There’s some scattered about, but we’ve stopped testing specific frames coupled with specific wheels, because it’s a waste of time. Now we test all the frames with the same 32mm wheels, and all the wheels with the same Zwift Aero frame. Then add the differences together to learn what the combined advantage will be.

      0
      Reply
      rhys
      rhys
      11 months ago
      1. Riding a road race on a disc wheel isn’t a good look. It never happens outdoors, so why should it happen on Zwift?

      People don’t race on glowing space bikes either? The list is endless. Zwift is far from being a simulator.

      2
      Reply
      Dean
      Dean
      11 months ago

      Hi – I’m updated and level 50 but I can’t find the new DT Swiss wheels in my garage. Am I missing something? Thanks

      0
      Reply
      Dean
      Dean
      11 months ago
      Reply to  Dean

      oh yeah – I forgot to buy them in the drop shop first lol

      0
      Reply
      greg
      greg
      6 months ago

      The difficulty to get a TRON should mean something in game.

      0
      Reply
      Phil Young
      Phil Young
      4 months ago

      Hi Eric, I’m at level 42, but when I go to the garage to buy the DT Swiss Dicut wheels, I don’t see an option to buy them–no DT Swiss wheels at all. Any idea why I don’t see them?

      0
      Reply
      Eric Schlange
      Author
      Top Member
      Eric Schlange(@eschlange)
      4 months ago
      Reply to  Phil Young

      Are you on a gravel or MTB? You won’t see road wheels in that case.

      0
      Reply
      Phil Young
      Phil Young
      4 months ago
      Reply to  Phil Young

      I should have been clearer and said when I go to the Drop Shop, there is no option to buy DT Swiss wheels, even though I am at level 42. Am I missing something?

      0
      Reply
      Phil Young
      Phil Young
      4 months ago
      Reply to  Phil Young

      Ah, just figured it out. I was on my Cervelo Aspero, hence DT Swiss wheels not an option. When I switched to my Venge-S, I was able to buy them. So, as to my above two comments, never mind…. (sheepish grin)

      0
      Reply
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