Today, Zwift released two new wheelsets from DT Swiss: the ARC 1100 DICUT 65 and the ARC 1100 DICUT 85/Disc. The disc wheel is a virtual version of DT Swiss’ latest ARC 1100 DICUT DISC, while the carbon hoops are based on DT Swiss’ latest ARC 1100 DICUT DB (for disc brake) models.
| DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT 65 | DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT 85/Disc |
| Level 29 unlock | Level 40 unlock |
| 650,000 Drops | 1,000,000 Drops |
| Aero Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Aero Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Weight Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ | Weight Rating: ⭐ |
| “Wider, higher, lighter: the ARC 1100 DICUT 65 wheelset is the best choice when you are in a breakaway group and looking for the best aero-to-weight ratio. The v-shaped 65mm high rim, combined with the AERO 111 front wheel tire, makes your favorite bike faster and will not let you down in the final sprint!” | “The innovative AERO 111 tire on the ARC 1100 DICUT 85 front wheel and the ARC 1100 DICUT DISC rear wheel is your perfect companion for super-fast rides and new high-speed challenges. Take the lead and go for your personal victory.” |
Zwift’s 4-star rating system is a good starting point, but it’s not precise enough for our taste. So we ran these wheels through our standard battery of tests to determine exactly how they perform in Zwift and stack up against other wheelsets in game. And guess what? These wheels are fast.
Let’s dive in and learn all about the performance of these two new wheelsets from DT Swiss…
Aero (Flat/Rolling) Performance
Simply put, both wheelsets deliver best-in-class performance at high speeds, with the 65 being the new fastest non-disc wheelset in Zwift, and the 85/Disc being the new fastest wheelset overall.
The 65 is just a bit slower than the ENVE 8.9 on our flat test, edged out by a half second. But our test’s margin of error is 1 second, and the 65 handily outclimbs the ENVE 8.9. This makes them the fastest non-disc hoops in game, saving 46.2 seconds across an hour of flat riding vs the stock 32mm carbon wheels.
The 85/Disc is 4 seconds faster than the Zipp 858/Disc, formerly the fastest wheels in game. That means the 85/Disc is the new king, shaving 52.5 seconds over an hour vs the stock 32mm carbon hoops.
Comparing the older DT Swiss wheelsets to the new, the 65 is 7 seconds faster on the flats vs the DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT 62, while the 85/Disc is 4.3 seconds faster than the DT Swiss ARC 1100 DiCut Disc.
Climb Performance
The 65 handily beats the ENVE 8.9 on our climb test, solidifying its position at the top of the non-disc food chain (at least for now). The 65 gains 11.3 seconds on the ENVE 8.9 across an hour of climbing, and in fact outclimbs the more nimble ENVE 7.8 by 3.4 seconds as well! They aren’t the best climbing wheels in game, but they are the best all-around, non-disc wheels, saving 2.7 seconds across an hour of climbing vs the stock 32mm carbon wheels.
The 85/Disc climbs just a bit slower (0.9 seconds) than its closest competition, the Zipp 858/Disc. Both wheelsets are quite heavy and not intended for climbing races, so it’s no surprise that the 85/Disc loses 20.3 seconds to the stock 32mm carbon hoops across an hour of climbing.
Comparing the older DT Swiss wheelsets to the new, the 65 is 2.7 seconds faster on the climb vs the DTSwiss ARC 1100 DICUT 62, while the 85/Disc is 3 seconds faster. Impressive uphill gains, considering the new wheelsets are deeper than the older ones!
Note: all test results above are from a 75kg, 183cm rider holding 300W steady using the Zwift Carbon frame.
Custom Tires
Astute Zwifters may notice that Zwift has begun placing labels on tires, pairing particular tires with particular wheelsets per the manufacturer’s spec. I think it’s a fun little detail. Here’s what you can see on these new DT Swiss wheels:
The front tire on both wheelsets is the Continental AERO 111, while the rear tire is the Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR (the tubeless-ready version of the ever-popular Grand Prix 5000).
Drop Drop Replacement
These wheels effectively replace the previous DT Swiss ARC wheels in the Drop Shop. (That is, if you already owned the ARC 1100 DICUT 62 or ARC 1100 DICUT DISC wheels before today they’re still in your garage, but if you want to purchase new DT Swiss wheels these older models are no longer available.)
Conclusions
Both of these wheelsets will be immediately popular with Zwift racers, because they both perform better than any other wheel in their class.
The ARC 1100 DICUT 65 will be very popular in rolling races or those where the climbs are short and draftable enough to maintain high speeds.
Remember, disc wheels roll faster when paired with TT frames than with road frames (around ~18 seconds per hour faster on flat ground, based on our tests). That means the ARC 1100 DICUT 85/Disc will be popular with TT racers on flat and rolling courses. You’ll also see road racers using them, but only when the course is quite flat.
These wheelsets have been added to the following posts:
- Master Zwift Wheels List
- Zwift Speed Tests: Wheel Ranking Charts
- The Top 10 Wheelsets on Zwift
- Fastest Aero 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
- Speed Tests: Concept Z1 (Tron) Bike vs Top Performers
- Zwift Speed Tests Public Data (Google Sheet)
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.
Are the 65 better overall (in terms of combined percentile rank) than Zipp 454?
Based on math comparing them both to the ENVE 8.9, it looks like the new DT Swiss 65s will probably be something like ~15-16s faster than the Zipp 454 on flats, but ~5s slower than them on climbs (rough estimates).
On a race I’m doing tomorrow on the Innsbruck UCI Worlds Short Course, I’m probably still sticking with the Zipp 454s (because, if I get dropped on the long climb at the start of the race, the rest of it’s not going to matter), but it’s making those new DT Swiss wheels look very tempting.
I think that combined percentile is not a particularly good way to evaluate a wheelset. I think the best way to choose a wheel is to pick what’s going to be best when the riding is the toughest. So, the 65s will be better than the Zipp 454 when the race is decided by a fast (less than 3% uphill maybe) sprint finish, and the 454s will be best when it is a steep summit finish.
Combined %-tile rank is a nice metric but doesn’t translate directly into performance, since it just tells if there’s a gap between two options, not the size of the gap. Better is the sum of the times on flat and climbing tests. These translate fairly directly into Bologna time trial times, for example, or are representative of a race where there’s going to be selections on climbs but you need to survive the flats or may want to attack at a flat finish.
So these are better than the formerly fastest 358’s. I’m afraid something faster will appear after I buy these.
Can I get a trade-in value on my older Swiss wheels?
358’s?
353 whatever number, 454 I’m just spouting off. (Zwifter says they are the fastest for mixed riding.)
In a perfect world, my old tron bike that I worked so hard for, would still be the fastest. But then it was Venge, then Dogma, then something else. Too many changes are not making us happy, just the opposite.
These are slightly better than the ENVE 7,8s for flat and climbing (but not so much that you’d notice in riding and so they are very similar to those wheels. The Zipp 454s are still better if you want to be quicker on the climbs as they are faster uphill than these new wheels, but you trade a bit of flat speed. As has always been the case, there is a balance. Do you get similarly annoyed when manufacturers bring out better products IRL?
“. . . they are the best all-around, non-disc wheels, saving 2.7 seconds across an hour of flat riding vs the stock 32mm carbon wheels.” That number can’t be right, can it?
You’re right, it’s not. That’s the climb saving. The flat saving is 46.2s (based on the speed ranking charts which Eric has just updated)
Updated the text just now, swapped out “flat riding” for “climbing”. Thanks!
What are the odds that we’ll be able to level/upgrade wheelsets, like we do with bikes, at some point?
It would be great to run the tests for a range of different weight/height/power output so we can see the potential impact for different riders! (i.e. women)
We’re running them at 150W (2 w/kg), so that gives you some indication. See the charts page for details (still adding the 150W data for these wheels to that page, though…) https://zwiftinsider.com/charts-wheels/
Thank you!
The artificially weighted disc wheels remains among the top of Zwift’s most nonsensical decisions.
Not available in my dropshop yet 🙁
You need to be on the latest Zwift client version 1.92 to see them in your drop shop.
Above it’s says that the 65’s are a half second quicker than the ENVE 8.9 on the flat test, but when looking at the charts and downloads it appears that they’re actually a half second slower. The variance on the climb test ties out.
Is this the update hidden behind a feature flag in the latest release?
It was, but that feature flag was supposedly flipped today for everyone.
Thank goodness. I’m still 10,000 xp from level 100, and I’ve been fearing that the hidden feature was some new levels (speaking as someone who was at 46 when we went from 50 to 60 and 57 when we went to 100 – and something like 27 when we went from 30 to 50 but rode a lot less back then).
The new king of wheelsets has arrived! This game just keeps draining our hard-earned sweat drops.
How do the new discs compare on the most aero frame vs a halo bike in a flat race now? I hope I haven’t just put in the hours to get stage 4, for nothing?
The top performers vs Tron scatter plot has the answer you don’t want to hear. SL8 with the new disc is the better choice in all circumstances.
Against Tron anyway…SP74 is still worthwhile.
Sad that as soon as they made the Tron relevant again they made it pointless. Glad I didn’t waste too much time upgrading Zwift frames.
We really need a way to delete equipment from the garage we no longer use now more than ever, or at least shed to store bikes and wheels we do not regularly use.
But you can find the stuff that you use the most at the top of the list
Or even better be able to sell stuff back to the Drop Shop that we no longer want… even if it was only like 20% of original price would be better than nothing. I used to not care about drops but since they introduced upgrades and new halo bikes, it gives me something to save for again.
loving the way we get tyre naming but still no pedals
I “bought” the 65’s, see them on my windows laptop and android phone, have put them on my frame, but when I use Apple tv to ride in Zwift I can’t see them anymore. Anyone an idea how I can solve this ?
Update and restart your Zwift app on AppleTV, would be my guess!
Thank you, I will try that !
Manually updating the app solved it ! Thanks again !!
Can’t afford these slightly faster wheels if I’m trying to get a halo bike. Plus I’m old and slow anyway.
I’m not sure I care if a 75KG bot gains a few seconds in an hour. I’m not a BOT and I am not 75KG and I cannot put out 300 watts for an hour. I’m not going to get all excited about it , like I did when I upgraded a Zwift bike for more XP and found out instead of 20 XP for every kilometer I got 21. What a huge disappointment.