Fastest Climbing Bike Frames and Wheels at Each Zwift Level

If you’re racing on Zwift, upgrading your frame and wheels can cut crucial seconds off your efforts. But figuring out where to spend your hard-earned Drops can be confusing! So we’ve put together this table which lists the best climbing frame and wheelset available at every Zwift level.

Keep in mind this list applies only to bigger climbs. If your race is flat or only has short, rolling climbs you’ll probably want to go with a more aero setup.

Fastest Climbing Frames

* It’s worth noting that the un-upgraded version of the Aethos climbs a bit slower than the un-upgraded S-Works Tarmac SL8, but if you compare the fully-upgraded versions of both bikes, the Aethos is a much stronger climber. This is due to how Zwift’s upgrade system is structured. See charts/data >

Fastest Climbing Wheelsets

* the Lightweight Meilenstein wheels turn in the same climb performance as the Zipp 353 NSW, but are unlocked via the spinner at the top of Alpe du Zwift/Ventoux.

Total time savings of fastest frame and wheelset over stock Zwift setup (Zwift Steele frame and Zwift classic wheels): 87.5+21.2=108.7 seconds

Times above are based on our climbing speed tests, done with a solo 75kg, 183cm rider at 300 watts on Watopia’s Alpe du Zwift.

Strategic Shopping

It may seem simplest to just purchase each frame or wheelset on the list as soon as you level up, but if you want to maximize performance you also need to take Zwift’s Bike Upgrade functionality into account, since it rewards riders who stay on the same frame long enough to fully upgrade it. Simply put: it doesn’t make sense to buy each frame/wheelset on this list, since you won’t be able to fully upgrade it before having access to buy the next fastest frame. So you’ll need to choose your purchases/upgrades wisely.

There’s another factor to consider here as well, when you’re looking strictly at climbing performance. Zwift’s upgrade system is structured so that, if a bike is classified as a climbing bike, the upgrades it receives are more climbing-focused. All-arounders and aero bikes, on the other hand, receive more “balanced” upgrades between aero and climb performance.

So while the table above shows the Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8 outperforming the Specialized Aethos S-Works on climbs, this is only true if the frames aren’t upgraded. If you compare fully-upgraded versions of those frames (the toggle on this Tron vs Top Performers chart may help), the Aethos is actually a much better climber, putting ~21 seconds into the S-Works Tarmac SL8 over an hour on a climb.

The Trek Emonda (unlocked by completing the Climb Mt Everest Challenge) earns a mention here as well, because it is classified as a climbing bike and will outclimb all bikes except the Aethos when fully upgraded.

Don’t have enough Drops? Keep riding – you’ll get them soon enough! (Learn how to earn more Drops here.) And if you’re wanting to level up faster, check out How to Earn More XP and Level Up Faster on Zwift.

What About the Tron Bike?

The Zwift Concept Z1 (Tron) bike is ~73 seconds faster than the stock Zwift Steel+Classic wheels across an hour of climbing. But as you can see above, the fastest climbing setups save 108.7 seconds over an hour! So the Tron bike is not the way to go in a pure climbing race.

Want to look closer at the Tron bike’s performance compared to other top racing setups? See Speed Tests: Concept Z1 (Tron) Bike vs Top Performers.

Improvement by Level

Even more so than our list of most aero frames and wheels by level, the biggest performance gains for climbing come very early in a Zwifter’s level progression. 77% of total gains are attainable by just level 6!

Your Thoughts

Hopefully this helps you select a bike for your next race, no matter your Zwift level. Got questions or comments? Post below!