Zwiftcast Episode 213: Women’s History Month Special 2 of 2
This week, co-hosts Rebecca Charlton and Dave Towle are joined by an array of special guests for the second of two Zwiftcast episodes celebrating Women’s History Month.
First, Eric Schlange takes us through bike upgrades, wind tunnels, and all the latest, biggest events.
Then WorldTour AG Insurance Soudal star Ashleigh Moolman Pasio drops in for a chat about returning from serious injury and why she’s supporting the next generation of women and girls from South Africa. Sindile Mavundla follows up, sharing the story of the Khaltsha Cycling Academy and why it’s transforming the lives of young girls. Here’s how you can support their great work.
And finally, the wonderful creator of the Zwiftcast, Simon Schofield, is back to share his story as he launches a new YouTube channel to document his return to the bike after being diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer.
All About Zwift’s New “Bike Upgrades” Functionality
This week, Zwift’s much-anticipated Bike Upgrades feature goes live, allowing Zwifters to trade Drops and accumulated riding for performance upgrades.
But how does it work? What sort of performance improvements can we expect? And what exactly is a “Halo Bike”? Dive in and find out!
Table of Contents
Bike Upgrade: the Basics
Every bike frame in Zwift now has 5 “stages” of upgrades available. As you ride a particular frame, you work your way toward completing the current stage. Completion progress is visible in your garage:
Completing the work required unlocks the ability to purchase that upgrade for your bike:
There are five types of bike upgrades:
CDA (aero) improvements
Weight reduction
Drivetrain Efficiency improvements
Drops earning increase (5%)
XP earning increase (5%)
Why Upgrades?
It seems that, with every new feature Zwift releases, there are people who comment, “Why did Zwift put the development resources into building this feature? I won’t be using this. Etc, etc…”
Bike Upgrades add another carrot to the game – a fresh incentive to get on your bike and put in the work. Will that carrot be attractive to all Zwifters? Of course not. No feature is. But Zwift is betting it will appeal to many.
Additionally, most experience Zwifters have millions of Drops saved, with nothing to spend them on (I’ve currently got 81 million.) Bike Upgrades give Zwifters a place to spend our Drops.
Lastly, Bike Upgrades add a strategic element for racers who may want to put some thought into which bike(s) to upgrade and when, for maximum in-game performance.
While every bike in Zwift now has 5 stages of upgrades, it’s not the same upgrades for every bike. The upgrades available for a particular frame are based on two factors:
Bike Type: climbing bikes get more weight reductions, TT bikes get more aero upgrades, and all other bikes get a more even mix of upgrades. Example: a maxed out TT frame compared to its un-upgraded version is about 45 seconds faster over an hour on flat roads, and 26 seconds faster on an hour of climbing. By contrast, a maxed out S-Works Aethos is about 21 seconds faster over an hour on flat roads, and 58 seconds faster on an hour of climbing, compared to its un-upgraded version.
Bike Price: entry-level bikes get bigger performance increases in the early upgrade stages, while latter stages unlock Drops or XP bonuses. Higher-level bikes don’t unlock Drops or XP bonuses, but rather spread the performance increase upgrades across all 5 stages so you really have to put in the work to max out a top-level frame.
Additionally, the type of workyou must do to unlock upgrades, the amount of work you must do to unlock an upgrade, and the cost of each upgrade vary between bikes based on three factors:
Bike Type: climbing bikes require accumulated elevation, TT bikes require accumulated time, and all other bikes require accumulated distance. Example: to unlock upgrade stage 1, the S-Works Aethos (climbing frame) requires 2000 meters of climbing while the Cadex Tri TT requires 6 hours of use and the Felt AR 200km of distance.
Upgrade Stage: each stage requires more effort to unlock than the stage before. Example, the S-Works Venge requires 200km of riding to unlock stage 1, but 440km for stage 5.
Bike Price: just like outdoors, higher-end bikes cost more to upgrade. Example: in the climbing bike category, the S-Works Aethos requires 4000 meters of climbing and 750,000 Drops for its stage 5 upgrade, while the more entry-level Trek Emonda SL requires just 2000 meters of climbing and 200,000 Drops for its stage 5 upgrade.
Upgrades vary widely in price. A basic bike’s stage 1 upgrade only costs 25,000, while a Halo Bike’s stage 5 upgrade costs an astronomical 5 million Drops!
Performance Improvements
The big question on everyone’s mind is: just how much faster will upgraded bikes be?
While we can’t tell you exactly what each stage’s upgrade will trim off of your time (not yet, anyway), we can share overall time improvements for a “stage 0” (completely un-upgraded) frame vs its maxed out “stage 5” version. Here is the time savings you can expect across an hour of riding at 4 W/kg:
Bike Type
Flat Roads (Stage 0 vs Stage 5)
Climbs (Stage 0 vs Stage 5)
Climbing
-22s
-60s
TT
-50s
-26s
All Others
-28s
-37s
Note that the 1-hour time savings above is estimated based on test results with our bot (75kg, 183cm tall, at 300W). Flat tests are done on Tempus Fugit, while the climb test is done on Alpe du Zwift.
Halo Bikes
This update from Zwift also adds a new, highly prestigious set of bikes to Zwift: Halo Bikes! These are fast and unique bikes that take a lot of work to unlock, a ton of Drops to purchase, and oodles of work and Drops to fully upgrade.
There are four available today:
Pinarello Espada
Specialized Project ’74
Cannondale R4000 Roller Blade
Concept Z1*
* the Concept Z1 (Tron bike) is unique on this list, because many Zwifters already own it after completing the Climb Mt Everest Challenge. This is still the only way to unlock it, but if you want to upgrade your Tron bike, you have to fully upgrade 3 Zwift frames first.
Halo Bikes can be seen as brand loyalty rewards, because unlocking a brand’s Halo Bike requires you to first fully upgrade three frames from that brand. Simply unlocking a Halo Bike doesn’t mean you own it, though. You still have to purchase the bike, at a hefty price of 10 million Drops. Yes, you read that right: 10. Million. Drops.
Once you own it, a Halo Bike can be upgraded in 5 stages, just like every other bike in Zwift. But the work and cost of each upgrade is around 5x more than even the best non-Halo Bikes! So while Halo Bikes will be somewhat rare, fully-upgraded Halo Bikes will be rarer still.
Zwifters – especially racers and riders who collect unique in-game bikes – will probably be asking two questions:
Question #1: Which bike should I upgrade first?
If you’re a racer, it’s probably smart to upgrade the bike you race the most. Maxing out high-end race bikes like the S-Works Venge or Pinarello Dogma F 2024 requires 1600km of riding and 1.9 million Drops. That’s no small ask, but it is also doable in 3-5 weeks for many experienced riders.
If you just want a particular Halo Bike, and aren’t concerned with race performance, you’ll get there quickest by upgrading three lower-end bikes, because lower-end bikes can be upgraded to stage 5 much quicker than higher-end bikes.
Question #2: Are there ways to speed up the upgrade process?
The simple answer is “yes,” but a full explanation could be an article in itself. As explained above, depending on which type of frame you’re riding, upgrades will be unlocked based on accumulated elevation, distance, or time on the bike.
Shortening your upgrade time, then, means figuring out how to accumulate more elevation, distance, or time on the bike. A few ideas:
To gain elevation faster, do your structured workouts on climbs like Alpe du Zwift or Ventoux. The workout won’t feel any different, but you’ll be gaining more altitude than you would riding on a flat route.
To gain distance faster, ride in groups. Robopacers are an obvious choice, but group rides or races are also a good option.
To get more time on the bike, try adding another long, slow zone 2 endurance ride to your week. These sorts of rides do wonders for your riding, delivering increased mitochondrial density, improved lactate clearance, and new muscle capillaries, among other things.
One last tip for upgrading as quickly as possible: once you’ve done the work to unlock an upgrade, spend the Drops to buy it before you begin a new session! If you’ve unlocked an upgrade, then start a new session, that new session’s work won’t be added to the next step of the upgrade.
So when you see the upgrade unlock notice mid-session, just remember to purchase the upgrade at the end of that session. Any additional work you did after unlocking the upgrade will go toward your next upgrade if you do it this way. (You can also stop right there and buy it, if you’re willing to stop. But that can be a hassle.)
Zwift version 1.86 begins its phased rollout today. This is a major release – Zwift’s largest so far this year – delivering major changes to the Drop Shop and Garage including new bikes, frame/wheel performance modifications, and the much-anticipated Bike Upgrades system. Read on for details…
Bike Upgrades
Zwift’s release notes say, “the Zwift Garage now features a Bike Upgrade system that lets Zwifters upgrade any bike and hand cycle to five (5) upgrade stages for increased performance.”
It’s the long-awaited “Garage Upgrades” functionality announced back in September 2024, and it adds lots of new carrots for Zwifters to chase. It also gives us a reason to spend Drops and think strategically about which bikes to upgrade and when!
This is a big update, so we’ve put together a detailed post all about it.
To support the Bike Upgrades system and increase in-game realism, this week’s update includes performance tweaks to nearly all bikes and wheelsets in game. Again, there’s way too much detail to share here, but the good news is we published a post last week detailing the new performance characteristics of all the road frames and wheels:
There’s much more to talk about in this space, including performance changes to the Tron (Concept Z1) bike as well as TT, MTB, and Gravel frames. Watch Zwift Insider for more info soon.
7 New Bikes
Everyone loves new bike day! Four new “production” road bikes have been added to the Drop Shop: the Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8 (Level 40+), Specialized Tarmac SL8 (Level 35+), Cannondale CAAD13 (Level 14+), and Cannondale Super Six EVO LAB71 (Level 40+):
We are now running speed tests on these bikes. They are fast. We will publish results as soon as possible. Speed test results for these bikes can be found in this post.
Additionally, three new “Halo Bikes” are now “available” in the Drop Shop: the Specialized Project 74, Pinarello Espada, and Cannondale R4000 Roller Blade:
We say “available” for the Halo Bikes because Zwifters will have to put in a lot of work and spend a pile of Drops before they even have the opportunity to unlock a Halo Bike. Read our Bike Upgrades post for more info.
Drop Shop Price Changes
The Pinarello Dogma F 2024 has slightly increased in price, from 1,400,000 to 1,750,000. That is the only frame with a new price. Wheels, on the other hand, have (almost) all increased in price:
Wheelset
Old Price
New Price
Bontrager Aeolus5
67,700
150,000
CADEX 36
216,900
375,000
CADEX 42
119,500
425,000
CADEX 65
223,900
450,000
Campy 35
250,000
350,000
Campy 50
150,000
450,000
DTSwiss 62
400,000
500,000
DTSwiss DISC
655,000
750,000
Enve SES 2.2
174,300
400,000
Enve SES 3.4
200,000
525,000
Enve SES 6.7
150,000
525,000
Enve SES 7.8
278,900
550,000
Enve SES 8.9
250,000
550,000
FFWD RYOT55
136,100
200,000
Giant SLR 0
165,100
450,000
HED Vanquish RC6 Pro
120,000
175,000
Mavic Comete Pro
38,400
200,000
Mavic Cosmic CXR60c
39,800
150,000
Mavic Cosmic Ultimate
38,400
525,000
Novatec R4
37,900
150,000
Roval Alpinist CLX
634,300
550,000
Roval CLX64
150,000
525,000
Roval Rapide CLX
200,000
500,000
Shimano C40
85,300
300,000
Shimano C50
165,000
250,000
Shimano C60
187,000
325,000
Zipp 202
135,200
350,000
Zipp 353 NSW
168,800
600,000
Zipp 404
115,600
425,000
Zipp 454
204,300
600,000
Zipp 808
200,000
425,000
Zipp 808/Super9
450,000
650,000
Zipp 858
300,000
600,000
Zipp 858/Super9
550,000
750,000
Zwift 32mm Carbon
32,000
100,000
Additionally, four wheelsets have had their unlock levels changed:
HED Vanquish RC6 Pro: 17 to 10
Shimano C60: 10 to 17
FFWD RYOT55: 18 to 6
Mavic Cosmic Ultimate: 6 to 18
New Routes
Three new routes (and route badges) arrived in this update. Two are now available to free ride, while the third (Hilltop Hustle) is event-only at this time.
This wasn’t mentioned in the release notes, but Zwift has “retired” many older bike models in today’s release by removing them from the Drop Shop. (This is the first mass bike retirement in Zwift’s history.)
Here’s the full list of bikes retired in this release:
Specialized
2015 Shiv
2019 Tarmac Pro
2015 Tarmac
2015 Roubaix
2015 Amira
2016 S-Works Amira
2019 Ruby
2015 S-Works Ruby
Specialized Allez 2015
Cannondale
CAAD12
Pinarello
2019 Dogma F10
2015 Dogma 65.1
Canyon
2015 Ultimate
2015 Speedmax
Cervelo
2015 S3D
2015 S5
Scott
Scott Foil 2015
If you already own one of these bikes, it will remain in your garage. But you won’t be able to purchase these bikes once you’ve installed version 1.86.
Release Notes
Zwift provided notes on additional tweaks and bug fixes in this update:
Improved the reliability of The Zwift Big Spin reward spinner.
Improved the navigation and appearance of the tabs shown on top of the Home screen.
Fixed an issue that caused Running progress to incorrectly count towards the Factory Tour challenge.
Fixed an issue that could cause the Shift Style and Gear Range settings to appear for trainers that do not support virtual shifting.
Windows: For Windows devices that are compatible with Video Screenshots, Video Screenshots is now disabled by default for devices that have less than 8 GB of RAM or fewer than 4 CPU cores. Video Screenshots can be re-enabled at any time for these devices under Settings → Video Screenshots.
iOS: Fixed an issue that could cause Bluetooth devices to not automatically reconnect if Zwift was open for an extended period of time.
Android: Fixed an issue that could prevent Bluetooth devices from automatically reconnecting after a disconnection.
How the Race Was Lost: Zwift Games Stages 3 and 4 (Downtown Eruption and London Uprising)
The Zwift Games are upon us, and with them big race packs on fresh routes. Having finished third in stage 1 (read more) and second in stage 2 (read more), I was really enjoying myself in the 450-570 group.
But then the climb stages arrived, and everything changed. Here are my summaries of stages 3 and 4 of Zwift Games.
Stage 3: Warmup
It didn’t take long for me to realize that today wasn’t going to be pretty.
As I spun my legs to gently warm them up prior to the race, I could tell today (Tuesday, March 11) was a bad leg day. You know what I’m talking about. Sometimes these days are expected, other times they come as a surprise. Today was a bit of a surprise since I had ridden the day before and felt fairly good.
What was the cause? Poor sleep? Insufficient nutrition? Getting sick? I wasn’t sure. But I could tell something was off.
Stage 3: Volcano Implosion
Stage 3 took place on the new Downtown Eruption route in Watopia, and I knew exactly where I would have trouble here: the Volcano KOM. This segment has often been my undoing in races, as it’s just a bit too steep and long for me to hang on!
We had a big pack of 144 starters in the race, so I knew the effort was going to be extra tough. That’s just how it works on Zwift: bigger packs mean more strong riders, generally.
The course begins with a quick climb up the bottom half of the Hilly KOM, and it took ~450 watts for 50 seconds to hold onto the group here. Job done, but I knew the big test was up the road.
I made it to the foot of the Volcano KOM without incident, but it wasn’t long (around 600 meters in) before I saw my avatar drifting backward in the group. At 1.1km into the climb, the white flag came out. 75 riders rode away in a long string ahead, and I was quickly passed by several more.
At first, I sat up and spun easily, sinking down to 93rd place. Then I realized there was still a GC competition going on, so I pushed a bit to catch the wheels of the small group just ahead as we hit the flat halfway point of the Volcano KOM.
But then the road tilted up again, and that group rode away from me too! Jimmeny Christmas. This was bad.
Over the top, I found myself with just a couple of riders. We descended together, and I used the supertuck and some well-timed power to bridge us up to a small group just up the road.
The race may be lost, but you can still make it interesting, right?
You can tell it’s a bad leg day when your legs like you’re riding at threshold, but your heart rate doesn’t want to get above tempo zone. That’s what I was feeling on this day – like I couldn’t even push my legs hard enough to make my heart work hard!
Stage 3: Finish
Six of us made our way through Downtown Watopia, then it was time for the final challenge: the Hilly KOM. This climb is around 2 minutes long and, again, has been my nemesis in past races, seeing me dropped by just a few seconds as we crest the top.
Our group strung out and separated up this climb, and I finished somewhere in the middle of my pack of 6, for a final placement of 94th overall.
On Saturday, March 15, I raced the second climbing stage on the new London Uprising route. I knew this one would be rough, too, because it features two big climbs: Fox Hill and Box Hill.
My legs felt nicely recovered during the warmup, and I spun my legs for around an hour prior to the race.
I’d been chatting with Nick Kalkounis from ZwiftHQ about the Zwift Games stages prior to this, sharing my results as he shared his. (Nick is a cool dude who’s done a lot of work with Zwift Racing Score. We met on my trip to the Specialized Win Tunnel back in October – read more about that here).
We decided to meet up for this race, and Nick invited Tim Hanson (of zwiftracing.app fame) along. So the three of us were having a sort of informal “race within the race.” Nick is a fit dude without a scrap of fat on his body, so I didn’t think I stood much chance against him on this course. But it’s always fun to race with friends anyway. Let’s go!
Stage 4: Outfoxed
The London Uprising route begins by taking riders straight up Fox Hill. Then you descend, do a lap of the Classique, and head up Box Hill for the finish.
Simple. But not easy.
The start was pretty chill, since everyone knew the work would begin just up the road. 67 riders left the start pens, and soon enough we hit Fox Hill, and things exploded! Despite holding some solid power numbers (for myself, at least), I was dropped from the front group by the time we hit the first flattish spot just ~400 meters into the 2.4km climb. And I kept drifting back. 34th… 36th… 39th.
At 3.4km, I saw a gap to the group behind, so I pushed to hold the wheels just ahead. “Maybe Nick is in that group behind?” I hoped, against hope. Then I tapped his name in the Companion app and hit “Fan View”… and saw that he was sitting in 2nd place, on the 1st place rider’s wheel. Crap!
I finished Fox Hill in 39th, and joined a group of 7 riders. We were caught by a group of 8 from behind, despite my valiant supertucking, and that group headed to the Classique.
Soon enough, a few riders from our group got bored and attacked, leaving me in a pack of 10 riders with 3 up the road. By the time we hit the base of Box Hill, I was in a group of 8 constituting places 34-42.
Stage 4: Finish
On the first section of Box Hill, our group stretched out, and I simply didn’t have the legs to hold on. Most of them went up the road, then as it leveled out I found a bit of energy to push hard to reel in some riders just ahead.
I made it to the flat top of Box Hill with two other riders in 38-41st place, and my only goal was to beat both of them to the line. I deployed my aero powerup and went hard with 250 meters to go, but M. Moore (ART) had a much stronger sprint and blew past me. I finished 39th overall.
Chapeau to Nick Kalkounis, who hit the bottom of Box Hill with the front pack, and ended up finishing in 21st.
Races with climbs over a few minutes are always tough for me, and Zwift Games stages 3 and 4 were no exception. Stage 3 was especially rough because my legs just didn’t show up!
I actually had some decent power numbers in Stage 4, hitting 2025 bests in the 6-11 minute range as I climbed Fox Hill:
But that simply wasn’t good enough. It’s clear that my racing score puts me in a group where I have a shot at the podium in flat races, but will get dropped handily if the race features any significant climbing.
Which is how it should work. I have no complaints. If I want to put in a hard effort and know I won’t have a shot at a win, I can do a climbing race. If I want a shot at a podium, I need to stick to flatter events.
Lastly, I think it’s worth mentioning that my two terrible finishes in the races above each only dropped my racing score by 1 point! After stage 3 I went from 550 to 549. Then stage 4 knocked me down to 548. Ha! (If I was doing these races to tank my score, it would take a long time…)
Your Thoughts
Did you race Zwift Games stages 3 and 4? How did they unfold for you? Share below!
Now that the Zwift Academy 2024 winners have been announced, one Zwifter, namely Katie Kookaburra, can now share her inside look at the series. This week’s top video provides an interesting behind the scenes at the women’s Zwift Academy Finals!
Also included in this week’s top picks are videos about the latest indoor cycling news, The Big Spin, and the Zwift Ride sale.
My secret mission with PROs CANYON SRAM // Behind the scenes Zwift Academy!
Get an exclusive behind the scenes look at Zwift Academy from the one and only Katie Kookaburra.
Zwift and TrainerRoad Hug It Out?!
DCRainmaker and Desfit talk all things indoor cycling, including discussions on the new Zwift and TrainerRoad integration, smart bikes, and budget trainers.
Conquering Zwift’s Latest Challenge!
After hearing about the new BMX Bandit bike added for The Big Spin, Thomas Martinez, aka The Cycling Tattooist, rides The Big Spin and tries to get this coveted unlock.
Zwift Ride Sale has Arrived – 3 Reasons to Act Now + Extra Discount
ViveLeVelo discusses the new sale on the Zwift Ride and shares three reasons why you should purchase one.
Can I win the Zwift BMX Bandit First Try? | Stage 1 – The Zwift Big Spin 2025
After focusing most of her energy on running recently, Jessica Strange decides to switch things up and tackle stage 1 of The Big Spin.
Got a Great Zwift Video?
Share the link below and we may feature it in an upcoming post!
How did you get into cycling? I used to run marathons and a friend said they thought I’d also be good on a bike, so when my ancient commuting bike needed replaced I bought a road bike in September 2019. But the traffic on the Glasgow roads I commuted on scared me, so the bike never got much use.
Fast forward to empty lockdown roads in April 2020 and I loved the freedom to escape the daily grind of lockdown/homeschooling/still working full time that the bike brought. I gained confidence on the bike and when traffic reappeared I held my road position and felt safe enough to ride IRL.
How many years have you been racing on Zwift? Since October 2020. I was concerned that lockdown would become a total lockdown/no leaving the house situation. So I bought a smart turbo in September 2020, discovered Zwift, and then the Zwift Riders Scotland team. I got utterly hooked on the social aspect, the ability to meet new people and make friends. Feeling like I was leaving the house mentally if not physically was a huge thing.
I saw a post about ZRL season 2 and took part with Zwift Riders Scotland January 2021 and loved racing as part of a team. It was perfect for childcare whilst my son was younger. I could still ride for several hours but be in the house, even helping him with homework and dictating spelling words at him to write down!
Are you part of a Virtual team? I’m in several and do different things with each. I now mainly ride WTRL TTT with Zwift Riders Scotland, I mainly race ZRL and some TTTs with Wahoo Esports ladies A, and love taking part in ladies team events, ZRL recons and mixed ladder with Level Velo.
What do you love most about racing? Racing in a team event. Especially cross category events where all categories add points. Knowing you are contributing to a team really makes me work harder. Hearing teammates’ voices as we ride makes me smile… although what the DS is telling me to do does not always make me smile! The friendly chat and banter in races is also great. Even in ladies A races, the riders can post jokes and have a laugh during it. Overall the Zwift racing world is an awesome, supportive community to be part of.
What is your favourite style of race (e.g. points, scratch, iTT, TTT, Chase, duathlon)? I adore TTTs, knowing each pull you do helps, or even when you have given your all and just have to sit in and be part of the momentum. I think it is because I’m calmer, knowing none of my teammates are actively trying to drop me, not like in a standard race where competitors are. I can simply focus on my rotations and pulls.
What is your favourite Zwift women’s race series? Current active series has to be Tour de Boudicca, Karla and the Warrior Games do so much to encourage all categories of ladies to try their hardest and push themselves to discover just what they can achieve whilst being in a super supportive setting. When Zwift Riders Scotland had no other A cat ladies able to take part, Karla helped find me a team for 2 years in a row. That’s how I first met Mim and some of the Level Velo ladies.
What is your most memorable racing experience, inside or outside or BOTH? In a Herd ladies series from back in 2021 I was dropped on the Legsnapper alongside one other rider I did not know. We gave each other a thumbs up and 2-up TT’d it to the finish line. We commented on each other’s activities in the app and that was the start of a hugely supportive friendship with my wonderful friend Bella (of the inspiring SeekTravelRide podcast) whom I’ve been lucky enough to visit twice in the Pyrenees and ride IRL.
She introduced me to other brilliant female riders Kirsty and Brandi, and for 4 years we’ve been a wonderful virtual and IRL support to each other despite us at times being in Oregon, Australia and UK. All from working with an unknown rider after getting dropped in a race. I don’t have a memorable outside race experience… yet. My 2025 resolution was to try an IRL race and I’ve just signed up to a hilly irl iTT in Scotland in March.
What is your favourite food to eat post race? Tuesday night is burger night in our house, so post ZRL it is usually a burger.
What advice would you give to a woman entering her first Zwift race? Message to say hi/good luck in the pen and I bet others reply to you and just that wee act will make you feel part of a community. Don’t be nervous, it is just 1 race, there are plenty of different styles of them on plenty of different types of routes. I’m sure you’ll find one that you enjoy.
Any upcoming race you are looking forward to? The Rhino team have a really interesting mixed gender 2-up TT race starting in March. And I really, really hope that Herd do their “no spring chicken” race series March/April again. They held it last year with a ladies category and I adored the fact that my added years gave me some sort of bonus/payback.
Early one morning back in October 2024, I drove down to Morgan Hill, California to join a small team from Zwift at the Specialized Win Tunnel. The goal? To spend two days testing various frames and wheelsets in the tunnel in order to establish a realistic delta between the slowest and fastest frames and wheels in Zwift.
You can read all about our tunnel time if you’d like, but you’ll get to experience the result of those tests soon enough: Zwift is rolling out performance changes to frames and wheels in next week’s big update!
Zwift Insider has published mountains of speed tests over the years, so Zwift was nice enough to send over a pre-release game build that allowed us to run our standard tests and publish the results a few days before the release. That’s the post you’re reading now. Let’s dive in!
Table of Contents
Why the Change?
Zwifters might wonder: why tweak the performance of all the frames and wheels now, 10+ years into the Zwift journey? It’s a fair question. There are two key reasons why this is happening now:
Those wind tunnel tests in October showed that the aero performance delta between the slowest and fastest road frames on Zwift was too small, while the delta between the slowest and fastest wheels was too large. This change will make the universe of bikes perform more in line with real-world physics (more on this below).
With the Bike Upgrades feature releasing soon, Zwift’s game team wanted to make sure they avoided the unrealistic situation of an upgraded slow frame like the Zwift Steel outperforming a fast frame like the Specialized Venge S-Works.
With that out of the way, let’s dive into fresh speed test data for all the road bike frames in Zwift. (We’ll publish separate posts about TT, mountain, and gravel frames in the near future.)
Test Methodology Notes
The following results are from tests done using our standard parameters: a 75kg rider, 183cm tall, without drafting, riding at 300 watts (4 W/kg) steady. If you ride at lower power (and most do!), the time gaps you’ll experience between different frames and wheels will typically be larger than what is shown below.
Flat tests were done on Watopia’s Tempus Fugit since it’s Zwift’s flattest route, while Climbing tests were done on Alpe du Zwift since it’s a long-steady climb.
If you’re interested in comparing these new performance numbers to what’s currently in game, check out our Frame and Wheel data chart pages.
Lastly, an important note about the accuracy of these results. While we present time data with tenths-of-a-second precision, it’s important to understand there is a 1-second margin of error in these results, so it’s probably not worth obsessing over fractional seconds.
Frame Performance Data
Time Savings Over 1 Hour
How many seconds does a frame save over an hour of riding compared to the basic Zwift Carbon frame? (Astute observers may notice that this is a different way of presenting data than our old style of simply displaying raw test results. We think showing the 1-hour time gap is more intuitive.)
Charts are sorted from the best-performing frames to the worst, and you can sort based on flat performance or climb performance.
Sort Chart By:
Flat Performance
Climb Performance
The following bikes are not included in this chart, because they performed worse than the baseline Zwift Carbon frame: Zwift Steel, Zwift Safety, Zwift Atomic Cruiser, Zwift Buffalo Fahrrad.
The following bikes are not included in this chart, because they performed significantly worse than the baseline Zwift Carbon frame: Zwift Steel, Zwift Safety, Zwift Atomic Cruiser, Zwift Buffalo Fahrrad.
Stacked Percentile Rank
This format lets you easily see how frames comparatively perform across both flats and climb. This is useful for selecting the best bike frame for a given race course.
Frame Changes Summarized
The difference between basic and fast frames has increased dramatically in our flat tests with this performance update. Previously (see data here) the fastest frames gained around 19 seconds spread out over an hour. Now, they gain around 75 seconds!
This isn’t because the most aero frames have gotten faster. Rather, Zwift kept the fast frames around the same performance level, but slowed down the mid-range and slower frames.
The performance gap between the basic and best climbing frames, on the other hand, has narrowed a bit. The fastest climbers used to gain about 70 seconds over an hour of climbing, but now they gain 54 seconds.
While most frames didn’t move dramatically in terms of percentile ranking, you may notice a few that did. Two of these are especially notable:
The Specialized Tarmac SL7 is now a much faster climber, in keeping with the frame’s real-world performance
The Uranium Nuclear has dropped out of the “fast four” grouping of top aero frames
Wheel Performance Data
Time Savings Over 1 Hour
How many seconds does a wheelset save over an hour of riding compared to the basic Zwift 32mm Carbon wheels?
Charts are sorted from the best-performing wheels to the worst, and you can sort based on flat performance or climb performance.
Sort Chart By:
Flat Performance
Climb Performance
Stacked Percentile Rank
This format lets you easily see how wheels comparatively perform across both flats and climb. This is useful for selecting the best wheelset for a given race course.
Wheel Changes Summarized
In terms of aero performance, the difference between basic and fast wheels has narrowed a bit, from around 72 seconds over an hour (see previous data) to 52 seconds. One big reason for this is Zwift’s new treatment of disc wheels on road bikes, which leads to an interesting performance change you can’t easily spot in the charts above.
Zwift has decided to make all disc wheelsets perform worse on road bikes than they do on TT bikes. They’re still pretty fast on road bikes, as long as climbing isn’t involved. But they are faster on TT bikes. (We’ll unpack this more in future posts.) It’s Zwift’s way of encouraging roadies to use more traditional wheels, while leaving the discs to the time trialists. As it should be.
When it comes to climbing, the difference between basic and fast climbing wheels has halved, from around 16 seconds over an hour to just 8. Zwift has adjusted wheelset weights based on manufacturer’s specifications, so this time gap should be a better reflection of what you’d see IRL.
While most wheels didn’t move dramatically in terms of percentile ranking, you may notice a few that did. Here are the wheelsets we caught that moved up in rank significantly (winners) and down (losers):
Winners:
Mavic Cosmic Ultimate UST
ROVAL CLX64
ENVE SES 6.7
Shimano C40
Shimano C60
Zwift Tri Spoke
Losers:
DTSwiss ARC 62
Price Changes
Next week’s big update includes a raft of price changes, and most of those are price increases. Frame prices are holding steady for the most part, but many wheelsets are going up in price.
So if you’ve had your eye on a particular wheelset, you may want to purchase it now – especially if its performance looks strong in the updated charts above.
(On the other hand, there are some new, fast frames being released next week. So you may just want to hold onto your Drops!)
Wrapping It Up
Whew… that’s a lot to digest, right?
There are two things I like about these performance changes. First, I like that we have several high-end bikes to choose from, and their performance varies just enough to make it interesting. Zwift clearly doesn’t want “one bike to rule them all,” and these changes show that.
Secondly, I love that the performance of in-game frames and wheels was modified based on the results of the team’s findings at the Win Tunnel. That means Zwift frames and wheels are performing more in line with their IRL counterparts, which I think is generally what Zwifters want to experience.
We’ll be working on additional posts that dig into the performance of top racing frames and wheels (including their comparison to the Tron bike) in the coming days. Stay tuned, because there’s a lot of news just up the road in regards to bike performance and upgrades.
Questions or Comments?
What do you think of all these performance changes? Got questions or comments? Share below!
The biggest event this weekend isn’t from Zwift, but from YouTuber Ryan Condon who has organized a race up Alpe du Zwift. He’ll be shooting for a new Alpe PR, and so can you! (Or just enjoy a leisurely jaunt and chat). Watch his announcement video >
Five different Zwifters have been lined up to work as pacesetters toward a particular Alpe finishing time, and they’ll lead each pen group out. (See event description for pace details.)
We had to feature this Canadian fundraiser fondo, because the race lengths are a bit crazy, and it’s a good cause! Five different lengths to choose from, all starting at separate times: 300km, 225km, 150km, 75km, 35km. Everyone will be on Watopia’s Big Flat 8 route.
Some may just ride this for a challenging effort, but it’s also a fundraiser. See event description for details (scroll down for English version). Get started by signing up to fundraise here.
Women’s Mini Races (3 races in an hour) happen each Sunday, but the ULTIMATE Mini Races are a bigger monthly event organized by Vinnette Powell of Team eSRT. If you’re looking for some punchy women-only racing, check out these events.
The Big Spin series is underway, and riders are showing up en masse for fun group rides with a prize spinner at the end! Have you won the BMX bike yet?
The Zwift Games race series is now in stage 4 of 5, and racers everywhere are taking part thanks to various categorization options, free routes, and big competition.
We choose each weekend’s Notable Events based on a variety of factors including:
Is the event unique/innovative in some way?
Are celebrities (pro riders, etc) attending/leading?
Are signup counts already high, meaning the event is extra-popular?
Does the ride include desirable unlocks or prizes?
Does the event appeal to ladies on Zwift? (We like to support this under-represented group!)
Is it for a good cause?
Is it just plain crazy (extra long races, world record attempts, etc)?
Is it a long-running, popular weekly event with a dedicated leader who deserves a shout out?
In the end, we want to call attention to events that are extra-special and therefore extra-appealing to Zwifters. If you think your event qualifies, comment below with a link/details and we may just include it in an upcoming post!
Zwift’s latest game release launched the long-awaited 4th challenge, so this week’s top video breaks down everything you need to know about the Factory Tour challenge.
We’ve also selected videos about Hardknott Pass on Zwift, building a home gym in a barn, an exciting new Zwift event, and team time trial tips.
Shane Miller, GPLama, shares all the latest Zwift news including information on the 4th challenge, Zwift v.1.85, The Big Spin, and more.
Hardknott Pass is on Zwift! How Does It Compare to the Real Thing?
After Zwift recently added Hardknott Pass to the climb portal, Cycle the Nation decided to create a comparison of the real-life climb and Zwift’s climb portal replica.
I Built My Own Gym in a 300-Year-Old Barn
While most cyclists follow the conventional path of setting up their pain caves in their garages, corners of their houses, or living rooms, Mark Lewis is doing things a little bit differently. In this video, watch as Mark sets up his home gym in his barn.
I guarantee you a NEW Alpe Du Zwift PR (but only next Sunday 16th)
Ryan Condon is back with another epic event. Hear from Ryan as he shares the details of his next event: an epic race up the legendary Alpe du Zwift (sign up here).
Zwift: Honing Your Performance for ZRL, WTRL, and Coming World TTT Champs
Looking to do a team time trial on Zwift? The Musette breaks down his top tips for having a successful team time trial on Zwift.
Got a Great Zwift Video?
Share the link below and we may feature it in an upcoming post!
