The latest “This Season on Zwift” press release came out last week, sharing what’s in store on the platform over the next few months. Because of all the speed tests we do here at Zwift Insider, one planned change that’s especially intriguing to me is the “Upgrade Challenges” added to bikes in our garage.
Below I dig into how these Challenges may work, as well as Zwift’s announcement of upcoming “Halo Bikes.”
Garage Upgrade Challenges – Fall 2024
Zwift will be rolling out “Upgrade Challenges” that allow you to invest Drops you’ve earned into your favorite frame to make it better.
Every frame will have five stages of upgrades (for now), with each stage focusing on a single aspect of performance, such as:
- Reduction in weight
- Improvements in aerodynamics
- Improvements to rolling resistance
So you may see this in your garage:
Once you finish the Upgrade Challenge’s requirements, you’ll get an in-game banner stating that you can now purchase the upgrade. This purchase is done within the garage, and includes the details of what performance boost you’re purchasing:
Each upgrade stage will require more effort (and Drops) than the previous, which means maxing out a particular frame will require a significant investment of time and Drops!
Particular challenges will vary from bike to bike. For example, climbing bikes may have elevation challenges, TT bikes may have duration challenges, and all-arounder bikes may have distance challenges.
With all the speed tests I’ve done on Zwift frames and wheels, I’ve got a lot of questions about how this will all work! For example:
- Will the upgrades be equal across frames? Or could one frame’s stage 1 weight decrease be bigger than another frame’s? Or perhaps one frame’s stage 1 upgrade is a rolling resistance decrease, while another frame’s stage 1 is an aero improvement?
- Just how much work will it take to max out upgrades for a particular frame?
- Are these upgrades tied only to frames? What about wheels? (It seems odd to tie a rolling resistance upgrade to a particular frame, and not a wheelset.)
- How in the world am I going to test all of this?
I’m sure all these questions will be answered in due course. Except the last one.
Halo Bikes – Fall 2024
In Zwift’s early days, the Tron bike was a badge of honor. But today it’s so popular that the hip kids purposely ride something else! The Tron bike is Zwift’s only real “Halo Bike” at this time, but that concept is being expanded to give long-time Zwifters something more exclusive to work toward.
New Halo Bikes will be from particular manufacturers, such as the Pinarello Espada shown below. You’ll unlock the Halo Bike by upgrading three bikes from that manufacturer to their maximum stages. It’s about rewarding fans of particular brands, because this, according to sources in Zwift, will take “A lot of time and a ton of investment to attain.”
Zwift says these bikes “will offer high performance and huge street cred.” Sounds like fun to me!
Garage Management – Winter 2024/25
Not mentioned in Zwift’s official TSOZ press release, but shared during the TSOZ Zoom call, is one welcome upgrade coming this winter: Zwift is adding some garage management features.
Perhaps garage sorting would be the better term, though. Because it doesn’t sound like we’ll be getting the ability to delete or archive items entirely, as many Zwifters have requested. But it sounds like we’ll be able to sort items based on which ones we most recently used, or most recently unlocked.
It’s a start, right?
Your Thoughts
What do you think of Zwift’s planned garage changes? Share below!
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