Our wheel and TT frame performance charts are useful tools, but they don’t clearly answer one crucial question for many Zwift racers: how does frame X paired with wheelset Y perform compared to other top setups?
The chart below compares the relative performance of un-upgraded and fully upgraded versions of the game’s fastest TT frame and wheelset combinations, allowing you to determine which setup works best for you. We’ve charted how many seconds each setup saves across an hour of riding compared to a basic bike/wheel setup (Zwift TT frame + Zwift 32mm Carbon Wheels). This means you’ll find the top performers higher on the Y-axis and further right on the X-axis.
Select frames and wheelsets below. Each frame you select (unless it’s a Halo bike) will be combined with all selected wheelsets, creating a single dot for each frame+wheelset combo. Hover for details. This chart is automatically updated with the latest test data, so it’s always current.
Frames
Wheelsets
Bikes with wheel combos also require a wheelset selection.
Notes and Observations
The Canyon Speedmax CFR is the clear standout performer, outperforming all other frames on the flats and climbs.
It’s also interesting to see how fast the disc wheels are on TT frames, compared to discs on road frames (see that chart). This is because Zwift builds in a slight performance penalty for disc wheels on road frames, since they’re really meant for TT bikes.
Note: the DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT 85/Disc wheelset performs exactly the same as the Swiss Side HADRON Ultimate 850/Disc, so we didn’t include both in the list.
There is certainly more to observe from this chart and our more complete wheel and TT frame charts, but for now I’ll leave it to the Zwift community to look at the numbers and share thoughts. Ride on!
Your Thoughts
What conclusions do you draw from this updated chart? Share your thoughts below!
Thank you always Eric, for your hard work and amazing articles !
Zwift should just block TT wheels from road bikes. If we can’t interchange road and gravel bikes/tires why can we with TT? I say either fully open wheel selection or make is discipline specific.
Great work as always!
But there is one thing I would be interested in, I didn’t find anywhere on the site. When I go freeriding a course I have to decide between road bike and TT bike. So a comparison between a few road bikes and a few TT bikes would be really great.
Since you take the Zwift carbon as road bike reference and the Zwift TT bike for TT reference, the numbers are not really comparable right now.
Thanks in advance! 😉
Hey @Eric Schlange typo alert I think. The CADEX is the winner: Stage5 savings Flat/Climb with 1100 DICUT wheel are 162/31.9 for CADEX. Then the Canyon is 157.8/29.5 More savings is faster. Stage0 is a different spread or mix or some semantics but at Stage0 CADEX is more savings.
You’re looking at the old Canyon Speedmax CF SLX Disc instead of the new faster Canyon Speedmax CFR.
Awesome tool, Eric! Zwift Insider is indispensable for regular Zwifters. Thank you!
Is Espada data wrong? Here it says level 5 saves 141 sec and in your Halo bike article it says it’s 283s
It’s accurate in both places (although perhaps a bit dated in the halo article). In the Halo article, the numbers shown are in comparison to our baseline ROAD frame (Zwift Carbon with 32mm wheels). In this article, I’m comparing it to our baseline TT frame (Zwift TT with 32mm wheels).
The stage 5 Espada is 141,3 sec faster than the Zwift TT and 283,7 sec faster than the Zwift Carbon. Thus, the Zwift TT should be 142,4 sec faster than the Zwift Carbon. However, it’s only 137,1 sec faster.
So speaking of accurate data is a bit weird, as the data processing mathematically doesn’t allow simple addition (frame + wheels) or subtraction (comparison of two setups). Math sadly is a little .
The mathematically error by adding frame and wheel data makes the Tron seemingly beating all normal bikes on flat ground. In reality the Tron should be 1-2 sec slower than S5+disc and not 1-2 sec faster.
Just curious, when does Zwifterbikes typically update to include all of the newest bikes?
The Zwift bike upgrades are a bit out of control. Those differences from level 0 to level 5 are crippling to new riders.
@Eric Schlange Given that this excellent overview has finally been updated, does this mean there won’t be any new frames or wheelsets released in the near future?
The ZI post from March 24, 2026, stated that 18 frames and 13 wheelsets were due for release this year. As of now, I count exactly 18 frames (including the MX rider from March 16—predating the March 24, 2026 post). For the wheelsets, I count 12…
I’m just curious… 😃
I think there are more coming!