The latest Zwift update is now available on all platforms! Here are the details…
Not sure if your Zwift install is up-to-date? Here’s how to check >
New Bike Frames: Parlee RZ7 and Pinarello Dogma F12
New bike day is always a good day! Zwift has added two new frames to the Drop Shop: Parlee’s RZ7 and Pinarello’s F12.
Parlee RZ7 (level 28 locked) 
Pinarello Dogma F12 (level 29 locked)
“The Parlee RZ7 is the ultimate blend of stiffness, efficiency, weight and performance all designed to make you faster. Nothing feels better than going faster. And faster feels better on a Parlee RZ7.”
“Hanging on your wall, it looks like art. On the road, it feels like a rocket. The F12 carries on the legendary Dogma legacy of performance and artistry. More aero, more powerful, and more beautiful than ever before, the Pinarello Dogma F12 is the ultimate racing bicycle.”
We’ve completed a quick preliminary flat road test with both bikes, and can say they’re both pretty zippy, but not quite as fast as any of the frames our “Fastest Frames” list. (The Parlee performs about the same as the Zwift Aero, and the Pinarello is about 4 seconds faster than the Parlee over our ~50 minute test course.
More complete test results on these new frames will be published as soon as we’ve got them.
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Enjoy the Alpe, N00bs!
Zwift has temporarily reduced the level locks on the Jungle and Alpe du Zwift Level 5 and Level 6 respectively. Jon Mayfield’s release notes say this has been done, “to allow more people to give it a try.”
Apparently Zwift is trying to keep their new users engaged and happy by opening up these restricted portions of Watopia at an earlier point. By my math, most Zwifters could hit level 5 and get access to the Jungle with 6 hours of riding (or less). Alpe access (now level 6) should take 8 hours of riding, possibly closer to 7. So this might be a smart move from Zwift to get newbies to put in more rides quickly – assuming the newbies understand that they’ll unlock more routes at these levels.
Birthday and Gender Locks
You can no longer change your birthday (or presumably gender) without direct help from Zwift Support.
Our guess is this change has been put into place prior to further changes involving kids on the platform. These changes may include requested features like a reduced minimum weight for riders below a certain age and more privacy protections for minors.
This also prevents men from changing their gender to join women’s only rides, which has been an issue in the past.
The Fence Returns
We wrote about this last week at more length, but Zwift has returned the Ride Leader Fence to the game! Jon’s release notes say, “We will be testing this feature in select group rides.” Hopefully, the fence will behave in the tests and Zwift will allow it to return to regular use very soon.
Sandbagging Controls?
Just a few hours before this update dropped, Eric Min made an interesting comment on a Facebook thread about sandbagging in races, saying “Yeah this is about to stop in the next update”. So what does this update include for sandbaggers? That is unclear at this time – Jon’s notes don’t mention anything, and we’re not seeing anything changed in-game.
Our guess is they’ve included some sandbagger controls which need to be enabled on a per-event basis, and Zwift will be using those in test events soon. They wouldn’t want to roll this sort of thing out and have it negatively affect someone’s race experience.
Back when I wrote my first post about enforcing race categories, ZwiftHQ told me their plans were to “implement post-event hiding of riders who race without heart rate or use zPower (assuming the event is set up to disallow such riders).” That was 3 months ago, though, and since then Eric Min has talked about “ghosting” sandbaggers in races so they’re hidden from other racers but can still complete the event for their own enjoyment.
Perhaps this update includes some mix of those features? Hard to say. Hopefully we’ll find out more about this soon, because racers are clamoring for it!
More Changes
Here are the other changes noted in this release:
- Added support for upcoming special events
- Added support for April Ride and April Run mission
- Updated new user tutorials for certain user types
- New users are now prompted to customize their avatar during first ride or run
- Bluetooth FTMS spin down re-enabled for certain trainers
Read/discuss Jon Mayfield’s release notes >
What About the UI and Clubs?
Nothing in Jon’s release notes mentions the much-awaited UI update or Clubs functionality. So what’s going on with those? Here’s what we know:
- Rumor has it that the new UI is scheduled to roll out on AppleTV in another couple of weeks. If you recall, the plan is for AppleTV first, since it’s the toughest platform in terms of UI design. Rollouts to other platforms will follow afterward, although the timeline for these is unclear.
- ZwiftHQ has assured us that Clubs functionality is moving forward as planned, and we will see some concrete news on it early next week!
Questions or Comments?
Post below!
Color slider for bike frames now has a persistent color bar 🙂 … the little things.
saw that last night too. It made me happy 😃
Yes!
Dont want to sound too negative but for a long time rider who does not race but only workouts and occasional a spin up one of the mountains, there has been nothing new this winter that keeps me entertained. I dont get that excited about a new bike 4 seconds faster, the newest “tour” covering the island i rode for years, etc. I just want to have new roads to explore and was hoping Zwift would come up with something for me. Again i feel a bit let down…..
I couldn’t agree more. It seems these days that Zwift really does not care much about those of us who are not racers and look to their platform as a means of generating some entertainment while riding indoors. This winter has been a bust for new content and more and more I am getting the feeling that Zwift does not care about its casual riders. I enjoy Zwift for what it is but at the same time I am getting the feeling that they are alienating a large portion of their audience.
as mattv said, try racing. its addictive and adds a whole new element. as far as new roads, zwift has been around what 5 years? and they have 6 worlds ( 7 including jarvis) and watopia itself has been expanded multiple times. point being they are averaging at least 2 expansions per year. just because they didn’t do one this winter is no reason to complain. have you tried repack ridge yet?
sorry meant that as a reply to sander
it never ever did, it was just coincidence if it suited you. price is a farce for what we get
How long would new roads keep you entertained for?
That depends on several factors, but I think about seven months longer than another Pinarello frame slower than a couple of already earned bikes… 😉
I can understand why you feel that way. I only race on Zwift (3-4 times a week) and I find it incredibly compelling. I look forward to every race. I would encourage you to try racing, and keep doing them for a while. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s really the best thing about zwift
I totally agree with Mattv. Racing has made indoor riding really fun and that is what gets me on the bike each day during the upstate NY winters. As hard as I try I cant do any ride as hard as I would in a race. The only warning I will give is try not to get discouraged by the Sandbaggers, they are in almost every race. Try a race on one of the courses that you are board with. You might like it again.
New UI and club functionality can’t come soon enough. Can’t help but feel this update is s bit of a let down.
Disappointed if this is all the changes we are going to have to get us through this terrible time. Surely with the Olympics delayed for a year resources could be diverted from the Japan route to developing Watopia further.
Seams to be that the minimum weight is still at 45kg, so still at Corona times no real fun for kids at group rides
You kids can register as a user for free via zwift support then there is no lower limit.
This isn’t accurate. You can register via Zwift support but as of now the 45kg/100lb minimum limit is still in play. When you log in to MyZwift it will not allow a weight less than 45kg. You can enter a lower weight into the companion app but it still registers at 45kg for the game’s purposes (you can easily see this but looking at how it figures their w/kg). My daughter is really looking forward to when Zwift will make the change but as of now it’s still 45kg.
There isn’t much, I sit? I mean, in terms of development, apart from the bikes, it doesn’t sound too difficult to ‘freeze’ birthday date, lower route access and put the fence back in the game.
Which, hopefully, means Zwift is working on something bigger?
I’ve heard rumours of Zwift taking on rowing. True? Or False?
False.
Shame!
Shame, it would be nice.
i saw something on zwift forums from eric min i think, stating they were looking at rowing in 1-2 years. hopefully they will piggy back swimming for vasa erg ant+ people
Still no permanent PB’s for all the segments, this needs to change. Split the 30 day times in half and show top 5 all time PB’s. I’ve been off for just over a month now due to work so I’ll come back to nothing, a bit disappointing but I’ll still be back.
Couldn’t agree more – why permanent PB’s aren’t stored baffles me!
I saw two new things so far:
(Doing the the PRL Full, so enough time to look haha)
1. In the companion app I have a button to drop my power up.
2. It looks like I have a progress bar for the route that you selected (PRL full for me)
Did the PRL Half this morning, I think we exchanged ride one 🙂
Noticed that progress bar, but didn’t know it was new. A few other courses had that when I did them over the last couple month. Would be cool if they added that for all routes even though I’m almost done now.
Thanks to drafting on the busy London roads, I was able to finish the PRL Half a couple minutes faster than expected (1:53, had estimated two hours at 3.6w/kg). I hope that helped on your PRL full too!
Aaah it might be that I just haven’t done a route long enough to get the progress bar haha.
Drafting definitely helped a bit, I still thought it was tough though 🙂
Yes, I also found a “powerup trashbin” button in the Companion app today. Not really the most useful button.
What does it do though? Are we trading in a Power-Up for XP?
No, it just deletes your powerup without anyone seeing you “waste” it.
Looks like I often hit the powerup trashbin button by accident, when I just want to hit one of the arrows (selecting where to go) and the arrow disappears exactly when I push it. Stupid. The trashbin button should not be there when we’re not in a race. Well even in a race I don’t really find any use of it.
some new tarmac would be nice. And perhaps three active worlds? It’s crowded these days. But new roads, plz!
I sure hope Japan is NOT on hold until 2021 , please release it now Zwift.
UI rollout on Apple TV first eh? Hmm, can’t help but notice gp lama is using one at the moment!
Hi Zwift, have you any plans to replicate anymore famous climbs? Also will you be adding classic or cobbled one day races to the maps??
Malcolm
Hey Malcolm, ZwiftInsider is a fan site, not official Zwift HQ.
Prioritising new users and stability makes sense to my IT head, but my cycling legs want new long, rolling tarmac or gravel roads, hopefully to come in the April release 🙂 with Tokyo in May or June?
Long climbs are ok, but the crowds are all on the flatter bits and zwift know this.
Well at least that update won’t take long to download. When the highlight is a bike it doesnt say much for the rest. Sandbagging is a silly concept anyway. Pro’s sandbag most races, its called build up. People/pro’s can’t ride at full intensity all the time so they drop a level and ride easier races. The problem is people who don’t race hard enough when they are racing to reach their potential. The overweight guys in their 20-40’s in D,C, B in their peak have an easy time compared to guys 45+ who train hard and work up to Band A. The way to stop sandbagging is to drop cats then there is no point. Cats are just a way of giving more people a chance of a podium because its better for subscription. Its a problem of zwifts own making.
Overweight guys 45+ who train hard just to be competitive in D find your attitude insulting. IRL you CAT up as you progress, so shall it be in zwift.
It’s one thing to take it easy in a ride every now and then. Nobody is forcing you to give it your all each time on Zwift. But f*ing-up a race in a lower category is quite another thing. I’ve only raced a few times, in cat C. In each of those races there were always more than a handful of guys finishing ahead of me with w/kg numbers that would have made them strong contenders in cat B, or even cat A. It’s just annoying to figure out you would have finished top 10 instead of 39th, if all riders with averages above 3.7 W/kg (being very lenient here) over a 24 minute race are filtered out.
By all means do your “build up” like a “Pro”, but there’s no justification for doing that in a lower cat race. Just go ride on your own.
Ha ha ha, proper bell-end you boy 👍🏿 Think you’re a pro lol
Anybody feel like the drafting algorithm is changed in racing? Seems to be boosted for some riders and others reduced.
Ok. I’m a huge advocate. But this morning was a HUGE Zwift disappointment. I was meant to ride with my club, which is fairly important on those confinement time, but my cyclist didn’t move at all when the meet up started. I then went to ride on my own and there was no resistance at all coming from the turbo trainer. Also, my Kickr climb didn’t move an inch. They might have pushed a new release, but it looks me they’ve introduced more bugs than improvements … I’m sorry, but I thin next week I will definitely have a go at Rouvy.
Really looking forward to a rowing announcement at some point
I updated one pc to give it a try. I had a bunch of connectivity issues: heart rate monitor (polar H10) wouldn’t connect, also had issues with ERG mode (Kickr Bike).
Same, also connectivity issues with my polar h10 after doing the update…
We need lots more courses Which are slow at coming and free choice of any route on any road..and also to show rider weight.
Where has the £120 million investment gone as it hasn’t reached the end user….how long does it take to create a route such as Ventoux?
Why the app is not supported with my LG Stylo4+ with android 8 if in the requirements say the android need to be 7 or above
Great article as usual. Your website is my go to for anything Zwift.
I think Zwift has reduced the level locks because they want the riders to “spread the road”. less traffic on other roads.
Sounds about right. I hardly see more than a few riders on the Alpe except during the Tour de Zwift Mountain stage. I suspect they are working on the servers to handle to increased load from 8,000 – 16,000 to 12,000 to 24,000 at any one time too. Last thing they want is to have their server crash. I hope they are planning ahead
My biggest gripe these days, with all the new zwifters out there because they’re not allowed to leave their homes, is the massive amount of zpower riders entering races, and effectively ripping each apart with power numbers that would make a pro envious. Something needs to be done about it, and quickly.
I haven heard about Japan on Zwift! Now I really want to see! Is there a classic rode to the top of Mount Fuji? I see two routes, but looks like you have to hike the rest of the way to the top. A carrot for the runners too?
Thanks for the update! I am new to Zwift so this is very helpful. Also, do you know if there any news about creating custom routes yet? I see rumours and talk all over the internet!
Workout creator is very not friendly. The whole UI is need of some improvements.
So yet another useless update that avoids the most requested features? Who the hell asked for more bike frames?
Bike frame manufacturers ?
I wish zwift could get rid of the «close the gap» message. Its very enoying
Lots of disappointed folks but keep in mind, the entire staff is working from home right now. Number 1 priority is to keep the infrastructure up and running during these unprecedented times. News bells & whistles would be nice but stability is more important now.
so we are gettig less but paying same price?
Hello,
In the new upgraded zwitf is can’t set the red color of TREK madone bike.
Maybe it would be worth adding a height/altitude profile to maps in the application?
I also lost ability to set to red my Madone, mine looks like magenta compred to original, see picture attached 🙁
we had a flyer in our stage 1 watopia race today, probably averaging 60mph, completing the race in 13 minutes. for a brief moment, when he lapped the A field i thought i saw a “yield” or warning sign above his avatar (in the place a power up would be) i thought maybe this was indicating that zwift was flagging him, but he still ended up first on the results. i haven’t checked ZCA yet to see if he’s there too.
After installing the update, my graphics performance got a lot worse. The frame rate is noticeably down on my non-fancy laptop.
I’ve been seeing more complaints about this. Have you noticed it across all activities? Just in group rides? Curious…
I did a group ride before the update and didn’t notice any issues. After the update, I did a solo workout, and the quality went down. I will say, it got slightly better after getting out of Downtown Watopia, so it could have to do with how many people are logged on right now. But honestly, even the start-up screens before getting to the world were slower.
I rode this morning and found a new feature in the companion app. When you are in the game mode and looking at the map, one of the options at the bottom now is a trendline button that will show your historical power and HR in realtime for your ride. It’s what you’d see in a workout, but now it’s available for free riding. I thought it was a good addition.
maybe that was an old “new” feature. If so, disregard my comment. 🙂
So Zwift reduced the level to ride Alpe du Zwift but I when creating a “meetup” in the Companion app I don’t see “Road to Sky” listed as a route option. Is this a glitch or is there a reason that route is not listed for meetups?
iOS iPad
Until they resolve issues with loss of connection to Companion, it is really problematic to say lack of HRM is automatic disqualification. I haven’t been able to keep my Apple Watch connected for a whole ride for almost a month now.
Wait a minute, Zwift customer support can change my birthday. 1957 becomes 1977? Sweet.
lmao@ 4 seconds more like “updatimg, 14 hours remaining”
I was very happy they lowered the level for Road to sky.
In these Close the gap times Close the gap of coronavirus Close the gap with many Close the gap people riding Close the gap Zwift, at the Close the gap same time, Close the gap there is Close the gap one update Close the gap that I would really Close the gap like to Close the gap see.
Hi Eric – How does one acquire the F-12? Even though its slower than my Venge, its still beautiful