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.
Read “All About Zwift’s New ‘Bike Upgrades’ Functionality” >
Performance Changes
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:
Read “Learn About Upcoming Frame and Wheelset Performance Changes on Zwift” >
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.
- La Guardia After Party (New York)
- 20.8km, 326m
- Neon After Party (Makuri Islands)
- 17.3km, 88m
- Hilltop Hustle (Watopia)
- 16.3km, 346m
Retired Bikes
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.
Discuss this update in Zwift’s forum >
Questions or Comments?
What do you think of this big update? Have you spotted any other changes or bugs in this release? Share below!
Wow this is awesome, sad to see some of the old bikes from before the drop shop go though…
Which level unlock each of the new frames?
Added above.
Hiya Eric..is there a glitch.when i tap on peoples profile pic the screen goes of
“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.”
From: https://zwiftinsider.com/bike-upgrades/
Any wheel purchasing recommendations before the update? Especially with the discs on road bikes nerf.
Zipp 454 seem to have taken over the competition for best all arounders, funny enough that was one of the first things I snagged when the drop shop came out!
These halo bikes, are they just pretty and for bragging rights or are they actually better than other bikes and be useful in races like the Tron?
And are they actually considered like regular bikes or restricted to TT events?
Testing to find out. Hopefully posting tomorrow!
I really hope they are slower. They are so ugly, I’d hate to be in a race a year down the road where everyone was on one of those monstrosities
Miguel was on one today instead of his usual Tron and it seemed that I had to put in a couple of extra watts to keep up.
Are those routes for next months community racing? 😁
Two of them, I think…
typo on new bikes, you posted the Sl8 twice
Think there is 2 different Sl8s. S-works being the more expensive and suspect the new fastest in game going on the description from zwift
Love the retired bikes! hopefully you can choose more to delete on your own, still need to read the drop release
They are not deleted. You just cannot purchase them anymore.
Do the new bikes have custom color options?
They do not. 😪
I love the performance of the S-Works SL8, but the all white is….well, all white.
I’d love another glittery bike like the Aeroad 2024. Maybe something metallic red or green or something.
Better go buy the 454
This looks great – very exciting. Can I ask – are all the halo bikes TT bikes – and if so, does this mean they will not draft off other riders?
Only the Espada is TT
I saved a lot of money yesterday by buying two new sets of wheels. I’m curious about the Halo bikes and what levels and drops you need…
Is there something going on between Specialized and Zwift? Is there any Specialized frame left?
Specialized did invest in one of Zwift’s funding rounds in 2020.
They also provided the wind tunnel for testing last fall, IIRC.
Hey Eric,
thanks for all the effort and hard work you put in on all this. I do have a question. Do you know how Zwift chooses new bikes? Is it based on brands “sponsoring” or something?
I think it would be great to have all the pro team bikes as an option. That said, surely the colnago bikes might be not that easy as the team sponsor is a direct competitor to Zwift…
Lots of news! Im still waiting for MacOS to support High Res graphics though.. OK to the drop shop..
Mac OS already does. Zwift added ultra graphics profile support for a ton of Mac chipsets in 1.83. “macOS: The Ultra graphics profile is now enabled for devices with the following chips: Apple M4 (all versions), M3 Max, M3 Pro, M2 Ultra, M2 Max, M2 Pro, M1 Ultra, M1 Max, M1 Pro.”
Wow Eric … many cool stuff to dive in. Do you have a Google Spreadsheet with the raw data like before ?
Not yet. Will eventually.
After updating on Mac Powerbook, my Wheel Shop has changed to this, and all the wheelsets I had purchased are also gone.
I logged out and logged back in and now everything is back. Disregard above comments.
That’s what you would see if you were on a gravel bike. Those are the gravel bike brands.
@Eric Schlange THANK YOU! A few days ago I bought several wheel sets (> 1m drops), based on your preview article’s advice. When the upgrade comes through (takes a while to get across the Pacific, apparently) those wheelsets will cost > 2m drops. Thanks!!!!! Oh, and I can only imagine how much work these changes have created for you. LOVE THE DATA!
My pleasure. You owe me a virtual coffee at the Italian Villas now, LOL! 😅
Do you know when it will be fully rolled out?
By Friday, if it’s like other releases.
My PC and my wife’s have been unable to load Zwift since the update. It ran the first time, then after closing down the app will crash just after the screen with ‘Let’s Go’ on it. The app still works on my laptop. Seems the new version doesn’t like some desktops. Haven’t been able to fix it, even with a full uninstall and reinstall.
Hi, i think some errors on CADEX old price… specially CADEX 65
Good catch. Fixed!
Hi Eric, great article, very informative. Will we be able to Upgrade the Retired bikes ?
Yup! If it’s in your garage, you can upgrade it.
Hey Eric, are you hearing anything from the team at Zwift about graphic upgrades for M-series iPad owners? We saw the upgrade to those chips in Mac computers, but I’m curious if there is any positive movement going on for those chips on iPad. Thoughts?
Will only happen when support for all non M Series iPads ends.
Oh? Well Apple just released a base-model iPad with an A16 chip, so unless Zwift drops support for base-model iPads, we could be waiting a very long time.
How long until the s-works SL8 gets nerfed? I have spent too many drops on bikes that now no longer get used as they were fastest for a few weeks until zwift changed the performance. 1.7M is a fair bit spend if it is then useless in a months time
From the looks of it, all 3 brands (Cannondale, Specialised and Pinarello) probably paid Zwift some $ to get these halo bikes, and as part of that probably get a deal where their bikes are in the top performers. So I would guess it’s unlikely the SL8 gets significantly nerfed, I would imagine it’s a top 3 frame for a good while at least. It is possible it gets brought down closer in line to those other frames though
I don’t think it will. Zwift knew how it performed as of a few weeks ago,and kept it that way.
Will the “retired” bikes be upgradeable?
Yes.
Not available in France yet?
No matter how many times I try to update Zwift, I never get the 1.86 or the upgrades in the garage. How do I fix this?
Its a phased rollout and will be fully out by Friday.
I can’t seem to update to 1.86, how can I do this?
Its a phased rollout and will be fully out by Friday.
This would be awesome, if I could only get the 1.86 version to download.
wen steering on wattbikes?
Please next update a new colnago bike, please 🙏🙏🙏
Hi Eric is there a world rollout schedule plan I can look at – I’ve been checking hourly to see if it’s here but alas no. If there is a schedule that will save me from looking all the time – I’ve put of cycling since I keep thinking not long now for update hehehe. Thank you
I think they use the same plan every time. At least, the updates usually arrive on Tuesday night and then I get them Friday afternoon, every time so far. I wish they could roll it out the other way sometimes, especially now when it’s beneficial to have it early. Probably some unfair races this week, with some people having access to newer bikes and upgrades.
Thanks for reply – I didn’t look as much after your msg fyi my update has ARRIVED as couple of mins ago hopefully you don’t have to wait till tomorrow Ride On
Thank you Eric for all the info you provide! Based om your speed tests I bought Enve 8.9, Zipp 454 and Zipp 858/Super 9 at the old price to cover all my bases. That is a saving of around 900.000 drops compared to the new prices😀
Not related to bikes but new as part of the upgrade – Just noticed this morning when my controller got stuck steering to the right that when I turn it off, I am no longer recognized as having controller which puts me in the different draft dynamics algorithm. I hope they change that back.
TYVM for all your hard work, Eric! Any thoughts on the best all-around bike that will have the drops/XP boost upgrade?
FYI New routes are not available in 1.86 update nor in the companion app.
Well, not sure if this update has anything to do with.my connection keeps dropping. It was ok on the 18th, took a rest day yesterday and now my Bluetooth connection keeps dropping.
Noticed while in the A robopacer group, last night, that the draft effect behind the bot seemed to be nerfed. When sitting directly in the bot’s wheel (and with no riders towing the bot), it was as if I had zero draft benefit. I needed to maintain 4.2 to hold with bot at 4.2 on the flats. When I dropped back a few wheels behind others in the pack, draft effects felt “normal” (i.e., to hold with bot at 4.2, 3.2-3.5 was sufficient). Did something change with bot draft effects? Others in the group said they had noted the same thing.
Hi, since the update video screenshots is disabled every time I load Zwift even if I’ve enabled it, tried it multiple times…
Thanks, Eric, as always, for all the information and insight so I have a much clearer picture as to what’s going on and what my next steps should be! Much appreciated! For team Zwift; I love it. Variety is the spice of life and new events, equipment, routes, etc. help to keep things exciting and engaging! Ride on!
It would be nice if we could have different profiles in the garage (bike, wheels, outfits) and be able to choose them as we like.
Looks like the free monthly 25k is a hard stop whenever you hit it now, and you no longer get to finish your current ride.
Lots of people stopped in their tracks on the Big Spin ride I just completed, including me, and at least one other was pedaling hard in place, going nowhere.
You also have to quit your ride to sign back up. Would be nice if they had a free half-speed coffee break with a UI that allowed you to enter a cc.
Oh well. I enjoyed it while it lasted.
I don’t understand what the bikes do. They are virtual, I’m riding a trainer bike in real life. Does an upgraded virtual bike give me faster results for the same effort? Or is it all cosmetic?
Despite the correct version, the new Hilltop Hustle route is not available as a free ride in my Zwift on iOS. I was able to ride the other new routes, are there more with these problems?
Hilltop Hustle is event only. For now.
I like the new routes and the upgrade ability on bikes. I was dismayed to find that the new way of tracking miles had reset my weekly goal to 19 miles! I usually set a goal of 50 or 100 per week.
Also , on parts of new routes, the “riders nearby “ board shows only me. Hope that fixes come soon.