Digging Into Zwift Bike Upgrades: Performance Improvements and Power Savings at Each Stage

Zwift launched bike upgrade functionality in March, and Zwifters have been busy putting in the work to upgrade various frames ever since.

While some people are content with just riding their bike and purchasing upgrades as they become available, others (like myself) are asking questions like, “Just how much faster will this upgrade make me?”

That’s what this post seeks to answer. But before I go there, let me link to two posts that fully explain the bike upgrades feature, in case you don’t yet understand it:

All About Zwift’s New “Bike Upgrades” Functionality
What is required to fully upgrade a particular bike in Zwift?

Below, you’ll find charts that answer two questions: how much faster does each upgrade stage make a particular bike, and how much power does that upgrade save?

Every bike frame in Zwift is assigned a particular upgrade scheme that defines what riders must do to achieve each upgrade stage, and what those upgrades are. I’ve created charts below for each of the 9 upgrade schemes, since each scheme is unique.

Performance improvements vary from scheme to scheme but are essentially the same for bikes within a scheme. That is, two different Distance-Based, Entry-Level bike frames will see the same time improvements at each upgrade stage. But a Distance-Based, Entry-Level bike will not see the same time improvements from stage to stage as, say, a Duration-Based Entry-Level bike. (For more on the upgrade schemes, and a table listing which scheme each frame uses, see this post.)

About the Charts

The Time Savings charts illustrate how much time is saved across 1 hour of riding for each upgrade stage. These numbers are based on our tests at 300W (4 W/kg) and may vary slightly if you are riding at higher or lower power levels, but within typical race pace levels (150-375W) the data should remain quite accurate.

The Power Savings charts show how, since your bike is now faster after upgrading, you can put out a little less power but still maintain the same speed as before the upgrade. You may be surprised to see that you’re saving less power on the climbs than on the flats, even though your time savings at that same upgrade stage is greater on the climbs than the flats. But that’s just physics! Power changes have a larger impact on speed when climbing than on flats.

There are a few caveats to mention before we dig into the data:

• The time savings data below is representative of each type of bike. Speeds will vary a bit from bike to bike, but for most bikes, the data below is accurate within 1-2 seconds.
• The power savings data below is an estimate based on our test rider holding 300W (4 W/kg). If that’s close to the power you race at, then these power savings numbers will be good estimates. But if you are riding, at, say, half that power (150W), the power savings drops (approximately) half as well.

Alright, let’s dive in!

Distance-Based Upgrades

Riders must put in a certain number of kilometers/miles before upgrading a distance-based bike (for details, see this post). Almost all road and gravel frames in Zwift fall into this category, so it’s the largest by far.

You can clearly see above that entry-level frames get all of their performance upgrades in the first 3 stages. (Stage 4 gets you a 5% Drops earning bonus, and stage 5 is a 5% XP bonus.)

You can also see how each type of upgrade affects the overall performance: stage 1 is an aero upgrade, so speed on the flats is boosted the most. Stage 2 is a weight upgrade, so climb speed improves massively. And stage 3 is a drivetrain upgrade, so performance on both flats and climbs is boosted.

Mid-Range frames get 4 stages of performance upgrades (stage 5 is a 5% Drops bonus), and you can see that the overall performance improvements (time savings at stages 4 and 5) end up matching the improvements to Entry-Level bikes at stages 3/4/5.

Distance-based High-End and Halo bikes have their performance upgrades spread across all 5 stages, but you can see the final time improvement (stage 5) matches the final time improvements for Entry-Level and Mid-Range frames.

(When I say it “matches” I mean the time savings is within ~1 second, since the data plotted above is from actual tests of actual frames, so the numbers won’t match perfectly.)

Again, you can clearly see what is being upgraded in each stage: stage 1 is an aero upgrade, stage 2 is a weight reduction, stage 3 is a drivetrain upgrade, stage 4 is a small aero upgrade, and stage 5 is a weight reduction.

Duration-Based Upgrades

Riders must put in a certain number of hours before upgrading a duration-based bike (for details, see this post). This category is exclusively for time trial frames.

Whew, that stage 1 aero upgrade makes a huge difference! And again, we see that only the first three stages offer performance upgrades for Duration-Based Entry-Level Frames.

The major upgrade for Mid-Range frames comes at stage 4, when aero performance greatly increases.

Again, High-End and Halo frames have their performance upgrades spread across all 5 stages. And the big stage is the final one with its major aero upgrade, which should save you around 6W on flat races. That’s no joke in a time trial.

Elevation-Based Upgrades

Riders must climb a certain amount before upgrading an elevation-based bike (for details, see this post). This category is made up of mountain bikes and a handful of climbing-specific road bikes.

The big upgrade here happens in stage 2, when the bikes get significantly lighter. Notice also how the upgrades are very climb-focused, with most of the improvement coming on the climb side of things.

The total time savings charted above differs a bit more than usual compared to the Entry-Level and Low-End Elevation-based frames because our sample frame used for the Mid-Range chart is a mountain bike frame (our only option), while the others are road bikes.

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