Zipp has a long history of cool IRL wheelsets being brought into Zwift, but until the latest game update, there were no Zipp gravel wheels in game.
But that’s all changed: the Zipp 303 XPLR SW wheels have arrived, and with them, boosted gravel bike performance in Zwift dirt!
Here’s how these wheels are described in the Drop Shop: “Wide, aero, and unapologetically quick. The 303 XPLR SW pairs a broad rim profile with gravel-tuned efficiency to smooth chatter and hold speed where others stall. It feels planted in corners and eager when you hit the gas. Built for riders who don’t just survive gravel, they press it.”
The wheels are now available in the Drop Shop, accessible at level 35 and above, for 550,000 Drops. Notably, they are rated 3 stars for aero and 2 for weight, the only gravel wheelset in game with such a high rating, which should indicate that they’ll perform better than any other gravel wheels in Zwift. Since Zwift’s 4-star rating system isn’t precise enough for our taste, we ran these wheels through our standard battery of tests to determine exactly how they perform in Zwift and stack up against other gravel wheelsets.
It’s worth noting that when Zwift adjusted equipment performance approximately 1 year ago, they made all existing gravel wheelsets perform identically. Since that time, no new gravel wheels have been added to the game. But that all changes with Zwift’s latest release: these new wheels are the latest in gravel tech, and as such, they outperform gravel wheels in game that are several years old.
Let’s dive in and learn all about the performance of Zipp’s first gravel wheelset in Zwift!
Aero (Flat/Rolling) Performance
Zipp’s 303 XPLR wheels are the most aero gravel wheelset in Zwift, turning in an hour flat test approximately 13 seconds faster than the other gravel wheels.
Climb Performance
The 303 XPLR wheels also outclimb all the other gravel wheelsets in game, but not by much: they beat the other wheelsets by just 1.5-2 seconds across an hour of climbing.
Note: all test results above are from a 75kg, 183cm rider holding 300W steady using the Zwift Gravel frame.
Jungle (Dirt) Performance
The aero advantage and slight climbing advantage shown in our pavement tests translate into improved performance for the Zipp 303 XPLR wheels in our Jungle Circuit test. While these wheels have the same Crr in dirt as Zwift’s other gravel wheels, they’re more aero and slightly lighter, resulting in a 15-second advantage across an hour of dirt riding.
Conclusions
The Zipp 303 XPLR SW are Zwift’s new top gravel wheels, so if you’re racing in the dirt, you’ll want to pick up a set.
Note, though, that there are rumors of fresh dirt roads coming to Zwift, and probably more gravel frames and wheels coming to the game shortly. It’s possible that even faster gravel wheels will be added to the Drop Shop soon, so unless you’ve got a dirt race coming up, you might wait a few weeks to make your purchase.
These wheels have been, or will soon be, added to the following posts:
- Master Zwift Wheels List (added)
- Zwift Shopping Guide: What To Buy from the Drop Shop at Each Level (added)
- Zwift Speed Tests Public Data (Google Sheet) (added)
Questions or comments?
Share below!
Important note: this post contains speed test results for Zwift frames or wheels. These results may change over time, and a bike's performance relative to others may also change. We don't always revise posts when performance rankings change, but we do keep current, master versions of our speed test results which are always available. See the frame charts, wheel charts, and Tron vs Top Performers for current performance data.
Luckily i bought it still 550.000 drops 😁 tried it @Yumezi Grit, faster than Cadex AR 35
Take away from this is to be patient… I’ve blown too many drops unnecessarily in the past by buying too quickly. I’ll wait and see 😁
Rumors of more dirt? They said gravel mountain is coming in a press release.
Is the gravel surface the same as Jungle dirt? Thought I read that the only true gravel section so far is in Scotland but I don’t remember if the crr is the same as dirt, and in any event it’s probably too short for meaningful testing. If there is a difference, maybe worth a new test circuit in Gravel Mountain?
You are right, gravel and dirt are distinct with different properties! So perhaps Eric is hinting at more roads besides gravel mountain? Or he might just have conflated dirt and gravel like I did. If he doesn’t respond here that’s probably a good sign he is teasing some new roads beyond what’s been announced.
Gravel Mountain actually uses the dirt surface. It’s confusing, I know. I’ve been using gravel in place of dirt lately, since they perform fairly similarly, and gravel only exists in that one little bit of Scotland…
More info: https://zwiftinsider.com/crr/
Yeah, I put this post together before I knew when Zwift would announce Gravel Mountain…
I’d love to see more actual gravel as apposed to “dirt”. Also would really like to see sand used and see it behave the same way as ice does when using the Tacx® NEO 3M Smart trainer. Actually, it would be interesting to see ice used in Zwift (I think) 🫨
How do these compare to stock road wheels on tarmac? Wondering whether there will ever be gravel wheels that make sense for mixed surface events.
This doesn’t make sense to me. The difference is in aerodynamics and weight. In the Alpe climbing test riders are going close to 15 kph. the advantage of these wheels is 1.5s. On a flat road, the wheels are 13s faster, where it’s mostly aerodynamics, with little effect of weight. So there’s two limits: pure weight-limited, and pure aero-limited. On dirt, the with the same Crr, the advantage should be somewhere between these limits, assuming speeds no slower than 15 kph. Yet the measurement shows a bigger advantage on dirt than either: close to the sum of the advantages.
I think this comes down to measurement error, unless Zwift has some nutty physics.