The new Zwift Camp: Baseline program includes three different unlocks as you progress through the workouts. The final unlock? A sparkly set of “Zwift Baseline Wheels”.
Here’s how Zwift describes them in the Drop Shop:
The Zwift Baseline Wheelset trims weight while maximizing the advantages of modern design, featuring variable rim depths in the front and rear for enhanced performance. Versatile and built for any terrain, this wheelset is your go-to choice for all-around riding.
These wheels are rated 2 stars for aero and 3 for weight, indicating that their climbing performance would be decent (but not great) while their aero performance would be rather poor. But as with any new piece of Zwift equipment, we ran them through our normal tests to learn exactly how they perform.
Here’s everything you need to know about the performance of the new Zwift Baseline Wheels.
Aero (Flat/Rolling) Performance
The Baseline’s aero performance precisely matches the Zwift 32mm Carbon wheels which we use as our baseline wheelset when comparing performance between different wheels. You read that right: the Zwift Baseline Wheels perform like baseline wheels.
This places them around the 13th percentile for aero performance. Ouch.
Their test time of 51:25 is precisely 60 seconds slower than the current fastest road wheels (DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT DISC) on our test course, which is two laps of Tempus Fugit totaling 34.6km.
Climb Performance
The Baseline’s climbing performance puts them just behind the Zipp 404’s, placing it around the 53rd percentile overall.
These wheels turn in an Alpe time of 49:25. The fastest overall climbers in game (Lightweight Meilensteins and Roval Alpinist CLX) complete the test 11 seconds faster.
Note: all test results above are from a 75kg, 183cm rider holding 300W steady using the Zwift Aero frame.
Conclusions
The Zwift Baseline Wheels are a fun unlock for the fresh Zwift Camp: Baseline program, but their performance, like other Zwift-branded wheelsets in game, doesn’t stand out from the crowd. Use them if you like the look or want to show you’ve completed the training program, but don’t use them if you’re wanting top-tier race performance.
This wheelset will be added to the following posts, and it can also be found on our Master Zwift Wheels List:
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.
decisions based on data, nice, thanks as always Eric! =)
As I suspected. Now all I want is that Baseline one-piece glasses.
I know!!!
I know this is not relevant to the current discussion but I just wanted to ask what is the purpose of the zwift ride having a very short pedal arm? Is this intended for climbs only? I suspect you would need a much higher cadence to get the same wattage as a regular sized pedal arm. Is that a sought-for feature? I recently purchased the zwift ride but haven’t tried it yet as I want to upgrade the pedals first, but this made me wonder if I am going to lose power as compared to my old solution with a road carbon bike and the Direto XR?
GCN did a video on shorter pedal arms and why pros are using them. Worth watching. Admittedly it doesn’t solve your problem though.
The crank length on the Zwift ride is 170mm, no? That is a normal crank length. Nonetheless, the effect of a crank length difference is very similar to the effect of a gear ratio change in terms of cadence, pedaling torque, and power output. It would likely feel a tiny little bit different than a mere gear ratio change because of the smaller circle that your feet are swinging through. If you are a fussy fiddler with seat height (as Eddy Merckx was said to be) getting used to a different crank length might require some seat height adjustments. On the order of 1/2 of the difference in crank lengths. I’m not sure what crank length you are used to, but if it is 175mm (the most common) then the difference between a 170 and a 175 is about 2.5%. This is easily covered by a gear ratio change.
Love and appreciate all the work you do, Eric. But Zwift needs to completely revamp the equipment system in the game. There is so much variety in brands and looks in the game, yet people are all riding the same 3-5 bikes and the same 3-5 wheelsets.
They should simplify everything and make the stars MEAN something. All 3-star aero frames should behave the same on flats. All 4-star weight bikes should weigh the same. This would allow us to pick the bikes and wheels that look how we want our avatars to look without sacrificing (much) performance.
I am so tired of all these cool-looking unlocks that perform so abysmally. Also, where are the upgrades-for-drops that we were promised months ago? Maybe that could help bridge some of these gaps.
Upgrades for drops (and effort) is coming… my best guess is early January.
Is this for real? I’ve stumbled across this article on my Google news timeline & having dabbled in various other cycling apps thought I’d give it a read. I was under the impression that all the bikes, wheels & apparel were just for show, as an indicator of how long or how much the rider had achieved on the app. Now I find that, on Zwift at least, the choice actually makes a difference.🤯
Yup. Want more data? Here you go:
https://zwiftinsider.com/charts-wheels
https://zwiftinsider.com/charts-frames
Red rim wheels would be nice.