Zwift Chat

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

Is anyone else thinking ahead to racing in the autumn/winter and which bikes to prioritise upgrading when using Zwift now?

With racing in mind it seems like upgrading the SL8 is the obviousl choice first, but after that it's not so clear cut. I'm thinking to do the Specialized Aethos next as it's the best climbing bike so might be useful in some mountainous races, and then maybe a TT bike. I can't really see what else I'd be bothered about upgrading after that!

Anyone else prioritising different options to those for upgrading?

I didn't quite have enough drops (~1.7 million) to buy the SL8 Pro, so I've bought the DT Swiss 85 disc wheels (~1 million) that are now the new fastest wheels, along with upgrading my Dogma F '24 and Cadex TT frames to stage 1, while my Aethos (s-works? the best climber until SL* Pro was released) is approx 50% towards stage 1.

Need to check what gravel frames I have and get one upgraded, to give even more advantage on mixed terrain routes where the gravel is the correct choice.

Next purchase will probably be the DT Swiss 65 before end of August, then start saving for the SL8 Pro.

 

[mjd1988]

Is anyone else thinking ahead to racing in the autumn/winter and which bikes to prioritise upgrading when using Zwift now?

With racing in mind it seems like upgrading the SL8 is the obviousl choice first, but after that it's not so clear cut. I'm thinking to do the Specialized Aethos next as it's the best climbing bike so might be useful in some mountainous races, and then maybe a TT bike. I can't really see what else I'd be bothered about upgrading after that!

Anyone else prioritising different options to those for upgrading?

Yes this is basically my plan; SL8 to max most importantly, aethos and TT bike next, maybe at same time. Basically thinking of the WTRL series That should cover any race, all rounder, pure climber and TTTs - in fact TT probably more important as the SL8 is still a great climber. Halo bikes in 2032 or whenever i get round to them

 

[CXRAndy]

How's your recovery Michael?

 

[alex_cycles]

Not too much. I'm upgrading different frames as I'm riding but there's no massive plan. I am riding the ones that eventually unlock Halos though.

I've got the SL8 and Aethos at max level and Venge at lvl 3. Dogma at max, and Zwift Buffalo, Handcycle, and Aero all at lvl 3. Will get the Halos when I do all the necessary upgrades as have loads of drops and nothing else to do with them.

EDIT: I think Tron is still best all-rounder once you upgrade it to max. But not sure.

You've been busy

 

[bridgy]

Not too much. I'm upgrading different frames as I'm riding but there's no massive plan. I am riding the ones that eventually unlock Halos though.

I've got the SL8 and Aethos at max level and Venge at lvl 3. Dogma at max, and Zwift Buffalo, Handcycle, and Aero all at lvl 3. Will get the Halos when I do all the necessary upgrades as have loads of drops and nothing else to do with them.

EDIT: I think Tron is still best all-rounder once you upgrade it to max. But not sure.

Blimey that's a hell of a lot of zwifting you've been doing!!

As for the Tron, the difference between it and the SL8 after both are maxed out with upgrades is essentially the same as before upgrading - both are just better. So the SL8 definitely still a better all-rounder with different wheel options

 

[alex_cycles]

Blimey that's a hell of a lot of zwifting you've been doing!!

As for the Tron, the difference between it and the SL8 after both are maxed out with upgrades is essentially the same as before upgrading - both are just better. So the SL8 definitely still a better all-rounder with different wheel options

Maxing out the Tron is really hard though isn't it? as it's the Zwift Halo bike, don't you have to fully level 5 three other Zwift bikes before you can even start levelling up the Tron? Then there's the small matter of 10 million Drops

 

[CXRAndy]

Maxing out the Tron is really hard though isn't it? as it's the Zwift Halo bike, don't you have to fully level 5 three other Zwift bikes before you can even start levelling up the Tron? Then there's the small matter of 10 million Drops

According to a quick search it says you have upgrade 3 Zwift bikes and then you can begin the Tron upgrades- assuming you have already got the Tron

Im only interested in the Specialised Halo bike, I think it looks really cool.

I will do the necessary bikes for that

 

[Peter Salt]

Maxing out the Tron is really hard though isn't it? as it's the Zwift Halo bike, don't you have to fully level 5 three other Zwift bikes before you can even start levelling up the Tron? Then there's the small matter of 10 million Drops

The Zwift ones are very quick to upgrade as they only require half the distance compared to high performance frames.

The climbing frames are the fastest to upgrade out of the three types - assuming you just go up a mountain. I did a few Z2 rounds of Alpe and Ventoux - ascended on Aethos and descended on SL8 for efficiency.

Haven't done any TT frame yet so will need to add that to the list.

 

[alex_cycles]

The Zwift ones are very quick to upgrade as they only require half the distance compared to high performance frames.

The climbing frames are the fastest to upgrade out of the three types - assuming you just go up a mountain. I did a few Z2 rounds of Alpe and Ventoux - ascended on Aethos and descended on SL8 for efficiency.

Haven't done any TT frame yet so will need to add that to the list.

The issue at the moment is that I'm not really free-riding on Zwift while the weather is nice outside. So if I'm on Zwift, I'm racing. And if I'm racing I'm on the SL8

Perhaps during the winter it'll be time to work on those other bikes

 

[bridgy]

Maxing out the Tron is really hard though isn't it? as it's the Zwift Halo bike, don't you have to fully level 5 three other Zwift bikes before you can even start levelling up the Tron? Then there's the small matter of 10 million Drops

I don't think the drops would be a problem for me as I have loads already and the amount of riding needed for each stage would build them up further anyway! At least with the Tron I wouldn't ALSO need the initial outlay of another 10 million drops just to unlock the bike itself like the other Halo bikes

The thing with the Tron though is it doesn't really give you any actual performance benefit over the best standard bikes on any terrain - it's only VERY slightly faster on the flat (but not to an extent that would matter) and worse at climbing than the SL8.

The Cannondale and Specialized Halo bikes are both faster on the flat than any standard bikes so I guess there would be some absolutely pan flat races you might want to use them on (because they're both very rubbish at climbing), but for me anyway it would be a VERY long term project that I'm not sure I would see through! And the Pinarello is a TT bike which is worse than the best standard TT bikes so unlocking that one would purely be for show I guess!

i'm not actually bothered at all what the bike my avatar is riding looks like - only thing that interests me is whether there's a performance benefit so the only one I can even imagine taking the time to focus on unlocking and upgrading would be the Specialized Project 74 one day (many years from now!)

 

[mjd1988]

How's your recovery Michael?

Not too bad! Have an eye infection which I'm not sure is related or not unfortunately which has complicated things but I've been on zwift a couple of times, probably no more outdoor rides this year though, might try running to commute to work the odd time but it's maybe a bit far

 

[alex_cycles]

I don't think the drops would be a problem for me as I have loads already and the amount of riding needed for each stage would build them up further anyway! At least with the Tron I wouldn't ALSO need the initial outlay of another 10 million drops just to unlock the bike itself like the other Halo bikes

The thing with the Tron though is it doesn't really give you any actual performance benefit over the best standard bikes on any terrain - it's only VERY slightly faster on the flat (but not to an extent that would matter) and worse at climbing than the SL8.

The Cannondale and Specialized Halo bikes are both faster on the flat than any standard bikes so I guess there would be some absolutely pan flat races you might want to use them on (because they're both very rubbish at climbing), but for me anyway it would be a VERY long term project that I'm not sure I would see through! And the Pinarello is a TT bike which is worse than the best standard TT bikes so unlocking that one would purely be for show I guess!

i'm not actually bothered at all what the bike my avatar is riding looks like - only thing that interests me is whether there's a performance benefit so the only one I can even imagine taking the time to focus on unlocking and upgrading would be the Specialized Project 74 one day (many years from now!)

I'm totally with you on that. Only interested in marginal performance advantage. I don't really give a monkey's about the halo bikes, but since the SL8 and the Aethos are good anyway, might as well go for those. (Is it a coincidence that Specialized is a shareholder in Zwift? Methinks not! ).

 

[mjd1988]

Just seeing that it is 6 hours for the first update of the cadex Tri which doesn't feel like a worthwhile investment of time as I really don't enter TTs outside of ttts. Maybe I'll save that for downhills once the sl8 is done

 

[bridgy]

Just seeing that it is 6 hours for the first update of the cadex Tri which doesn't feel like a worthwhile investment of time as I really don't enter TTs outside of ttts. Maybe I'll save that for downhills once the sl8 is done

Yeah that's kind of my plan initially.

As the Aethos upgrades are based on elevation I thought that when I just want to do an hour's general riding on Zwift, instead of my usual thing of doing a pacer group ride, I'll do a big climb on the Aethos, and then descend on the TT bike to start building up some time on that as well. Once I've completed the Aethos upgrades doing that, I guess I'll just have to ride the TT bike for my free rides without any draft for a while (plus if I'm racing I'll just use the TT bike for warmup/cool down.

I've unlocked the first upgrade of the Aethos by doing Col de la Madeleine a couple of times - it will take 11 and a half more ascents of that to fully upgrade it though

 

[Cirrus]

Have fully upgraded the SL8 and done about 80% of the Aethos, just started the Diverge (as it’s cheap and I’ve run out of drops).