Zwift Chat

[bridgy]

How you upgrade bikes depends on the type of bike - road/gravel bike upgrades are based on distance ridden; TT bikes on duration; and climbing bikes and MTBs on elevation gain.

Bikes are also categorised into entry level, mid range, high end and Halo. The distance/duration/elevation you need to ride, as well as the drops cost for upgrades and what those upgrades at each level actually are, all depend on which of these categories the specific bike frame is in (lower end bikes can be upgraded quicker than higher end basically).

This post on Zwift Insider breaks it all down in detail https://zwiftinsider.com/bike-upgrade-details/

 

[JuhaL]

I have 19 million

I have 14 million. My plan is to save them when i leave retired for my work

 

[CXRAndy]

Im upgrading the sl8. I've just started level 3 . Im not sure it said I had to cycle 800km to get to level 4!
Is that right?

BTW I got an oily chain upgrade at level 3

Checked Paul's link, I must have mis read it. It says 380km for lvl4 on high end bike frame. Why did I pick high end

 

[JuhaL]

Im upgrading the sl8. I've just started level 3 . Im not sure it said I had to cycle 800km to get to level 4!
Is that right?

BTW I got an oily chain upgrade at level 3

Checked Paul's link, I must have mis read it. It says 380km for lvl4 on high end bike frame. Why did I pick high end

800km doesn't sound right. I'm upgrading sl8 as well and for me It says I have to ride 380km to unlock aero upgrade.

 

[alex_cycles]

I'll start on the TT bike once I'm finished on the S-Works Tarmac (just got L4). How many hours do I need to do to fully upgrade the Cadex Tri? I'm not fussed because I can do all of my workouts on it, so the lack of draft won't affect me at all.

40 hours to level 5.

In a way, though, I don't really want to upgrade the TT bike because, although it'll make/keep me competitive relative to other people, it'll skew my times on courses I've ridden before and give me a false impression of improvement.

You can always use a different bike

I can see that it's in Zwift's interest to mask ongoing deterioration in people's performance (considering that a large constituent of their demographic is MAMILs whose aerobic capabilities are waning year-on-year...) so that they don't get demoralised with the platform.

 

[13 rider]

Managed to get stage 3 upgrade during my warm up for tonight's race . Obliviously upgraded before the race because without it I probably wouldn't have come 50th of 116 🤣 I couldn't feel the difference 😁
Trying to commit to a few races before deciding on wether to race wtrl and get a realistic idea of my level after not racing for months . Did zwift unlocked on electric break . Hung on to the front group until the first proper climb where I ended up the wrong side of a split and couldn't close the gap solo ,sat up over the top to form a group with people coming from behind and despite not everyone working we closed in on the second group on the road at the bottom of the climb to the finish ,where I pick a few off on the climb but annoyingly got rolled on the line as I blew up after attempting a uphill sprint for 50th(35th on zp) of 116 . Happy with my power numbers roughly where they were last winter but I still struggle going over my limit and then recovering quickly

 

[alex_cycles]

Happy with my power numbers roughly where they were last winter but I still struggle going over my limit and then recovering quickly

That is something that only really seems to get better by "doing it more"
and the easiest way to practice that is to race

 

[Whorty]

Managed to get stage 3 upgrade during my warm up for tonight's race . Obliviously upgraded before the race because without it I probably wouldn't have come 50th of 116 🤣 I couldn't feel the difference 😁
Trying to commit to a few races before deciding on wether to race wtrl and get a realistic idea of my level after not racing for months . Did zwift unlocked on electric break . Hung on to the front group until the first proper climb where I ended up the wrong side of a split and couldn't close the gap solo ,sat up over the top to form a group with people coming from behind and despite not everyone working we closed in on the second group on the road at the bottom of the climb to the finish ,where I pick a few off on the climb but annoyingly got rolled on the line as I blew up after attempting a uphill sprint for 50th(35th on zp) of 116 . Happy with my power numbers roughly where they were last winter but I still struggle going over my limit and then recovering quickly

I got strong at that a few years ago by doing lots of crit races. They always seemed to have a 20 second sprint each lap followed by 2-3 mins of fast tempo. No actual resting proper. Got me very strong. Sadly there don't seem to be as many crit races these days which is a shame.

Looking at your numbers you're at the top end of (old) C cat so a great base to get going again. A few weeks of racing and you're be ripping up the front of the pack

 

[alex_cycles]

I got strong at that a few years ago by doing lots of crit races. They always seemed to have a 20 second sprint each lap followed by 2-3 mins of fast tempo. No actual resting proper. Got me very strong. Sadly there don't seem to be as many crit races these days which is a shame.

Looking at your numbers you're at the top end of (old) C cat so a great base to get going again. A few weeks of racing and you're be ripping up the front of the pack

I think he needs to join a good C team that races at 11am