You have fun on your “earned” performance enhancing equipment when not racing.
In competition online, everyone should have the same performance equipment.
I guess I’ll be having fun all the time, since I don’t race in Zwift.
I said that a while back and got shouted down.
When I started nobody had accelerated level ups or anything like that. We did have 3.0x multiplier with the Pace Partners, that was useful to earn drops. 3 laps of Sand and Sequoias with Bowie Brevet was a good workout. It was also good when riding with Anquetil. The Pace Partners had different weights and steady power. Coco was a decent group for recovery level rides, Bowie was fast downhill (80kg), Anquetil was fast endurance pace everywhere.
You are right.
Ssssh… 
Now why is that elephant standing over there in the room?
I think Level 10 is a reasonable point to get one of the highest-performance frames. That’s achievable in a pretty short time period with route badge bonuses on every ride.
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For many, I think they will reach level 17 before having one million drops and so they might be tempted to buy the Scott Addict instead for ~660k instead.
Wait until ZRL time comes around and everyone that’s been gone all summer is going to start looking for alternative ways to minmax.
If you [and I] thought it was bad when the bike upgrade patch released… just wait until the northern hemisphere returns and finds out…
Ok, what are the northern riders missing?
I hope to finish upgrading my SL 8 and I just bought the DT Swiss 65 wheels
What is the min max patch?
If it is what I suspect it was, I think that would have been blocked by now. Otherwise it’s just the min effort for max results strategies that some the big teams/clubs had for their people to follow.
Most of the racers I’ve seen regularly already have every halo bike, and all upgraded to the maximum level (months ago), along with the factory challenge completed to 850.
“Most” is doing a lot of work across this post.
a) Some have legitimately got them.
b) Some have cheated
c) The majority of serious racers didn’t lower their standards to cheat.
How many racers have you seen with “every halo” ?
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Most racers I know don’t have any halo bikes, and those that do don’t use them in races because there’s no benefit on most routes. The place I see them most is in group rides where I run into more high volume riders. They’re using them because they have a fun appearance and the performance aspect doesn’t matter.
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I think most racers (I hope) just do their thing.
The people that have all upgraded their Halo bikes and have the aero socks will be fast and will win and not be in my race.
Unfortunately, they will be someone else’s problem.
Unfortunately, I guess I’m stuck with Zracing because I can’t meet the Ladder race requirement of 30 % trainer difficulty with my dumb wheel on kinetic trainer.
Accuracy be damned.
Are there a lot of racers who downgrade or use lower-performing bikes in order to stay near the top of a category? Put another way, selectively choosing a frame to sandbag?
I would call that handicapping and would be an acceptable way to level the playing field.
vs the alternatives, this would be a bizarre way to do it. It might even get them upgraded on a higher seed score.
I’ve read about people that purposely do that to stay with slower riders.
For example, a father would choose to ride the MTB so he would get a decent workout while riding with his child on a speedier road bike.
In the group I normally ride with (due to timing rather than anything else), one fast rider does use a slower bike recently.
It makes a difference, he isn’t at the front dragging the group along much faster. So we have around 42km/h average instead of 44km/h. Good for the others who are struggling to stay with group.
Bike performance certainly has an effect when it is not neutralised.
I eventually earned the Tron bike, used it once & I’ve never touched it since. I don’t feel any difference in the performance of any bike, not as much as the category you race in. My score is 215, I have been in 160 to 220 & done ok. When it’s 210 to 270 forget it, I’m toast in the first few Kms.
Aero matters less at lower speeds. The faster you go the more important it is. In the lower categories, climbing bikes make more sense. There’s no universal answer for all riders.
I’m sure you’d notice an SL8 or Aeroad 2024 versus the Synapse or Zwift Steel.
I used the Synapse yesterday on ADZ and Epic KOM in the same ride, it was very slow even at level 4. Fortunately it is now level 5 so I don’t have to use it. Note on that bike level 4 and 5 gives no speed benefit, only drops/XP gains.
Next one is the CAAD13. If you believe the stars rating it should be a little better.
I’m using the venge s works 2019, as well as the other top two specialised bikes, working towards the Halo. Makes no difference whichever I use. Even been up mountains & 60km rides on the BMX Bandit & it’s the same.