Your selection of parts when you choose bikes and wheels should be more important when racing. Flat races vs mountain races picking the correct balance of bikes, wheels etc to suit your riding style and course.
For example, Zipp 303s should be better to climb with than 404s but according to Zwift they aren’t.
Kurt,
I’d actually disagree with you here. A lot of the climbs in the game are quite fast and - just as in the real world - at the typical speeds that competitive races go up even the Epic KOM, aero trumps weight.
For short and really steep sections where you’re in a pack, sure the lighter weight of the 202s might trump the aero effect of the 404s, but that’s a rare exception.
This is exactly why Zipp steers so many of the teams they work with to use the 404s instead of the 202s.
Deeper wheels just are faster. And even in the pack, the additional aero savings still trumps lighter weight. A light bike and light wheels just doesn’t make that much of a difference. Which is precisely why more and more teams are opting for deep wheels and aero frames in pretty much every case.
Of course, just as in the real world, there’s push back to against the primacy of aerodynamics and a belief that weight *should* be more important for climbing. That does not, however, make it so.
//Jordan
Zwift Game Design
Hi Jordan, I totally agree. I think the thing to remember also is that this isn’t real and as much as there is large part of the community that does want sim, there is also another side which I put myself in that thinks,’Well we can’t steer or break…’, so we need other skill elements, it is also a game, so we have a huge asset or genre we can tap into.
I was thinking that maybe there could be a type of points system larger than 5 stars maybe.
For example, the Madone is a big bike, what if it was great at out and out aero, had a slight disadvantage in a pack and was worse than others up a climb. It might be quick in draft but worse in the wind whilst climbing. It will be amazing downhill. The wheels could affect this whole balance, and what about tyres? We don’t need real world values. Maybe tyres have more grip descending that other so they are faster. Thinner tyres might have a 0.5 % disadvantage.
The overall effectable value of the bike might only be 5%
But it’s a huge amount over a 40k Race?
Just some ideas.
Kurt,
This link might help you: https://zwiftblog.com/a-complete-list-of-bikes-in-zwift/
And this: https://zwiftblog.com/zwift-speeds/
Zwiftblog.com has a lot of data about Zwift bikes, gear and more.
Yeah I’ve seen all those links. But when you select your equipment for a ride your not doing tactically based on the different courses or rider style.
Sensible racers just pick the fastest bike, currently the tron bike.