How does cyclist height affect the ride in Zwift?
As far as I know it doesn’t at the moment, hopefully it does in the future.
I heard it actually does but its soo minimal that you rly dont notice it
As some test shown, height affect you virtual CdA(?). By logic taller guy have bigger CdA, meaning he should be slower, tho there was some weird results, which shown that smallest rider isn’t always the fastest. That leads to a guess that Zwift uses some kind of calculations of weight and height to determine shape of the rider (BMI?) which is actually a lot better than CdA alone. Nobody knows.
Anyway stay true with your numbers and you will get the best experience.
How does riders flexibility affect the ride in Zwift?
Taller equals slower, at the same power and weight a shorter rider will be faster
Doesnt vortex determines the riders speed?
More vortex less speed?
Shape of the object is the determinant?!
Check it out
in real world … 
It affects your aero drag. I did some tests a while ago switching between 182cm and 155cm and the difference was about 23 seconds faster (8 min 57 sec vs 8 min 34 sec) for the shorter height on a flat 5km course at 200W.
And you thought weight doping was a problem.
Yesterday I took part at the BRT TT Series. My height ist 190cm and I was racing with a guy, who is 168cm. At one passage of aboeut one mile we had the same speed in average of 46 km/h. His weight is 73 Kg mine 74 Kg. He had an average of 324 W and I had 357 W. So it makes quiet a difference! 33 Watt, that is 0.45 W/Kg. To win a TT race against him I would have to produce 5 W/KG against 4.5 W/KG. Is it comparable to real life expieriences of you?
We could have Bradley Wiggins (with his 189cm) TT against Nairo Quintana on a flat and fast course and see who is most aero when the speed is high…(+a lot more dots)
Actually, Zwift does take into account height. I am 186cm, 68kg, and I notice in Zwift group rides I have to produce about 25% more w/kg to keep up with others. Zwift Power seems to confirm this.
Somehow I doubt Indurain, Wiggins, Froome, Merckx, and other tall riders had a huge disadvantage when riding irl. I believe that Zwift algorithms overstate the drag disadvantage here.
I would guess the 25% is more due to weight difference than Height.
That’s what I thought, but looking at the weights of others on these group rides, I am generally comparable or less. I’m a tall, skinny rider, about 6’2", 150 lbs. As I said, I don’t race, so I accept it for what it is, but somehow I think the algorithms are off. But I do credit Zwift for at least trying to make things realistic.
Gerrie_Delport_TeamZ
Gerrie Delport TeamZF
May 16
Pete_Bynon:
I am 186cm, 68kg, and I notice in Zwift group rides I have to produce about 25% more w/kg to keep up with others.
I would guess the 25% is more due to weight difference than Height.
At a weight difference of 1 KG and a height difference of 22cm I had a difference of nearly 0,5 Watts/KG to another rider in a TT Race at teh same speed. So the height plays quite a big role.
I noticed that riders over 6 feet seem to have an exaggerated disadvantage as compared to IRL.
I have seen Chris Pritchard’s YouTube video (Why riders Height Dope on Zwift | Tall vs Small - YouTube) that documents how Zwift’s aero algorithm puts taller riders at a disadvantage as compared to short riders of the same weight.