This exceptional machine is crafted with Pinarello’s unique endurance geometry, a fresh approach that strikes the perfect balance between high-calibre performance and real-world comfort.
The Pinarello Espada that’s in game version 1.64 is an event-only assigned bike during the Espada Challenge events May 3 - 5.
The Espada is not in the Drop Shop in 1.64, but will become available to buy in the Drop Shop in the near future.
Nice to see a new road frame in the drop shop for the first time in…
drum roll…
2 years.
(21 months to be more precise)
I hope more stuff is in the works!
As it’s kind of funny to think of how many of us are using “legacy” frames; many of which don’t even share similar shapes to modern counterparts.
I realize the complications of sponsors, but as a reminder: the community isn’t entirely afraid of Zwift’s own creations! (ie ConceptZ1)
While it’s great to finally have a new bike in the drop shop, and hopefully it’s a sign of more to come, is there any in-game reason to use this one?
It’s an endurance road bike, it will most likely be heavier and less aero than other bikes available earlier and for less drops. But not by a significant enough margin to get a better workout with a given pace partner or similar.
Will it be faster on gravel/dirt? Any other gimmick?
I’m only buying new bikes and wheels when a better bike than what I have is added.
These are my suggestions that would make be care about the Drop Shop again:
Add the latest real-world bike models into the Drop Shop to reflect annual improvements in frames and wheels. We don’t need more mid to low end bikes (stars).
Update Zwift bikes annually to encourage users to spend their drops on the newest, top-performing models, adding significance to the drops again.
Increase the prices of bikes/wheels to make each acquisition more impactful and strategic, preventing users from easily purchasing the entire shop’s inventory.
Maybe also make some bikes only available for loyal users, e.g. offer users to buy one of two exclusive top bikes at the start of each season.
I wonder if they just made all bikes in the same category perform the same if people would be more likely to buy new bikes from the shop. You’d be more likely to want to buy a bike by the looks of it, or because it matches what you ride etc.
At any point in time there’s going to be only a couple of ‘top’ bikes (a TT bike, a climber, a flat route bike, gravel, and an all-arounder), the rest will all be seen as useless as long as they perform worse than the top bikes for that category.
If this years bikes had top bikes that performed on par with the existing top bikes, I think people would buy the new bikes. Just because they are new or because of the design. I would ditch my boring gray Venge for a new bike if it was just as fast or similar.
I propose, in order to stimulate a proper N+1 economy on Zwift, that bikes you purchase from the Drop Shop should degrade in performance as time goes on. You buy the fastest bike in 2024, but it’s slower by the time 2025 rolls around. You could buy it again (overwriting the bike in your garage), or decide to buy a different bike instead.
This would:
Be fitting with IRL physics, given that we have no way in-game of performing maintenance on our bikes
Give people continued reason to think about and spend Drops
Be absolutely contingent on the ability to delete things from your Garage.
Zwift could also similarly just degrade an entire model of bike. If they want to keep introducing newer bikes, but don’t want an infinite power-creep into realms of unrealism, then just make older bikes go slower over time, by model. That way buying the ‘newest bike’ to hit the shop doesn’t mean you’re going any faster than the last ‘newest bike’, just that the last ‘newest bike’ is now slower
I personally hope this never happens. I would drop my Zwift account and just use Fulgaz only if that occurs. I already have Fulgaz and use it a lot so is a very easy thing to drop Zwift.
I have one bike IRL at 32,000km and another at 16,000km and they are both as fast as when I got them.
Seriously the drop shop economy is not worth spending time on - more routes are much more worthwhile so it is not just the same old routes every day. Realistically we have ADZ, Ventop as the only HC climbs on Zwift. Climb Portal is boring without scenery and there are always questions about accuracy when you see 26% gradients in places where they should not be.
Same with things like improvements for Apple M series processors.
Newer bikes like Tarmac SL8 if it ever arrives in Zwift should be quicker than older ones like Venge but then Zwift would need to deal with the outrage from Tron riders that they no longer have fastest bike. They were upset when the S5 went quicker as well, then it got nerfed.
Yah but I bet you regularly clean and lube and replace parts on those. I’ve been on the same chain, tires, tubes, cables, rotors, pads, cassette, and possibly horrible factory chain grease for thousands of KMs on my Zwift bike. It’s absurd to think that it would be as efficient as when I bought it
The Tron is not currently the fastest bike. There are faster bikes on the flat, faster climbing bikes, and all-rounders with practically identical performance.
Of course I maintain them - but adding a another layer of complexity into Zwift that doesn’t improve the use of the game and only seems to aim to get people to spend drops doesn’t seem like a good use of development time when new routes, more functional home screens, etc could be added.
The maintenance idea is about the same benefit as all the level and XP adjustments.
