New routes, more racing, and Zwift Ride bike frame and Zwift Cog now work with a wider range of trainers
(Image credit: Zwift)
It’s 10 years since Zwift launched. Over that time, the indoor cycling app says that collectively its users have covered 8.72 billion kilometres and climbed 81.56 billion metres, with over four million events organised on the platform.
To celebrate, it’s announced a series of updates to the platform, as well as its forward calendar of events and challenges going into 2025. More on that later.
At the same time, the Zwift Ride smart bike and Zwift virtual shifting are opened up to a range of new trainers, including the Wahoo Kickr V6, and there’s new backwards compatibility so you can upgrade your existing trainer to work with Zwift’s hardware.
Zwift Ride can be bought stand-alone for the first time, so you can link it to your existing smart trainer to convert it into a full-blown indoor bike.
You’ll also be able to buy the Wahoo Kickr Core Zwift One and the Zwift Cog and Click from Wahoo dealers and choose whether to buy with or without a Zwift subscription.
New hardware compatibility for virtual shifting
There's now a wider range of trainers that can be used with Zwift Cog and Zwift Click (Image credit: Zwift)
Zwift has expanded its Zwift Click virtual shifting and Zwift Cog to a wider range of trainers. Initially launched with the Wahoo Kickr Core, it’s now available with other Kickr trainers as well as trainers from other brands, including JetBlack, Elite and Decathlon.
Some of these trainers will be sold pre-installed with the Zwift Cog and with the Zwift Click controller included in the box.
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From this month, you’ll be able to buy not just the Wahoo Kickr Core Zwift One, but also the V6 Wahoo Kickr and the Kickr Move, as well as the JetBlack Victory trainer with Zwift’s hardware. Later this year, Zwift Cog and Click will be available with the Elite Direto and Decathlon's £240 Van Rysel D100 trainer too.
If you have one of these trainers already, all the above, plus the retired Zwift Hub, can also be upgraded to work with Zwift’s hardware. Zwift says that there will be additional upgradable trainers announced too.
To make it easier for you to spot a trainer that’s compatible if you’re buying one new, there’s a new Zwift Ready label that will be applied to trainers that will work with Zwift’s hardware.
Zwift Ride smart frame available to buy separately
You can now buy the Zwift Ride smart bike to add to your current compatible trainer, for a complete indoor smart bike set-up (Image credit: Zwift)
When it was originally launched, Zwift Ride only came as a package with the Kickr Core. It’s now available to purchase without a trainer so that you can mount it to one of the above Zwift Ready trainers. It’s priced at £749.99 / $799.99 / €799.99.
The Zwift Ride smart frame has been enhanced to work with these trainers. Updates include a new adjustable front foot so that the ride height can be changed to match the trainer.
There’s a new V2 Zwift Cog included with the Zwift Ride frame, which allows it to be indexed for better chain alignment and quieter running.
Zwift Ride is compatible with all the Zwift Ready trainers above, although the Wahoo Kickr Move must be locked in its fixed position to work.
The Zwift Cog and Zwift Click can now be bought stand-alone to add to your compatible trainer (Image credit: Zwift)
You can buy the Zwift Cog and Zwift Click as a bundle to upgrade your trainer. The pair are priced at £79.99 / $79.99 / €79.99.
New Zwift software features and forward events programme
Zwift has added new features and routes to its software platform for 2024 (Image credit: Zwift)
While Zwift has been working on its hardware, it’s not neglected its software, with a range of enhancements to the platform and its series of events going into 2025 also announced.
Updates to heads-up display functionality
Zwift's on-screen display now gives you more choice of data (Image credit: Zwift)
Zwift has updated the on-screen data displayed when riding. There’s now a choice of seven metrics, including average watts, watts per kilogram, heart rate and cadence. If you’re into running on Zwift, the runners’ heads-up display has also received a refresh.
New roads in Watopia
There will be new roads added to Watopia later this year (Image credit: Zwift)
Zwift will be adding new roads to Watopia in November during its Tour of Watopia, with its best new landscape features saved until the Stage 5 finale. It promises three distance options, double XP for live events and 1.5x XP if you choose to ride the stages on demand.
Updates to Zwift Garage
Enhance your virtual ride with new features and bikes in the Drop Shop (Image credit: Zwift)
A series of update challenges will allow you to upgrade your bike, if your virtual machine is holding you back. Earn Drops and you can make your bike lighter, more aero, lower its rolling resistance and make other enhancements – cheaper than upgrading your real bike.
If you’ve got Drops to burn, you can swap them for a halo bike, such as a Pinarello Espada. It may be your only chance to ride a non-UCI legal bike in competition and Zwift says it will only offer its halo bikes to its most loyal Drop Shop customers.
New challenges
New routes and challenges feature on Zwift heading into 2025 (Image credit: Zwift)
There’s a range of new challenges in September, with the first being Cardio Crusher, which launches on 9 September. This includes five sub-60 minute workouts with 250 XP on offer on completing them all.
October 3 will see the unveiling of Route Crusher: The Grade. This includes five routes, of which three are new, with new badges on offer on completion.
Zwift promises additional challenges in the coming months.
Zwift Camp: Baseline
Running from 18 November to 5 January, this workout programme includes six workouts. Finish the six and Zwift will provide you with a report that highlights your strengths and weaknesses as a rider, with new challenges available to help you develop.
Zwift Racing calendar
There are new Zwift racing options going into 2025 (Image credit: Zwift)
Zwift has announced its racing calendar for the next season too. It’s split into four sections: Z-Racing Monthly, Zwift Racing League, Zwift World Series and Zwift Games.
Z-Racing Monthly gives you new routes each month.
Zwift Racing League runs from September 2024 to February 2025, over three rounds of six races each.
Zwift World Series runs from September to January with three tiers each month.
Finally, Zwift Games launches in March 2025, allowing racing at Community and Elite levels.
Zwift Academy returns
Zwift Academy is back with a pro development contract on offer to the winners (Image credit: Zwift)
Finally, if you fancy yourself a budding pro, Zwift Academy is back from 5 August to 3 November. A development contract is on offer with Canyon//SRAM and Alpecin-Deceuninck for the women's and men's competition winners respectively.
Paul has been on two wheels since he was in his teens and he's spent much of the time since writing about bikes and the associated tech. He's a road cyclist at heart but his adventurous curiosity means Paul has been riding gravel since well before it was cool, adapting his cyclo-cross bike to ride all-day off-road epics and putting road kit to the ultimate test along the way. Paul has contributed to Cyclingnews' tech coverage for a few years, helping to maintain the freshness of our buying guides and deals content, as well as writing a number of our voucher code pages.
