Zwifters recently descended on Mallorca for Zwift Community Live 2026, an IRL event bringing people together from around the world for 3 days of epic riding. In this week’s top video, watch as one Zwifting YouTuber takes on his first group rides ever!
Zwift just shared a roadmap of what’s coming in the next few months with their “This Season on Zwift” press release, so two of our videos feature this info. We’ve also included videos about riding outdoors after a long indoor season, and racing the final stage of the Zwift Games.
Share the link below and we may feature it in an upcoming post!
However, the move into AR and smart eyewear comes at a volatile
However, the move into AR and smart eyewear comes at a volatile
When Shimano launched its Dura-Ace 9000 groupset back in 2012, it introduced a new weight-saving technique, where the outward and inside faces of the cranks were bonded together, with a cavity between them. An advance on the previously hollow-forged design of Dura-Ace 7900, Shimano claimed its new Hollowtech design saved weight with no loss in rigidity.
A few years later, reports began to emerge of crankset delamination and failure, reaching their thousands before Shimano acknowledged there was a potential issue with the bonding process.
This led to the recall for inspection of around 2.8 million 11-speed Dura-Ace and Ultegra cranksets worldwide and Shimano agreeing an $11.5m penalty in the US for failing to report the problem promptly.
With the deadline to submit a claim approaching in August 2026, we look back over the timeline of Shimano’s costly product failure.
Shimano launched its first crankset with bonded arms as part of the Dura-Ace 9000 groupset. It was its first with four arms, in place of five, which were arranged asymmetrically on the spider rather than being evenly spaced.
The outgoing Dura-Ace 7900 groupset – launched in 2008 – also used a two-piece hollow design, but the parts were forged together, rather than bonded.
When we reviewed the groupset, we commented on the larger section to the alloy crank arms over the predecessor Dura-Ace 7900 groupset and on the visible bond line between the two faces.
It was followed in 2013 by Ultegra 6800, which, in Shimano fashion, replicated at a lower price and slightly increased weight much of the functionality of the flagship groupset.
The first reports of failed Shimano cranks emerged online. Starting in late 2017, the @thanksshimano Instagram account began to fill up with shots of failed Shimano Ultegra and Dura-Ace cranks, spindles and more, with the most recent dating from March 2024.
BikeRadar has been following the Shimano crankset story since April 2020, when we reported on a crankset failure in the team.
Riding to work in January of that year, Stuart Forrest experienced a complete failure of the crankset, with the outer part of the crankarm separating from the rest of the crank.
He’d covered around 15,000km on the groupset in six years and had noticed a couple of weeks earlier that the cranks had started to creak.
Responding to our report, Shimano’s spokesman pointed to the huge global user base of its cranksets and advised riders experiencing problems to consult a dealer.
In late 2021, Road.cc reported on a crank failure experienced by one of its readers, which spurred other riders to report similar incidents.
Shimano told Road.cc at the time that its engineers hadn’t found a design problem with its cranks, although it was investigating to see if there was a specific cause.
In September 2023, 11 years after it had introduced the design, Shimano announced a US recall of its 11-speed Hollowtech cranks in the US, and a global inspection and replacement programme.
This affected a total of 760,000 cranksets in the US and 2.8 million globally, after 4,519 reported instances of cranksets separating.
Affecting the original Dura-Ace 9000 and Ultegra 6800 cranksets, as well as the more recent Dura-Ace R9100 with and without a power meter and Ultegra R8000, this was the first time Shimano had acknowledged a problem with its Hollowtech cranksets.
Shimano confirmed owners of cranksets showing signs of bonding problems and delamination would be provided with a free replacement.
The next day, Shimano clarified which cranksets were affected by the recall, specifying that only certain model numbers, for cranksets made before 2019, and with a specific range of production codes, needed inspection by a dealer and potential replacement.
Shimano excluded from its warranty cranks modified by third parties, such as 4iiii and Stages power meters, but included them in its inspection process.
In October 2023, a class-action lawsuit was filed in the US against Shimano, Specialized and Trek, claiming the announced recall was inadequate.
Because it did not cover all Hollowtech cranksets, the suit claimed cyclists could be riding a dangerous bicycle for an extended period without being sure their cranks wouldn’t fail. It also sought redress for riders who had already disposed of a failed crankset.
In addition, it pointed out that mechanics could be liable if a crankset failed subsequent to an inspection and caused injury.
Trek and Specialized were included in the suit because they were accused of “knowingly and intentionally misrepresenting, omitting, concealing, and/or failing to disclose material facts regarding the quality, reliability, and safety of the cranksets”.
A year later, Road.cc reported some bike shops claimed they had been put on a ‘banned list’ for the crankset inspection programme, because they had failed too many cranks. Shimano’s UK distributor, Madison, said Shimano would no longer pay the £35 per inspection fee to shops on the list.
Meanwhile, some shops claimed they were returning a large proportion of cranks to Shimano because they were not in a position to definitively pass a crankset based only on visual inspection.
Roll forward another year and the US judge issued preliminary approval for the settlement of the 2023 US class-action lawsuit.
The settlement was granted final approval by the court in February 2026 and involved Shimano issuing a magnifying device and a manual for retailers, to assist them in inspection. Shimano also opened a website through which affected riders could submit reimbursement claims. It stated the impact on its future business was expected to be immaterial.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission announced an $11.5 million civil penalty settlement with Shimano, which it concluded had failed to report promptly to the commission the defect in its 11-speed cranks.
The settlement also required Shimano to ensure compliance with the Consumer Product Safety Act and submit annual reports on its compliance programme and internal controls.
14 years after it launched Dura-Ace 7000, Shimano is finally looking to draw a line under the saga, with a deadline of 4 August 2026 to submit a claim, with documented costs, if you purchased and installed a replacement crankset on your bike outwith the replacement programme.
Version
0.0.6 of the Rust-based Servo web
browser rendering engine has been released. This release boasts a long
list of new features, performance enhancements, improvements, and bug
fixes. Some of the notable changes include layout
performance improvements, a servo:config page for setting
any preference, and developer
tools enhancements.
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The first race of Zwift Racing League 2025/26’s final round happens Tuesday, April 7, and it’s a team time trial with a spicy finish!
Hell of the North was named in a nod to Paris-Roubaix, my favorite one-day race on the cycling calendar. The name is perhaps a bit dramatic, given that this is a flat route with a “petit” climb at the end. Be that as it may, it’s one of France’s newer routes, hasn’t been raced yet in ZRL, and should make for an interesting opening TTT.
Let’s dig into the course, look at bike selection, and more!
All riders will race 1 lap of France’s Hell of the North, for a total race length of 20.1km with 241m of elevation gain.
Broadly speaking, this is a simple route: 17km of flattish roads, finishing with the Petit KOM, a 2.7km climb averaging 4%:
But let’s drill down a bit into key sections and waypoints:
The Petit KOM is, of course, the standout feature on this route. In a scratch race, it’s where the pack breaks up as riders with high w/kg drop the sprinters whose wheels they’ve been borrowing thus far.
In a TTT, though, the Petit KOM requires a different kind of strategy. While it’s a sub 5-minute climb for A riders, and sub 6 minutes for B, it’s not just about the best effort you can put in. Because at only 3.9%, this is a very draftable climb, particularly in the flatter bits. (This climb zig-zags its way to the top, and the “zig” portions, when you’re traveling roughly toward the start pens, are much flatter than the “zags”.)
You may also want to sacrifice a rider or two, particularly on the flatter portions of the climb, since your time is taken based on the fourth rider to finish.
Read more about the Hell of the North route >
A few years ago, powerups were announced for a ZRL TTT… but as I recall, it never actually happened.
I always thought that would be a fun addition, though. And it sounds like it’s going to happen for this stage! WTRL says we’ll get a draft boost (van) powerup in the start pens, and at every arch. See notes above under “Looking at the Route” for arch locations.
Reminder: the draft boost increases the draft effect you are experiencing for 40 seconds. It’s best used at high speeds (flats and descents), and only helpful when you’re drafting!
Teams would be wise to discuss how to best use these powerups, as you will receive a total of 5 during the race. I see “offensive” and “defensive” approaches to powerup use in this race:
Bike choice here is simple, assuming you have access to everything: go aero.
The math is straightforward: a lighter frame like the Scott Plasma RC Ultimate only saves half a second on the Petit KOM at 5 W/kg. And the fastest lightweight wheels (ENVE SES 4.5) don’t save any time over the DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT 85/Disc on the climb, given how aero the disc is.
That scant savings from a lighter frame will be wiped out on the flats, where the disc wheel drastically outperforms climbing wheels. So full aero it is.
If you don’t have access to this setup, check out “Fastest TT Bike Frames and Wheels at Each Zwift Level” and use the fastest TT frame and wheelset available at your level.
One more note on bike choice: upgrading your frame makes a big difference. A fully upgraded frame saves around 13 watts, or ~48 seconds per hour of riding. Read all about the performance improvements you receive from upgrades here.
Many recon rides are planned each week on the upcoming ZRL route. If you’re unfamiliar with this course, jump into an event and familiarize yourself with the route! Find a list of upcoming ZRL recon rides at zwift.com/events/tag/zrlrecon.
Additionally, riders in the Zwift community do a great job every week creating recon videos that preview the courses and offer tips to help you perform your best on the day. I’ll add recons below as I find them, but please comment if you find a useful one that isn’t yet listed!
Successful team time trialing on Zwift requires a challenging combination of physical strength, proper pacing, and Zwift minutiae like picking the fastest bike, understanding drafting in a TTT context, and getting your frame fully upgraded.
Mixed courses like this week give valuable seconds to “balanced” teams with two strengths:
On a course like this week’s, I recommend all team members set their Trainer Difficulty to the same value, and make sure that value is at least 75%, so you feel slight gradient changes and increase power to compensate. This will help you automatically punch on the uphills, keeping your overall speed high.
Your goal in a ZRL TTT is to get four riders across the line in the shortest time possible. That means every team’s pace plan will differ based on each rider’s abilities. I highly recommend having an experienced DS on Discord directing your team, especially if your team contains some inexperienced TTT riders.
Lastly, if you want to go further down the TTT rabbit hole, I highly recommend Dave Edmond’s Zwift TTT Calculator tool.
Share below!