Lidl (yes, the supermarket) has an intriguing middle-of-Lidl item on sale in mainland Europe this week – a punchy-looking electric mountain bike called the Crivit Peak 709.

The supermarket isn’t exactly synonymous with selling bikes, although its occasional middle-of-Lidl lines of workshop tools, accessories and clothing are always popular (and returning to UK stores from 27 March).

So, we were surprised to see this €1,699 eMTB popping up mid-store in France and the Czech Republic – full credit to notebookcheck.net for spotting it.

Lidl’s electric mountain bike

The Crivit Peak 709 is a hardtail electric mountain bike with a mid-mounted motor that packs a real punch.

While brands such as Shimano and Bosch are pumping out ebike motors with around 85Nm of torque, the Peak 709’s Mivice X700 motor boasts 100Nm of torque.

While the Wattage figure is often shouted about, it’s motor torque that makes the real difference on the trail. The torque helps keep the wheel turning when you’re pointed up a steep slope, or trying to accelerate with pizzazz.

Neither the information from Mivice nor Lidl talks clearly about peak power figures, but it hits the legal maximum continual power output of 250W.

Three modes – Eco, Tour and Race – are provided, along with a time-limited, 20-second Boost mode, although at the time of writing we can’t ascertain what gets boosted in this mode, over the Race setting.

Keeping the bike rolling is an integrated, removable 709Wh battery, neatly concealed in the down tube.

This should mean there’s enough juice to keep you rolling over a good distance, or up plenty of hills. Lidl claims a range of up to 120km, although I think you’ll be lucky to achieve that off-road.

Interestingly, the motor has an IPX5 rating – this means it’s able to withstand jets of water (although not continuous submersion).

Comparatively, Shimano’s EP801 motor has no IP or IPX rating, while Bosch’s Performance CX Motor ‘only’ has an IP54 rating. This protects it from water spray and dust, but presumably not jets.

Impressive stuff.

The full package?

We can’t say too much about the bike’s frame details and geometry, because there aren’t many details about the bike on Lidl’s website.

However, picture snooping reveals this isn’t some hastily constructed, featureless bike.

The proportions look ‘good’. The seat tube seems short for the length of the bike, implying that the reach figures might not be horribly short and nervous, and the top tube is low-slung. It’s aimed directly from the head tube to the rear axle, resulting in what looks like a low standover height.

The fork certainly doesn’t leave the frame at a near-verticle angle, either.

I’d wager the bike’s geometry is pretty good.

Three sizes are offered, for riders ranging from 154cm to 200cm.

Spec selections

Your €1,699 buys you a fair bit of bike, considering the inclusion of a motor and battery.

At the front, there’s an SR Suntour XCM34 fork with 120mm of travel. It’s a coil-sprung suspension fork, so sadly less adjustable than an air-spung fork.

The bike is driven by a Shimano Cues 10-speed drivetrain – this groupset is built to a budget, but still with performance at its heart, so it’s a great option on a pocket-friendly eMTB, in my eyes.

You also get Shimano MT200 brakes with either 180mm or 200mm rotors, depending on which bit of Lidl’s website you look at.

Somewhat embarrassingly, I can’t make out whether the bike has 29in or 27.5in wheels, although I think the hot-patches on the side of the specced Maxxis Rekon read ‘27.5×2.6’.

Regardless, they’re fast-rolling tyres, in either wheel size.

The bar comes in at 760mm, while the stem looks nice and stubby.

There’s also a Fidlock baseplate on the frame – a nice high-spec touch.

Will we see Lidl’s eMTB in the UK?

At present, the Crivit Peak 709 is only listed for sale in two European countries – France and the Czech Republic.

It’s possible we’ll see the bike offered in other EU territories in the coming weeks or months. Lidl operates on a quick turn-around system, where items only appear for a few weeks at a time.

This could open the doors to the Peak 709 being sold elsewhere soon.

I’m not convinced we’ll see it here in the UK though.

It’s a high-value item, which could make it expensive to import in the relatively low numbers I would expect Lidl to bring here, thanks to the associated costs of taxes and duties.

Would I like to see it here? Of course. More mountain bikes seen in more places that non-riders frequent can only bring benefits to the UK riding scene.

And, I’d love to sling a leg over one to see just how punchy that motor really is.

Vittoria’s new tyre pressure calculator provides personalised results for all bikes, setups, riding styles and terrains, based on a ‘scientific approach’.

Available on Vittoria’s website, the tyre pressure calculator is said to help you find the right level of inflation for any riding discipline – from road cycling to downhill mountain biking – using a unique formula.

Vanessa ten Hoff, Vittoria’s chief marketing and innovation officer, says: “One of the most asked questions to us, by both pros and amateurs, is what pressure should they use?” 

With optimal tyre pressure becoming a greater focus for many riders seeking extra comfort and performance, Vittoria was inspired to develop its new online tool.

A scientific approach

“We started analysing all the tools that are in the market and we realised there are actually quite a number of gaps. They are not scientifically optimised,” ten Hoff says. 

Unlike the unnamed competition (Silca and SRAM have calculators), Ten Hoff says Vittoria used a “scientific approach” to develop its tool. This process took more than two years and, starting from what Vittoria understood about road bike tyre pressure, it compiled the factors that impact tyre pressure. 

“We worked with all our professional teams and the amateurs we collaborate with to understand this,” ten Hoff says. “And then we started formulating our hypothesis – our idea of which factors are impacting tyre pressure.” 

The result is a tool that asks you for a myriad of details. These include: tyre type; wheel size; tyre size; the combined weight of you, your bike and any accessories; riding style; skill level; whether you’re riding an electric bike; terrain; and weather. The tool also asks whether you’re using inner tubes, tubeless tyres or tyre inserts. 

As a result, the recommended pressures are highly specific and the tool even suggests individual pressures for your front and rear tyre.

Validated results

Vittoria says the results are validated by testing completed at its labs and outdoor test centre at Vittoria Park, near Bergamo, Italy.

When BikeRadar visited the labs and testing centre, Vittoria’s CEO Stijn Vriends explained that no other bike tyre brand has an outdoor facility like this.

Opened two years ago and costing €10 million, Vittoria uses the Park to test tyres across terrains, including tarmac and gravel tracks. It can also test tyres across the cobbles found at Paris–Roubaix and Flanders, which are subtly different in shape. 

Ten Hoff says: “We started testing in the laboratory and in the Vittoria Park this formula to really optimise for all the categories and all the settings that one can imagine.”

Once Vittoria had finalised its tool, ten Hoff says Vittoria double-checked its findings. “We went back out again and tested with all our teams and with the amateurs to really have a very solid support for our consumers when they’re looking for tyre pressures.” 

She says the tool can be used for Vittoria’s tyres and bike tyres from other brands. 

Pro endorsement?

Tommaso Capella, Vittoria’s project manager and team liaison, says one story sums up the tool for him. 

This year Vittoria started working with Team Cofidis, which previously used Michelin tyres. Capella says the team was unsure of what tyre pressure to use with the new tyres. So at a dinner with the performance manager and mechanics, Vittoria used the tool to establish which pressures each rider should be using.

“The next day, every rider came back from training with a huge smile on their face, super happy about the performance. And since then, the pressure has never changed,” Capella says. 

You can use the tyre pressure tool on Vittoria’s website. 

As Zwifters have noted, when it comes to upgrading this frame, all the game tells me is how far I need to ride in order to unlock the stage 1 upgrade.

It doesn’t tell me what that upgrade actually is.

And it doesn’t tell me how many Drops that upgrade will cost.

Zwift may tweak this UI in the future, but until then, here’s some documentation so you can figure out exactly what work is involved, and how much it’ll cost, to upgrade a particular bike in Zwift.

Figuring Out Your Upgrade Scheme

If you want to know exactly what it’ll take to upgrade a bike, first you have to figure out which category Zwift has assigned it to. Bikes have been placed in one of three categories:

• Distance: ride X km to unlock upgrades
• Duration: ride X hours to unlock upgrades
• Elevation: climb X meters to unlock upgrades

If you pull up your bike in your garage, you can quickly figure out which category it is in based on what the game tells you to do to unlock stage 1. In my S-Works Tarmac SL8 example above, you can see it’s telling me to ride 200 kilometers, which means this frame is in the “Distance” category. (Where almost all road bike frames live, by the way.)

Next, within each category, bikes are further divided up into entry-level, mid-range, and high-end bikes. Entry-level bikes are easier to upgrade than mid-level bikes, which are easier to upgrade than high-end bikes.

Cross-reference the work required for a stage 1 upgrade with the lists below, and you can figure out if your frame is classified as entry-level, mid-range, or high-end. Again, looking at my S-Works Tarmac SL8 screenshot above, the game says I must ride 200km to unlock stage 1. That means this is a high-end frame, based on the Distance-Based Upgrading table below.

(If you don’t want to try to figure out what scheme your bike uses, or want a reference sheet that doesn’t live in the game, there’s a long table at the bottom of this post that says exactly how each frame in Zwift is classified.)

I realize this may seem quite complex. But here are two pieces of good news:

1. You don’t have to understand it to enjoy using it. You can just ride, and upgrade your bike when the game notifies you. Or don’t upgrade your bike at all, and just keep doing what you’re already doing. You do you!
2. The upgrading scheme makes actual sense, even if it’s somewhat complex. It is related to what we would do with our IRL bikes and riding. Zwift doesn’t just pull this stuff out of thin air – it’s the work of experienced game designers who love riding their bikes. (I know because I’ve spent a lot of time chatting with them.)

With all of that said, let’s dive into the details of how each bike frame can be upgraded in Zwift.

Distance-Based Upgrading

Almost all road bike frames in Zwift fall into this category, so it’s the largest category by far. Basically, this category contains all the road frames that aren’t strictly climbing bikes. Examples of bikes in this group include the Specialized Venge, Pinarello Dogma, and Specialized Project 74.

Here’s a table showing how far you’ll have to ride for each upgrade stage, how many Drops you’ll need to spend to make the upgrade once you’ve unlocked it, and what exactly each stage upgrade is:

Duration-Based Upgrading

This category contains only TT bikes at this time. Examples of bikes in this group include the Cadex Tri, Felt IA 2.0, and Pinarello Espada.

Elevation-Based Upgrading

This category includes a handful of climbing-specific road bikes, as well as all gravel and mountain bikes in game. Examples of bikes in this category include the Specialized S-Works Aethos, Canyon Grail, and Scott Spark RC World Cup.

Comparing Categories

Zwift isn’t disclosing the precise details behind each upgrade stage shown above, but it’s important to understand that what the game simply calls an “Aero Upgrade” may be small (say, a CDA decrease of .001) or large (perhaps a CDA decrease of .008).

Our tests show (and Zwift confirms) that, regardless of whether your bike is an entry-level, mid-range, or high-end bike, the performance upgrades a “maxed out” bike receives are the same for all bikes within that category.

Example: if you had two distance-based bikes (say, the entry-level Cannondale CAAD12 and the high-end Pinarello Dogma F 2024) and maxed out upgrading them both, their performance improvement would be the same. The only difference is that the CAAD12 would now be rewarding you with 5% Drops and XP bonuses as well!

While two frames within the same category (say, Distance) will receive the same performance boost when maxed out, that is not the case for frames from different categories (say, a TT frame from the Duration group and a climbing frame from the Elevation group).

Upgrades for the Elevation category are skewed toward weight reduction, because IRL cyclists would want to make their lightweight climbing bike even lighter. Meanwhile, upgrades for the Duration category (TT frames) are skewed toward aero improvements, because TT racers are all about aero gains! Upgrades for the largest category (Distance) are more balanced between weight reductions and aero improvements.

Here’s a simple chart illustrating this point. It shows the baseline (un-upgraded) performance of a high-end frame from each of the categories (Distance, Duration, and Elevation), and the performance of that same frame at fully-upgraded (stage 5) status:

You can see that each frame improves in performance (the maxed-out data points are up and to the right of the un-upgraded ones), but they progress in different ways. The frame in the Duration category (Speedmax CF SLX) improves the most in terms of aero performance, while the Elevation frame (Aethos) improves the most in terms of climb performance. The Distance frame (Dogma F 2024) is balanced between the two.

Complete List of Bikes, Categorized

Questions or Comments?

I hope this post helped answer some questions. If you have more upgrade-related questions or comments, post below!

Unveiled at Eurobike 2024, the Parlee Taos is the brand’s ‘fastest yet most forgiving’ gravel bike to date – and we’ve got our hands on one for review.

The Taos builds on Parlee’s decade of experience making gravel-focused bikes, but takes a new direction that’s off-road focused yet very versatile.

Parlee’s history of making bikes built for adventure started with the Chebacco road bike in 2016, although don’t expect to see much of that original approach in the Taos.

The frame is longer, with a massively sloping top tube, slacker head angle and 50mm tyre clearances. Parlee claims the construction is torsionally stiffer than the Chebacco, yet has more compliance.

The frame

The frame has been configured with a monocoque construction that uses a blend of uni-directional carbon fibres. This creates a meticulously crafted frame with a claimed weight of 980g (size medium).

Don’t believe the Taos has been meticulously crafted? Well, just look at the finish.

Parlee has chosen to leave the made-in-the-EU carbon fibre frameset raw finished. You can see for yourself every ply, join and orientation of the carbon on show underneath a transparent waxed finish.

The finish means you’ll get no paint chips or scratching – just wipe the bike down and occasionally give it a re-waxing to keep it looking pristine.

The frameset hits all the right modern gravel notes: big tyre clearances, a clever down tube storage port, internal routing, a UDH rear dropout, T47 threaded bottom bracket and in-built frame protection in high-impact areas.

Race and recreation

Parlee claims the Taos is its most versatile bike. If you want to go a bit more extreme, the frame geometry is corrected for a suspension fork, so it won’t alter the ride should you want to add a bit of travel. It also has stealth routing if you want to fit a dropper post.

The frame can be used with 1x or 2x drivetrains. It sports fender/mudguard mounts, and with top tube bag mounts and internal storage, it could easily serve as a long-distance touring bike.

The fork has a flip chip dropout, so if you want to run the Taos as an all-road bike rather than pure gravel, you can tighten up the wheelbase and steepen the head angle. When run with smaller tyres, it has a more road-biased ride.

The build

Our first look at the all-new Taos is with this second-tier build. It combines SRAM’s Force shifters, brakes and 1x XPLR 42-tooth crankset, paired with a mountain bike X0 Eagle AXS Transmission rear derailleur and broad 10-52 cassette.

The bike rolls on Zipp’s new 303 XPLR S wheels, with the 45mm tyres from Zipp’s collaboration with Goodyear.

The cockpit is FSA’s latest version of the gravel-specific K-Force AGX carbon bar, matched to an FSA SMR II stem. At the rear is Parlee’s own lightweight carbon seatpost.

The contact points are Ergon’s SR Allroad Core pro carbon saddle and matching Ergon All Road bar tape. Two Parlee carbon bottle cages finish things off.

You can choose from six frame sizes that can be built in standard or tall configurations. You can then select your desired cockpit dimensions (including bar width, stem length, seat and seatpost configuration), and either a standard build or your choice of wheels, tyres, drivetrain and accessories.

Our size-large test bike tips the scales at 8.82kg (with two bottle cages).

This ‘standard’ Force build is priced at £9,360 / $9,890.

This week, we’re thrilled to highlight an incredible advocate for women’s racing, consistently going above and beyond to champion and uplift the community.

Name: James Bailey

Hometown: London 

How did you get into cycling? I started riding along a canal about 8 years ago following spending most of my 20s and 30s doing little to no exercise… and then discovered Zwift via a Facebook advert.

How many years have you been racing on Zwift? ~7 years 

Are you part of a Virtual team? No 

What do you love most about racing? The end! The exhilaration you feel when you cross the finish line and realise the pain is over.

What is your favourite style of race (e.g. points, scratch, iTT, TTT, Chase, duathlon)? TT & Scratch 

What is your favourite Zwift women’s and mixed race series? Zwift Women’s Racing Series 

What is your most memorable racing experience, inside or outside or BOTH? Winning the Herd Championship (B) Climb event – Ventop @ 3.9w/kg 

What is your favourite food to eat post race? Pizza, crisps 

What advice would you give to anyone entering her first Zwift race? Make sure you are pedaling before the banner drops and ready to kick hard for the first minute or so. Find a group that chats on Discord during the race – it helps a lot! 

Any upcoming race you are looking forward to? I’m having a bit of a racing break at the moment following some mental/physical health issues whilst I try to rediscover my fitness. I’ve been enjoying hosting my own daily group rides.

Where can people follow your racing adventures? Strava, Companion

While Zwift has had the full Zwift Ride with KICKR CORE on sale at various times, they’ve never discounted the standalone Zwift Ride Smart Frame since they began selling it back in September 2024.

Today, though, Zwift began selling “blem stock” Zwift Ride frames with what they’re calling a “cosmetic imperfection” on the back of the front leg:

Zwift says the marks are caused by “packaging friction during transit between the factory and the warehouse.” It’s important to note that these frames are new and unused, not returned or refurbished. Zwift says “This cosmetic damage does not affect functionality, durability, or the safety of the frame.”

Since they are sold new/unused, these frames include Zwift’s full-length standard warranty (see details).

Price and Availability

These “cosmetic imperfection” frames are reduced by 25%, bringing the price down to $599.99/£549.99/599,99€ (reduced from $799.99/£749.99/799,99€) + shipping.

The frames are currently available in all three Zwift markets (US, UK, EU), but stock is of course limited. Once they’re gone, they’re gone!

Note: if you purchase the frame via the link above, Zwift Insider will be paid an affiliate commission by Zwift to help support this site. Thanks!

Important Trainer Compatibility Note

The Zwift Ride Smart Frame needs to be mounted onto a trainer compatible with Zwift’s virtual shifting in order to provide a good user experience. Currently, the following smart trainer models support virtual shifting:

While the cassette on your trainer should work just fine with the Zwift Ride, the units ship with an included adjustable v2 Zwift Cog which you can install on your trainer if you wish.

Questions or Comments?

Share below

With the Zwift Games wrapping up, I found myself with just one stage left to finish. But it was a big one! With a name like “ZG25 Queen” I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but then again, I’m always up for a longer race effort. So I entered the 450-570 group once again…

The Warmup

It was Tuesday, and the biggest Zwift update in months had just dropped. I was about two weeks into the busiest week of my life at Zwift Insider, buried in speed tests and putting together posts to help folks wrap their minds around Bike Upgrades.

But that wasn’t going to stop me. I’d raced the first four stages of Zwift Games. Now I needed to race the final stage. And it was a tough one! Held on the new ZG25 Queen route, this race would take me up the Jarvis KOM Reverse, into the Jungle, up the Mayan+Itza KOMs, up the upper half of The Grade, and finally, up the Epic KOM Reverse.

With 44.8km to cover and nearly 900 meters to climb, I knew it would be a sufferfest for my “overmuscled” body. But suffering is good for the soul. So here we go!

The Easy First Half

Looking at the route profile, you can see that the first half of this route is quite tame:

We started the race with 51 riders, and the first real effort for me came as we hit the base of the Epic KOM Reverse 14km into the route. I’ve been dropped here on many a race, but today I was able to hang with the front pack up the twisty climb, across False Flat Bridge (I just made that name up), and onto the continued climb up to the Jungle Pens.

From there it was smooth sailing. Just a dusty descent through the Jungle before hanging a left to make our way out to the Mayan Mountainside KOM, where the real work would begin.

The Tough Second Half

The second half of the route begins with the Mayan Mountainside KOM. I was able to hang with the group to the top of this climb, setting a Strava segment PR in the process. But by the time we went through the arch, I was dangling off the back.

I pulled the plug and stopped chasing the front group’s wheels before we even began the Itza KOM, just a few hundred meters up the road.

Now sitting 25th out of 51, I rode easy until a small group of 5 caught me from behind. We rode together up the Itza at a perfect “tough but doable” pace, then we turned left and began the upper half of The Grade.

This climb is steep – the steepest climb on the route, in fact. It was every man for himself as we negotiated The Grade’s snaking road. There was no hiding in the wheels here! Over the top the rider list now showed me in 25th out of… 35 riders? Did we really lose that many?

Supertucking down the Epic KOM descent, I caught a couple of riders up the road. And soon enough, it was time to begin the final climb: the upper portion of the Epic KOM Reverse. This climb takes me around 20 minutes to complete, so I just tried to pace myself evenly while making good use of the flat spots and short descents on this side of the mountain.

I began the climb in 25th… and finished in 25th. How’s that for consistency? ZG Queen route badge earned, in just under 90 minutes.

See my ride on Zwift.com >
See my ride on Strava >

Watch the Video

Takeaways

I did this one in the middle of a busy workday, and to be honest, my mind was struggling to find the fortitude to push hard. And it showed.

That said, in the end, I was happy I did it. (Isn’t that always how it goes?) I finished all 5 Zwift Games stages, and the fancy new leaderboards show me at 926 out of 59178 overall. Hey, that’s the top 2%! #winning

My final results (as of 2:30pm PDT on March 20, 2025):

• Sprint Classification: 1456 of 44597
• Climb Classification: 2527 of 35395
• Epic Classification: 3832 of 12225
• Overall Classification: 926 of 59178

Overall, I enjoyed racing this year’s Zwift Games, and would certainly do it again. I liked how routes were broken into flatter “sprint” routes, punchy “climb” routes, and a longer “epic” route. I like the new leaderboards and the GC component.

One thing I would change, though, is I’d allow steering in these races. I think it adds a fun dimension to the events, and it feels silly to have it disabled when Zwift is selling Play Controllers.

Your Thoughts

Did you race the final big stage? How did it go? Share your experience below!

If there’s one thing Milan-San Remo has in its favour, it’s anticipation – not only because it’s the season’s first Monument (the big five one-day races on the men’s calendar).

Il Lombardia, the fifth Monument of the year, has the benefit of being the last, but other races can get lost on the calendar. Being first, however, commands a big audience, as well as a peloton fresh and chomping at the bit to get going.

Anticipation is also reflected at Milan-San Remo in the way the race unfolds. Nudging 300km (this year’s course is 289km), it’s the longest race on the calendar and, for 90% of it, you’d be forgiven for thinking not much of note is happening.

The peloton departs on flat roads – no longer from Milan but from Pavia, a town 35km south – and heads towards the Mediterranean coast. To get there, it scales the Turchino Pass, before heading west, largely along coastal roads, for the second half.

It gets more undulating at this point, followed by a trio of Capi – more substantial rises – in the final quarter.

Still, nothing much typically happens until the Cipressa (5.6km at 4.1%), which in many years can be negotiated without too much disruption to the peloton.

It’s only on the Poggio (3.7km at 3.7%), the summit of which is only 5.6km from the San Remo finish after more than six hours of racing, where moves tend to be made. If the leader at the summit has any sort of gap, being pursued by a rampaging chase group down a highly technical descent will reveal their capacity for downhills.

Wins can be fashioned in several ways, including making a solo breakaway stick, with a daring descent off the Poggio or winning in a sprint of various-sized bunches.

The fact it happens so quickly, after so long without much happening at all, and that it can produce such a variety of winning scenarios, is what makes Milan-San Remo so popular. It’s also one of the few races on the calendar that such different sorts of riders can win.

Sprinter Arnaud Démare, for example, won it in 2016, followed up two years later by Grand Tour winner Vincenzo Nibali. It’s a race that holds immense promise for so many riders at the outset, and one in which there’s so much to be gained from the briefest of hard efforts and acts of cunning in the finale.

To hammer home the point, at the time of writing, the three top favourites for 2025’s race are Classics rider extraordinaire Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), three-time Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG), and the world’s top sprinter (and last year’s winner) Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck). More than any other race on the calendar, a winner is impossible to call.

This year sees the welcome return of Milan-San Remo Women after a 20-year absence. A copy of the men’s route would blow the kilometre limit for women’s races out of the water, which means it starts in the coastal city of Genoa.

Its 156km route picks up the men’s course in Voltri at 18km and follows the same route to San Remo – in other words, the races share all the same best bits.

Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx Protime), as is often the case in one-day races at the moment, starts as favourite. However, she will face stiff competition from home favourite Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and former team-mate turned arch-rival Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez).

How can I watch Milan-San Remo 2025 live in the UK?

UK residents are still dealing with the shock of Eurosport’s closure, where live cycling could previously be accessed for £6.99 a month. That’s since risen to £30.99 a month, after Eurosport’s coverage was rolled into TNT Sports by parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.

Live coverage of both races on 22 March begins with the men, on TNT Sports 2 from 8.30am, covering the whole race until 4.30pm. The women’s race is on TNT Sports 3 from 11am UK time (until 2pm). TNT Sports is available via the Discovery+ app, EE TV, Sky and Virgin Media.

How can I watch Milan-San Remo 2025 live in the US?

FloBikes streams both races in the US, with costs starting from $12.50 when signing up to an annual plan. It’s also available on Max (formerly HBO Max), which is part of the Warner Bros. Discovery group – monthly subscriptions start from $9.99.

• Sign up to Max from $9.99 per month

Coverage on FloBikes begins with the men’s race at 5.05am ET, with the women’s race following at 7.30am ET.

How can I watch Milan-San Remo 2025 live in Australia?

SBS will be covering the men’s and women’s races, with coverage starting from 10.25pm (Sydney time).

How else can I watch Milan-San Remo 2025?

There’s live terrestrial coverage in many European countries. Italian national broadcaster RAI is a race partner and official broadcaster, and will be showing the race live and on-demand, with coverage of the women’s race on RAI 2 from 1.30pm CET. The men’s race will be shown on Rai2 from 2.25pm.

A new lift-assisted bike park is planned for Dunoon in Scotland, with the proposal seeing a gondola-style lift installed alongside mountain bike routes.

The multi-million-pound development will include a full-service base station with a hotel, bike shop, retail outlets and restaurants, as well as a top-station café with panoramic views.

Year-round access is planned for the site, enabling riders and walkers to use the trails in all seasons, with the hope of unlocking Dunoon’s potential as a global adventure tourism hub.

The Dunoon Project has partnered with Nevis Range, which runs the only other Gondola-accessed trail network in the country at Fort William. Nearby Glencoe Mountain Resort’s bike park offers chairlift-accessible downhill and enduro trails.

The plan details an adventure-focused hotel, designed for bikers, hikers and outdoor enthusiasts, that has direct access to the lift, as well as a bike shop offering rentals and repairs.

There have been plans for other lift-operated uplifts in Scotland in the past, with Innerleithen receiving planning permission for a chair lift but not being able to find the finance for the project after public funds weren’t allocated.

While it’s not clear whether a planning application for the Dunoon Project has been lodged, local councillors voiced their approval at a meeting in October 2024.

Project partner Action Argyll has already begun building new mountain and gravel biking tracks on and around the site.

The new park’s location near Glasgow should make for easy access from Scotland’s largest population centres.

The organisation anticipates development will happen across a series of phases and the Dunoon Project will be well established by the end of phase 3, set to run until 2030.

While the project is a still a long way from being reality, we’re excited at the prospect of another lift-accessed bike park on British soil.

The Cycle to Work Scheme is a great way for cyclists working in the UK to save at least 32 per cent on the cost of a bike and cycling equipment.

It’s been used by more than 1.6 million commuters working for 40,000 different employers since it was introduced by the government in 1999 to promote “healthier journeys to work and reduce environmental pollution”.

In this guide, we’ll look at how the scheme works and whether you’re eligible to buy a bike tax-free to cycle to work.

What is the Cycle to Work scheme?

The Cycle to Work Scheme is an employee benefit scheme set up by the government in 1999 that enables employers to ‘hire’ bikes and safety equipment to employees through salary sacrifice.

The aim of the scheme is to get more people to commute to work by bike, promoting exercise while reducing pollution.

How does the Cycle to Work scheme work?

In theory, your employer buys a bike for you to ride to work on while you effectively ‘hire’ it through salary sacrifice, allowing you to save money by not paying tax and National Insurance contributions on the monthly fee – much like a company car.

At the end of the ‘hire’ period, you will usually be able to buy the bike from your employer for a nominal fee.

In other words, the salary sacrifice is made from your gross salary, not your net salary.

At the beginning of the scheme, you will be given a voucher or a ‘Letter of Collection’ number that you can redeem at your local bike shop or enter online.

Because the scheme was set up with the intention of getting more people cycling to work, rather than leisure riding, your employer remains the owner of the bike once you finish the hire period.

While it’s common knowledge that in practice the employee is ‘buying’ the bike, that isn’t legally the case until the salary sacrifice ends and the employer ‘sells’ the now heavily depreciated equipment to the employee.

There is also a benefit to the employer, because they will make savings on National Insurance contributions for each employee who enters into the scheme.

Is there a price limit for the Cycle to Work Scheme?

When the Cycle to Work Scheme first started, there was a price limit of £1,000 because many of the providers were not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

These days, most providers are FCA-regulated, meaning the limit is at your employer’s discretion, with many opting to have no limit in place.

Some employers may still have a set limit of £1,000, £2,000 or £5,000, including safety equipment because this reduces administrative costs.

Do I own the bike at the end of the Cycle to Work scheme?

Because you have technically hired the bike from the scheme for the length of your agreement, you are left with a few options at the end of it:

1. Enter into a new agreement, paying a small deposit to rehire the bike
2. Buy the bike from the scheme
3. Give the bike back

Under HMRC rules, when buying the bike back at the end of the term you need to make a one-off payment to the scheme provider.

This will depend on the initial value of the bike and how long you’ve been using it.

Here’s a table of the minimum value HMRC places on a used bike of different ages:

Providers won’t usually extend the agreement beyond a specified term. Even if you keep the bike until it’s worth zero, you’ll probably have to make a nominal payment to the provider to assume ownership.

How does the Cycle to Work scheme work if you leave your job?

If you leave your employer while the initial Cycle to Work salary sacrifice agreement is still in force, you’ll need to pay off the balance and usually the depreciated value of the bike too, if you want to keep it. You have the option to give it back to your ex-employer too.

Depending on your scheme provider, you may be able to transfer your agreement to your new place of work.

What are the rules of the Cycle to Work scheme?

While it’s unlikely you’ll have HMRC stalking your Strava in search of your daily commute, the government states that 50 per cent of a bike’s use must be made up of ‘qualifying journeys’, such as commuting to work.

How this is enforced remains unclear, but there is no scrutiny over the type of bike you buy. This means you could, for example, choose one of the best enduro bikes to ride to work – and use it every weekend.

The Cycle to Work scheme does restrict which accessories you can buy. Bike computers and power meters are not covered, for example. But commuting essentials, including lights and mudguards, are.

Cycle to Work scheme for the self-employed

To take part in the Cycle to Work scheme you need to receive a salary through the Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) system.

The scheme allows you to sign up as an employer and an employee, meaning directors of single-person limited businesses can join the scheme.

Your PAYE salary needs to be above the National Minimum Wage after the salary sacrifice for the bike has been taken out to qualify for the Cycle to Work scheme.

You cannot participate in the Cycle to Work scheme if you are a sole trader because you will be paying tax and National Insurance once a year through a Self Assessment tax return.

You can however claim the tax back on any bike bought for work purposes.

Can I buy an electric bike on the Cycle to Work scheme?

As there is no scrutiny on what bike you choose, you could decide to ‘hire’ an electric bike for the duration of your agreement to help you up the hill to the office or shuttle you to the top of the trail at the weekend.

How much money does the Cycle to Work scheme save?

The amount you save will depend on your tax bracket, and the value of the bike and kit you buy.

Because your monthly payments for the bike will reduce your gross salary, you’ll save the tax and National Insurance contributions you’d pay on that part of your pay packet over the term of the Cycle to Work agreement.

If you are a basic rate tax-payer, that amount will be 32 per cent of the purchase price, broken down as 20 per cent from the tax savings and 12 per cent from National Insurance.

For a higher-rate tax-payer that increases to 42 per cent, with 40 per cent from tax and 2 per cent from National Insurance.

You’ll see a saving of 47 per cent if you pay the additional tax rate that kicks in after £150,000.

If you’re a top-rate tax-payer in Scotland then you can see savings of 49 per cent.

Cycle to Work scheme calculator

Here’s a table of typical savings for a bike purchase on a Cycle to Work scheme:

If you have the price of the bike you’re looking for and know your gross salary, then online calculators such as that on the Green Commute Initiative’s website will work out the indicative numbers.

Reducing your gross salary might impact other benefits, such as statutory sick pay and the size of your pension pot, so make sure to check these out before committing to the agreement.

You can’t take on payments that reduce your salary below the minimum wage, plus you should consider insuring your bike because if it is stolen you will still be liable for the payments.

Is the Cycle to Work scheme worth it?

If you’re in the market for a new bike, buying it through the Cycle to Work scheme can be a good way to save money through cycling and spread the cost of the purchase over the duration of the agreement.

Depending on your personal circumstances, and how generous your employer is with the price limit, the Cycle to Work scheme can offer some serious savings on new bikes.

What are the benefits of the Cycle to Work scheme?

Apart from the obvious cost savings associated with the scheme, the ability to pay for the bike over a period of time shouldn’t be overlooked because it enables you to effectively take out an interest-free loan on the purchase of the bike.

While the scheme is aimed towards commuting, there is no control over what bike you can ‘hire’, meaning you have a full range of options including hybrid bikes, road bikes and mountain bikes.

There is also the benefit of knowing you’re effectively spending tax-payer money on recording faster segment times on your new road bike or shredding the good stuff on your new mountain bike.

What Cycle to Work schemes are available?

Edit Table

The Cycle to Work scheme is catered for by many different providers, with some employers signed up to specific schemes, limiting which ones are available to you.

Small employers will usually allow you to pick the scheme you want to use, which can be helpful because some bike shops may have preferences on providers.

Cyclescheme

Cyclescheme is one of the largest providers, claiming to have more than 1 million customers and over 2,600 partnered bike shops across the UK.

Cyclescheme also has exclusive access to big bike brands such as Canyon, Saracen and Planet X.

Green Commute Initiative

The Green Commute Initiative is a social enterprise that is focused on getting more people out of cars and onto bikes.

The company is FCA-regulated and enables its users to take up to £10,000 worth of salary sacrifice, opening up a large range of bikes.

It also offers varying periods for repayment and doesn’t charge end-of-term fees to own the bike, only a nominal £1 marker that acts as proof of ownership.

Cycle2Work

Cycle2Work is Halfords’ Cycle to Work scheme, and can be redeemed in its stores and online.

The scheme is also partnered with Tredz, enabling you to redeem your ‘Letter of Collection’ on its website.

Cycle2Work isn’t available in every bike shop, but many independents can redeem the voucher on Halfords’ behalf. This does limit where you can buy your bike from, though.

Bike2Work

Bike2Work is another large provider that is partnered with more than 2,200 shops throughout the country.

Many online stores, such as Tredz, also accept its vouchers.

Cycle Solutions

Cycle Solutions is a medium-sized Cycle to Work Scheme provider. It claims to offer a choice of 400 brands (including Giant, Specialized and Cannondale) from more than 1,250 independent and chain bike shops.

Large employers, such as the Co-op and NHS England, are signed up to Cycle Solutions’ scheme.

It also has its own online bike shop dedicated to the bikes and accessories available through its scheme.

Where can I buy a bike on Cycle to Work?

You can buy pretty much any bike you like via the Cycle to Work Scheme, as long as it’s not a children’s bike.

Where you buy your Cycle to Work bike is somewhat governed by your provider. However, many independent bike shops will be signed up to various providers, making it easier for you to find the exact model you’re looking for.

You can also redeem your Cycle to Work voucher online at major retailers including Sigma Sports.

Cycle to Work scheme alternatives

There are other alternatives to the Cycle to Work scheme that may be just as lucrative.

Choosing to buy a bike on finance will enable you to spread the cost of the bike in a similar manner to the Cycle to Work scheme.

It may even offer a more favourable contract because you can own the bike outright after 12 months rather than having to pay HMRC’s Fair Market Value price to own the bike or wait four years for the bike to be fully depreciated.

However, buying a bike on finance may mean you have to pay interest and any other fees.

What are the problems of the Cycle to Work scheme?

While the scheme provides good savings, you may be missing out on equal or better deals buying from bike shops and online retailers.

Many shops will only sell bikes at the recommended retail price due to fees associated with Cycle to Work vouchers.

If your employer sets a price limit for the voucher, you’re somewhat limited in your bike choice and your savings.

Under most Cycle to Work schemes, you have to spend the value of the voucher in one go. This stops you from adding commuting accessories to your bike after buying it.

However, Gogeta, a new cycle scheme provider, is more flexible. Its voucher acts more like a gift card. You can make multiple purchases during the 12-month scheme until the balance runs out.

Another difference from the main providers is you can use a Gogeta voucher at different retailers.

When using the Cycle to Work scheme, it can be easy to overburden yourself. So make sure you only ‘hire’ a bike you can afford because you will be liable for the payments for the duration of the arrangement.

If you decide to leave your company, you’ll have to pay off the entire balance of the bike before leaving, and also the depreciated value of the bike if you want to keep it.

And as previously mentioned, self-employed people and those on the minimum wage are not eligible for the scheme. These are things the Cycle to Work Alliance (a group of scheme providers) and the Association of Cycle Traders, which represents 4,000 UK cycling retailers, are campaigning to change.

This weekend we’re featuring two tough community races: the long-running KISS 100 and the brand-new Spring Classics series from PETA-Z! Also in the mix is a popular charity ride and of course the Big Spin rides and Zwift Games races.

Milano-Sanremo by PETA-Z & MoC®

Zwift Games, Stage 5: ZG25 Queen

Sir Chris Hoy’s | Tour de 4

KISS Racing 100

Zwift Big Spin, Stage 3

How We Make Our Picks

We choose each weekend’s Notable Events based on a variety of factors including:

• Is the event unique/innovative in some way?
• Are celebrities (pro riders, etc) attending/leading?
• Are signup counts already high, meaning the event is extra-popular?
• Does the ride include desirable unlocks or prizes?
• Does the event appeal to ladies on Zwift? (We like to support this under-represented group!)
• Is it for a good cause?
• Is it just plain crazy (extra long races, world record attempts, etc)?
• Is it a long-running, popular weekly event with a dedicated leader who deserves a shout out?

In the end, we want to call attention to events that are extra-special and therefore extra-appealing to Zwifters. If you think your event qualifies, comment below with a link/details and we may just include it in an upcoming post!

Route-planning app Komoot has been acquired by Italian tech firm Bending Spoons, with sources close to the matter expecting “significant cutbacks” to Komoot’s workforce.

Bending Spoons’ portfolio includes Evernote, Meetup, and WeTransfer, and is claimed to be used by more than 300 million users monthly. Komoot has 45 million users. 

The news follows this month’s announcement that new Komoot users would face a monthly fee to send routes to devices.

Uncertain future for staff and sponsorships

Komoot employs around 150 people, most of whom work remotely. Around 25 are based in the UK. 

A report published on Sportive suggests job losses are expected after a short transition phase as Bending Spoons evaluates the business. 

The company is well-known in the outdoors industry for fostering a family-like ethos. The report says employees with decades of experience at the company were “totally blindsided” by the announcement. 

In a LinkedIn post, insurance provider Bikmo’s chief growth officer Ben Thompson described Bending Spoons as “renowned [for] taking businesses and stripping the teams out”, adding that “a significant number of Komoot staff will be made redundant almost immediately”. 

The acquisition also casts doubt over Komoot’s sponsorships of popular cycling events, including the Komoot Women’s Rally series.

What does this mean for users?

At the time of writing, Komoot’s core offering remains free, with additional features such as offline maps and advanced route planning available via one-time purchases or a Premium subscription. 

It’s unclear whether Bending Spoons will alter this model, but given its past work scaling platforms, change is likely.

Komoot’s CEO and co-founder Markus Hallermann said of the acquisition: “We’ve built Komoot from the ground up and grown it to 45 million users, making it Europe’s leading outdoor platform. 

“However, what got us here won’t take us to the next level. Scaling a company requires a different mindset and skill set than building one. That’s why we believe Bending Spoons, with its unique expertise in driving innovation and scaling platforms, is the perfect partner to lead Komoot into the future.” 

Luca Ferrari, Bending Spoons’ CEO, echoed this sentiment, highlighting Komoot’s “impressive achievements” and expressing confidence in its future growth.

Canyon’s long-running cross-country focused hardtail, the Exceed, has had a refresh for 2025, with its focus shifting from pure XC racing to adventure riding.

It’s fair to say the days of hardtail XC racing have largely passed, with almost the whole World Cup field now on full-suspension bikes, as are most privateer racers, even in national series.

The onward march of technicality in XC means the humble hardtail mountain bike is now rarely the fastest way up and down an XC race course.

Yes, there’ll always be hardcore hardtail fans in XC, who want the stiffest connection from crank to wheel, but those people are in ever-diminishing numbers.

Likewise, the growth of adventure riding and ultra-distance racing seems unabated. The Silk Road Mountain Race, the Tour Divide and other events are pulling in both household names and widespread coverage.

While the rapid growth of gravel riding has seen events such as these becoming a festival of curly bars, the reality is hardtails offer additional comfort over long, rough rides.

In my own experience, I’m now more likely to pull my cross-country bike out of the garage for a local long lap than I am my gravel bike.

I don’t lose much on road drags, and the slippery technical ups and downs that litter UK ‘gravel’ are simply more fun on a mountain bike.

All of the above points have been cited by Canyon as reasons why the new Exceed has lost its sharp, racy edge.

No longer is it a bike built specifically for the race course. It’s now designed to tap into the adventure-focused world the best gravel bikes have unlocked, but where broad tyres, suspension forks and less aggressive geometry excel.

Canyon’s 2025 Exceed hardtail

So, the new Exceed is a simply effective, efficient off-road machine, then.

Canyon tells us the bike is no longer designed for weight weenies, but for riders looking for a fast and comfortable off-road experience, whether that’s speedy local laps or something altogether more adventurous.

Strap a race number on it and it’ll still perform, though.

The frame is built from carbon and has a much more modern aesthetic, with a more notably dropped top tube, than the outgoing model for added standover, slacker angles for more relaxed handling, and plenty of carrying capacity.

Despite the lower top tube, Canyon has strived to ensure there’s still plenty of space inside the front triangle for load-carrying. There’ll be Canyon’s own flush-fit frame bags built specifically for the Exceed, for example.

Hardtails might not offer as much comfort as full-suspension mountain bikes, but Canyon has designed the frame to be compliant, adding a hint of comfort to its ride via lateral flex in the rear triangle.

Skinnier sections of chainstay near the bottom bracket are said to add compliance, without compromising power transfer to the rear wheel.

In addition, the frame flex helps the Exceed carve fast corners, according to Canyon.

This comfort is also aided by a new VCLS seatpost, available on the top-spec model, or aftermarket.

Canyon’s VCLS seatposts combine two D-shaped sections of post, allowing up to 20mm for forward/back movement, which is intended to increase the seated comfort of the bike.

While the VCLS posts have always been 27.2mm in diameter – designed as they are for Canyon’s gravel bikes – there’s a 30.9mm option for the Exceed.

This means the seat tube is broad enough to accept a wide range of dropper posts, although none of the models comes with one as stock.

Dropper post cable routing is included in the frame, as is fully sheathed internal routing for gear cables and brake hoses.

Another update is the use of Canyon’s LOAD Internal Storage System. Like many brands’ bikes, the Exceed has a storage hole in its down tube, with the inside of the port’s lid able to carry a CO2 canister for speedy deployment in a race.

Final finishing touches include a threaded BB, three sets of bottle-cage bosses and enough frame protection to ward off chain slap, heel rub and rock strikes.

Canyon Exceed range details

The Exceed has a middle-of-the-road geometry, which should be pretty easy to get on with.

Across the five sizes, reach numbers range from 408mm to 485mm. Head angles sit at 67 degrees, while effective seat angles are 75 degrees. Chainstays grow from 425mm on the XS to Medium bikes to 430mm and 435mm on the Large and X-Large bikes respectively.

Five models will be on offer, ranging from the €1,999 Exceed CF 5 to the Exceed CF 9 at €4,999.

Spec lists feature Shimano drivetrains on the three cheaper builds, with SRAM’s Transmission on the two pricier builds.

RockShox’s 100mm-travel Recon and SID forks dominate the spec lists, with the appearance of a Fox 32 Step-Cast on the mid-spec CF 7.

See zwiftinsider.com/tiny for current Tiny Race details.

Specialized has launched the S-Works Ares 2 road shoe, claiming it offers the “most positive, locked-in feel without sacrificing comfort”.

Central to this is a new last design, which offers significantly more space for toe splay. This combines with a series of structured supports to reduce pressure, while promoting a secure fit.

The S-Works Ares 2 is available from today, costing £479 / $600 / €549 – over £100 more than the brand’s premium S-Works Torch and previous Ares shoe.

New Body Geometry last

Specialized says its new, wider last design is the key to promoting a comfortable fit, dovetailing with other improvements (versus the old Ares shoe) for a secure fit.

As a reminder, the last is the internal base of the shoe, which your foot is in contact with.

Specialized says that thanks to analysing 100,000 Retul foot scans, it has concluded that the lasts in road cycling shoes are too narrow and don’t support an average foot’s natural shape. 

Specifically, it has widened the toebox area of its latest last to allow for greater toe splay and 20% more contact area, as opposed to forcing the feet to conform to a more limited area. 

This dovetails with a 1.5mm Varus Wedge support, which tilts the inner foot upward for improved foot, knee and hip alignment. Specialized suggests this can help reduce the chances of the knee collapsing inwards, plus delay maximal effort exhaustion by an average of 10 seconds.

A Metatarsal Button – a support under the centre of the foot – is used to help lift the foot from underneath. In so doing, Specialized claims the metatarsal bones are allowed to spread more, while the closure system isn’t required to clamp down onto the foot so tightly to achieve the same secure fit. 

In turn, this is said to reduce the chances of nerve impingement and improve circulation.

The shoe’s outsole also features arch supports which, when used with the brand’s customisable Body Geometry insoles, are said to improve power transfer and prevent arch collapse. 

However, these insoles aren’t supplied as standard with the Ares 2 shoes – they need to be purchased in addition to the very tall asking price.

All in, these features combine for a 44% reduction in forefoot pressure and a 7% watt increase in lactate threshold performance according to Specialized. The latter claim assumes the use of the Body Geometry insoles.

Specialized S-Works Ares 2 availability and prices

The S-Works Ares 2 shoes cost an eye-watering £479 / $600 / €549 – significantly more than the S-Works Torch and old Ares shoes.

If you have deep enough pockets, they’re available from today in size EU36-49, with half sizes from EU38.5-46.5.

Four colour options are on offer – black, white, white with Specialized ‘team’ branding and a striking ‘Green Gecko’ colourway. 

Fox has released its new 34SL cross-country mountain bike fork, with the brand betting big on bumps in XC travel by offering a 130mm variant and increasing air-spring volume.

Unlike the 34SC it replaces, the new 34SL uses a full-width 34 chassis for increased stiffness, which Fox says has resulted in a minimal weight increase over the Step-Cast variant. The new fork is only 3.2 per cent heavier at 1,475g compared to 1,422g, according to Fox.

The new fork looks to be shaped for the ever-increasing technical requirements of World Cup XC racing, with courses now including features that wouldn’t be out of place in a bike park.

With the next generation of cross-country bikes expected to spec the new 34SL fork, it seems likely that we’ll see a general boost in travel across brands.

Whether 130mm rear-suspension travel will follow is unknown, although many bikes, including Specialized’s Epic World Cup, use a mixed-travel setup.

For riders looking to stay in more traditional travel ranges, the new fork also comes in 110mm and 120mm variants.

The new fork is priced at £1,259 / $1,099 / €1,469 / AU$1,899 for the Factory 34SL, £1,119 for the Performance Elite 34SL and £749 / $649 / €869 / AU$1,149 for the Performance.

Ai arch

The new Fox 34SL uses an optimised generatively designed fork arch that wraps around the lower legs to increase torsional stiffness.

Cut-outs have been made in strategic places to minimise weight.

We’ve seen this on the 32SC released last year, although this time Fox has placed the arch on the front of the fork.

Unlike the 32SC, the new fork uses a generatively designed crown made from 7000 series aluminium with larger internal lightning bores and a black anodised finish.

In a win for mechanics worldwide, the damper can now be removed using a Shimano cassette tool.

The crown looks similar to the skeletal design seen on the RockShox SID Ultimate.

Combined with the full-width chassis and a Kabolt axle, the 34SL is said to be 17 per cent stiffer than the 34SC.

With the chassis being wider, the new fork also has room for 2.5in tyres.

We’ve seen a trend in riders picking wider tyres on the World Cup circuit, with many racers deciding better grip and higher volume is a worthwhile trade-off compared to the minimal increase in rolling resistance.

There is also room for 203mm rotors, which wasn’t possible on the Step-Cast design.

Better bushing overlap

The new 34SL sees an increased bushing overlap of 20mm, which Fox says has made the fork much more supple.

Bushings sit between the interface of the lower legs and stanchions of the fork, with most mountain bike forks featuring two on each leg.

The distance between the upper and lower bushings is called the ‘overlap’. 

When a side load is applied to the fork, the bending force is translated from the lower leg to the stanchion via the bushing. 

Increasing the overlap reduces friction, leading to a smoother compression throughout the stroke.

Fox says riders should notice increased suppleness at higher speeds when the bending forces are greater.

GRIP SL damper

Fox’s GRIP SL damper features inside the fork, with the short-travel specific damper reducing weight, while still being up to the task of World Cup XCO and XCM races.

The brand says the damper has optimised pedal-to-bump efficiency, while remaining one of the lightest on the market.

Inboard bypass channels

The fork features a new architecture that sees the bypass channels run on the inside of the legs.

Bypass channels reduce pressure ramping for increased small-bump sensitivity, while recirculating bath oil to lubricate the bushings and seals.

Fox says relocating the bypass channels to the inboard side reduces the dynamic friction by keeping them away from the fore-aft load path through the fork’s travel.

Weight savings

Fox has shaved grams in many areas to get the full-width chassis down to a competitive weight, with the Factory and Performance series forks both using the Kabolt SL axle, which saves 12g over the standard Kabolt axle.

The brand has also used double-butted stanchion tubes on the damper side, saving another 9g.

Twin Stick Lever

Alongside the new 34SL, Fox has released an updated bar-mounted lockout lever.

The new Twin Stick Lever combines a cable dropper post actuation and cable suspension lockout into the design – similar to Scott’s TwinLoc and Orbea’s Squidlock systems.

The lever uses ramps and catches to operate smoothly, with Fox saying very little lever force is required to operate both functions.

Twin Stick is compatible with both two- and three-position suspension-lockout systems and can be set up for fork-only should you be a hardtail hero.

The lever weighs 66g, or 76g with the clamp.

Fox says this helps to make its Super Light XC ecosystem the lightest on the market.

The Twin Stick Lever is priced at £184.95 / $149 / €199.

They’re the four words you never, ever want to hear. “I’m sorry. It’s terminal”, said the oncologist.

It was a shock, but not a surprise, which sounds peculiar, so let me explain. Prostate cancer has waxed and waned in my life the past seven years.

My first diagnosis, in 2017, permitted, even encouraged, optimism. It was “treatable”. Nine out of ten men with the flavour I then had get blasted with radiotherapy, undergo surgery or more rarely other forms of treatment, and cross the threshold of the oncologist’s office only to be signed off as cured, or at least in remission indefinitely.

That was me, until it wasn’t; until I became That Guy, the one in ten, where it comes back, but worse. So in September 2024 I heard Those Four Words.

Deep down, I knew they were coming. I’d seen the worrying test results, I’d done the reading. So yeah, shocked, but not surprised.

Family, friends – they’re the first to know, of course. Then colleagues. And the upshot of that was an abrupt and largely unexplained vanishing act from the newly-rebooted Zwiftcast. Long-time listeners will recall that I’d always planned to hand over to a new team. But like this? No, not like this.

This was all, oddly, contemporaneous with Sir Chris Hoy’s similar bombshell announcement, and like the great Olympian, I too started a brutal, gruelling six rounds of chemotherapy. Friends, it was hellish.

I was left hollowed out, weak as a kitten and felt like I’d never, ever get back on a bike again.

But then on the way to the hospital for another session, we drove past an artistic landmark in my home-town of Leeds in Yorkshire, England.

It’s a line from the great Chumbawumba anthem, Tubthumping, from 1997:

It resonated. It spoke to me. Let’s be frank, I won’t beat cancer. That’s not how it works. But I can Get Up Again and get back on a bike.

Plans were hatched. Strategies devised. And they included a YouTube channel. It would
document my ascent from the nadir of chemo to the moment I got back in the saddle. And beyond – it would follow my progress as I attempted to get back to something like the cyclist I was before Those Four Words.

The name? Well, it could only be Simon Rides On… a nod to my long, long association with Zwift and a forward-looking thought to spur me on. And much of the reasoning behind the channel is about that – accountability. It would be easy to give up, to accept my riding days are over, to focus on other things in the remaining time.

But I love riding a bike. Exercise, I strongly believe, is a panacea. I’ll get stronger, rid my body of the toxins of chemo and restore some kind of normality after a tumultuous few months. And committing to that on the internet, well, I gotta do it then haven’t I?

I know what you’re thinking – and no, I don’t know either. My oncologist doesn’t know. It could be two years, maybe five, possibly ten or more. However long it is, I’m determined to spend a portion of that time doing the thing that has brought me great joy, fantastic friendships and been a huge part of my life.

Do you want to join the ride? I’d love to have you along.

Simon Rides On launched on YouTube this week. Find the channel at youtube.com/@SimonRidesOn.

POC’s new road and MTB helmets have been ranked as the safest Virginia Tech’s Helmet Lab has ever tested.

The Cytal road helmet and Cularis MTB helmet are rated number one in their respective classes by Virginia Tech.

POC says safety performance and ventilation were its priorities when developing the new helmets.

“We know how to develop highly ventilated, comfortable, aerodynamic and highly protective helmets; with the Cytal and Cularis, we wanted to challenge ourselves to take another step forward,” says POC’s chief product officer, Oscar Huss.

“In particular, we wanted to integrate more of our real-world testing and research knowledge to refine details and enhance helmet performance. And the Cytal and Cularis are a true embodiment of this approach.”

POC Cytal

Building on the success of the POC Cytal Carbon, released in the summer of 2024 and worn by EF Pro Cycling, the new Cytal road and gravel helmet is optimised for hot-weather riding.

According to POC, the Cytal uses the Venturi effect to channel air into the helmet and compress it, which improves both the cooling effect and aerodynamics.

The Cytal uses the same design as the Cytal Carbon, although without the carbon fibre used in the wing, the pricing becomes more accessible.

While the existing Cytal Carbon retails at £360 / $400 / €400, the new Cytal is priced at £290 / $330 / €320 / AU$500.

Alongside Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling, the Cytal has also been tested thoroughly in the wind tunnel and in real-world scenarios to inform the development process.

Besides integrating the MIPS Air Node system to limit the impact of rotational forces on the brain, the Cytal’s safety features have also been developed using Finite Element Method (FEM) modelling.

The results are impressive, with the POC Cytal ranking as the best road helmet ever tested by Virginia Tech Helmet Ratings and number three overall, including all MTB helmets.

You can choose from nine colourways, including multiple monochrome options alongside ‘deep green’, navy, red and orange.

POC Cularis

A new model in POC’s line-up, the Cularis is a trail mountain bike helmet that’s designed to combine optimal safety with maximum ventilation.

POC’s product development team have been working with CFD modelling to make sure the Cularis provides a “super cool” fit.

Most notably, the Cularis ranks #1 out of 264 helmets tested at Virginia Tech since 2011, making it the safest MTB helmet it has ever tested.

The helmet features a ‘breakaway peak’, which is designed to detach in the event of a crash, as well as the MIPS Air Node system, for enhanced protection from angular impacts.

The POC Cularis retails at £200 / $240 / €230 / AU$350, and is available in three sizes and a choice of nine colourways.

This week’s big Zwift update includes the welcome addition of several new bike frames, including two versions of the highly respected Tarmac SL8 from Specialized. Today we’ll look at the in-game performance of the S-Works Tarmac SL8, since it’s the fastest of the four “production” frames added this week.

You’ll need to be updated to game version 1.86+ to see the S-Works Tarmac SL8 in Zwift’s Drop Shop. You’ll also need to be at level 40+ with 1,750,000 Drops to buy it. Here’s how it’s described in the Drop Shop:

“Nothing is faster than the Specialized Tarmac SL8 thanks to the bike’s synergistic combination of aerodynamics, light weight, and ride quality previously thought impossible. After eight generations and over two decades of development, it’s more than the fastest Tarmac ever – it’s the world’s fastest race bike.”

Those are big words, and while cyclists doubtless have differing opinions as to their veracity, what we’re concerned about here is in-game performance. Just how fast is this bike in Zwift, and how does it compare to other frames?

See our master list of all frames in Zwift >

It’s rated 3 stars for aero, 4 stars for weight, like a handful of other top newish all-arounders. But a 4-star system isn’t the most granular of performance measurements, so we ran this frame through our precise tests to measure performance at nerd-level detail. Let’s dive in!

Note: test results below are from a 75kg, 183cm rider holding 300W steady using Zwift’s stock 32mm Carbon wheelset.

Aero (Flat/Rolling) Performance

The S-Works Tarmac SL8 is very slippery, trimming 61.9s off our baseline Zwift Carbon frame over an hour of flat riding.

That puts it within 1.1 seconds of the game’s fastest frames, and when you consider that our tests have a 1-second margin of error, one could reasonably lump this frame in with the other fastest frames in terms of performance on flat roads.

Climb Performance

If you thought the S-Works Tarmac SL8 was fast on the flats, wait until you see how it climbs!

This Tarmac shaves 56 seconds off of our baseline Zwift Carbon’s time on an hourlong climb, which means it beats the S-Works Aethos (which was the fastest climbing bike in Zwift until this week) by 1.6 seconds.

That’s right, folks. We have a new top climber, and it’s super aero. There’s a new king in town.

Upgrading Your S-Works Tarmac SL8

Like all frames in Zwift, the S-Works Tarmac SL8 can be upgraded in five stages. As a high-end race bike, each of the five stages results in a performance improvement. The S-Works Tarmac SL8 upgrade stages are as follows:

1. Ride 200km, pay 100,000 Drops for an aero upgrade
2. Ride 260km, pay 200,000 Drops for a weight reduction
3. Ride 320km, pay 350,000 Drops for a drivetrain efficiency improvement
4. Ride 380km, pay 500,000 Drops for an aero upgrade
5. Ride 440km, pay 750,000 Drops for a weight reduction

You can expect a fully-upgraded S-Works Tarmac SL8 to be approximately 28 seconds faster on a flat hour and 36 seconds faster on an hourlong climb vs the “stock” S-Works Tarmac SL8.

Conclusions

What we’ve seen in IRL road cycling, we’re seeing on Zwift: the industry moved away from the pure (but heavy) aero bikes and toward all-arounders that are nearly as slippery but weigh much less.

The Scott Addict RC was the first strong all-arounder on Zwift to give the Tron bike a run for its money. But in the past several months, Zwift added the Canyon Aeroad 2024 and Pinarello Dogma F 2024, which both outperform the Addict RC. And now the S-Works SL8 comes along, setting a new benchmark.

These fast all-arounders are within 1 second of the “pure” aero bikes (think S-Works Venge, Felt AR, Cervelo S5 2020) over an hour on flat ground in Zwift, but climb much faster. And that’s why we’re seeing them replacing the pure aero frames in Zwift race pelotons.

Other frames are within a few seconds of the S-Works SL8, so riders have the luxury of picking from a handful of top performers without feeling like they’re on a slow bike that will cost them the race. That said, if you want the frame that turns in the best all-around performance in Zwift, it’s the S-Works SL8.

And no: it doesn’t come with a color slider. (You can have any color frame you want… as long as it’s white.)

Questions or Comments?

To answer one question: no, it doesn’t come with a color slider. (You can have any color S-Works Tarmac SL8 you want, as long as it’s white!) What other questions or comments do you have? Share below…

Unlocking Halo Bikes

Halo Bikes can be seen as brand loyalty rewards, because unlocking a brand’s Halo Bike requires you to fully upgrade three frames from that brand.

Example: fully upgrade (all 5 stages) the Pinarello Dogma F 2024, Pinarello Bolide TT, and Pinarello Dogma F10 to unlock the ability to purchase the Pinarello Espada.

Simply unlocking a Halo Bike doesn’t mean you own it, though. You still have to purchase the bike (which includes a wheelset that cannot be changed), at a hefty price of 10 million Drops. Yes, you read that right: 10. Million. Drops.

Upgrading Halo Bikes

Halo Bikes can be upgraded in 5 stages, just like every other bike in Zwift. But the work required to unlock each upgrade, and the Drops cost to purchase those upgrades, is around 5x more than even the best non-Halo Bikes. Wow!

That means it will cost you another 10 million Drops to fully upgrade a Halo Bike, on top of all the riding just to unlock each upgrade stage.

When it comes to performance at each upgrade stage, bikes of the same type will basically gain the same performance increases at each stage. (You can see this by comparing the pattern of dots on the scatterplots of the Project 74, R4000, and Concept Z1 below.) So, for example, a stage 3 Pinarello Dogma F 2024 frame will have gained the same boosts as a stage 4 Specialized Project 74 Halo Bike, since both are classified as road racing frames.

Below, we’ve listed the details of each upgrade stage for each bike.

Pinarello Espada Details

In 1994, Miguel “Big Mig” Induráin set a new hour record, breaking the 53-kilometer mark for the first time in history with a distance of 53.040 kilometers in Bourdeaux. And he did it atop the Pinarello Espada, a bike which quickly became legendary itself!

This bike was introduced to the game in April 2024 for the Pinarello Espada Challenge, and it has the distinction of being the only Halo Bike classified as a TT frame.

Designed by Fausto Beroglio, the carbon-framed, Campagnolo-equipped bike weighed in at 7.5 kilograms and was custom-molded to fit Big Mig. Only four versions of the bike were ever created, and Induráin won both of the long time trials at the 1995 Tour de France on a version modified to allow shifting.

Performance by Upgrade Stage

Like all frames in Zwift, the Pinarello Espada can be upgraded in five stages, with each upgrade resulting in a performance improvement. The Espada’s upgrade stages are as follows:

1. Ride for 20 hours, pay 400,000 Drops for an aero upgrade
2. Ride for 30 hours, pay 800,000 Drops for a weight reduction
3. Ride for 40 hours, pay 1,200,000 Drops for a drivetrain efficiency improvement
4. Ride for 50 hours, pay 2,600,000 Drops for a weight reduction
5. Ride for 60 hours, pay 5,000,0000 Drops for an aero upgrade

If you’re wondering precisely how each upgrade stage impacts the bike’s performance, here is a chart showing speed test results at each upgrade stage (using our standard 75kg/183cm bot riding at 300W):

The Espada, it could be said, performs like a top-quality TT frame from the 1990’s. It loses ~26 seconds to the fastest TT frame in game (the Cadex Tri) across an hour, so you won’t want to use this for TT racing.

It’s also a heavy bike. It loses to nearly every TT frame when it comes to climbing, even at 4 W/kg, where its stellar aero performance still factors in significantly. It loses over 30 seconds in an hour of climbing compared to the best TT climbing frames (Scott Plasma RC Ultimate and Felt IA 2.0).

Specialized Project ’74 Details

The Project 74 bike from Specialized was conceived by Robert Egger to honor the founding of Specialized in 1974. Forged by the desire to “Innovate or Die”, this bike was Egger’s answer to the challenge of thinking outside the UCI box and beyond the double triangle.

Performance by Upgrade Stage

Like all frames in Zwift, the Specialized Project 74 can be upgraded in five stages, with each upgrade resulting in a performance improvement. The Project 74’s upgrade stages are as follows:

1. Ride 550km, pay 400,000 Drops for an aero upgrade
2. Ride 1050km, pay 800,000 Drops for a weight reduction
3. Ride 1600km, pay 1,200,000 Drops for a drivetrain efficiency improvement
4. Ride 2150km, pay 2,600,000 Drops for an aero upgrade
5. Ride 2650km, pay 5,000,000 Drops for a weight reduction

If you’re wondering precisely how each upgrade stage impacts the bike’s performance, here is a chart showing speed test results at each upgrade stage (using our standard 75kg/183cm bot riding at 300W):

On flat roads, the Project 74 outperforms the best aero road setups in game, beating even the Tron bike by ~10 seconds across an hour. It’s the most aero road bike available in Zwift today. Take that, UCI!

On climbs, though, it’s a different story! This bike is actually the worst climber of the non-TT Halo Bikes, losing ~75 seconds to the best climbing bikes over an hour.

Cannondale R4000 Roller Blade Details

The Cannondale R4000 Roller Blade is a visionary concept bike from the mid 1990s featuring four inline skate wheels instead of a regular front wheel.

Performance by Upgrade Stage

Like all frames in Zwift, the Cannondale R4000 Roller Blade can be upgraded in five stages, with each upgrade resulting in a performance improvement. The R4000’s upgrade stages are as follows:

1. Ride 550km, pay 400,000 Drops for an aero upgrade
2. Ride 1050km, pay 800,000 Drops for a weight reduction
3. Ride 1600km, pay 1,200,000 Drops for a drivetrain efficiency improvement
4. Ride 2150km, pay 2,600,000 Drops for an aero upgrade
5. Ride 2650km, pay 5,000,000 Drops for a weight reduction

If you’re wondering precisely how each upgrade stage impacts the bike’s performance, here is a chart showing speed test results at each upgrade stage (using our standard 75kg/183cm bot riding at 300W):

The R4000 is faster than the Concept Z1 on flat ground, but just a few seconds behind the Project 74. It beats the Tron bike by ~6 seconds across an hour, which means it beats all of the best “production” bike/wheel combos in game when it comes to flat performance.

On climbs, the R4000 is, like the Project 74, not a great performer (but anyone looking at this bike would assume this). It outclimbs the Project 74 by several seconds, but is handily beat by production climbing bikes, losing ~67 seconds over an hour to the best climbers.

Zwift Concept Z1 Details

Zwift’s Concept Z1, aka “The Tron Bike”, has been in game since early days, and as such was the first “Halo Bike” in Zwift. Unlike the other bikes above, the only way to get the Tron is to finish the Climb Mt. Everest Challenge (including the extra bit).

This bike has some unique features, including rider posture idiosyncrasies and wheels that light up differently based on power output. (Dial in your slider just right and you’ll find some cool dual-tone lights!)

Performance by Upgrade Stage

Like all frames in Zwift, the Concept Z1 can be upgraded in five stages, with each upgrade resulting in a performance improvement. The Concept Z1’s upgrade stages are as follows:

1. Ride 550km, pay 400,000 Drops for an aero upgrade
2. Ride 1050km, pay 800,000 Drops for a weight reduction
3. Ride 1600km, pay 1,200,000 Drops for a drivetrain efficiency improvement
4. Ride 2150km, pay 2,600,000 Drops for an aero upgrade
5. Ride 2650km, pay 5,000,000 Drops for a weight reduction

If you’re wondering precisely how each upgrade stage impacts the bike’s performance, here is a chart showing speed test results at each upgrade stage (using our standard 75kg/183cm bot riding at 300W):

The Concept Z1 is the fastest aero performer you can get with a reasonable amount of work in game, since the Project 74 and R4000 bikes will take significantly more time and effort! That said, the Concept Z1 just barely edges out the top aero performers, gaining ~1 second across an hour of flat riding.

Those top aero performers, though, handily beat the Concept Z1 on climbs, which means you may not want to use the Concept Z1 in a race that has any significant hills. Learn more about how the Concept Z1 compares to other top performer road frame+wheel combos by checking out our “Speed Tests: Concept Z1 (Tron) Bike vs Top Performers” post.

Questions or Comments?

What do you think of Zwift’s new Halo Bike concept? Which one are you working to unlock first, and why? Share below!