Follow Along as I Unlock the Zwift Tron Bike
Welcome to Dads Riding Bikes’ new series. Follow along as we try to unlock the hotly sought-after Zwift Tron Bike. If you read my How Parents Can Manage Cycling with a Newborn post, then you would know my family just welcomed our second daughter into our lives at the end of August.
With a newborn and Fall/Winter on the horizon here in the northern hemisphere, I will be doing a lot more Zwifting in the near future. To help motivate me to stay on the bike, I’m starting an ongoing series following my progress to unlock the Tron bike.
Climbing is not my specialty and at a current FTP of 224 watts (Last Tested in July of 2023 using the Zwift Ramp Test) and a weight of 175 pounds (79.4kg), that comes out to 2.8 w/kg, which does not make climbing fast!
What is the Zwift Tron Bike?
If you are familiar with Zwift then you will have no doubt seen others riding around on glowing bikes. This is the Zwift Concept Z1Bike, but everyone in Zwift refers to it as the Tron Bike.
The criteria to unlock the Tron Bike is:
- Select the Climb Mt. Everest Challenge in Zwift (See below for a how-to)
- Complete the Mt. Everest Challenge, which is, climbing 29,028 ft. (8,850m)
- Then you need to complete another 135,007 ft (41,150m) all while keeping the Mt. Everest Challange selected in Zwift
Once finished you will have climbed a total of 164,042 ft (50,000m). I want to emphasize that you must keep the “Climb Mt. Everest” challenge selected the entire time to get credit.
Why Unlock the Zwift Tron Bike?
There’s a helpful article on Zwiftinsider that explains all the advantages of the Tron Bike. However, I’m interested in unlocking it because it’s the best all-rounder bike on Zwift.
I enjoy doing various activities like workouts, free rides, pacer rides, and races. Switching bikes for each activity to achieve optimum results is a hassle. That’s why I would prefer to use just one bike, the Zwift Tron bike, which is highly competitive and suitable for all my cycling needs.
How to select the Mt. Everest Challenge in Zwift
First off, if you are new to Zwift or just did not know (like me), you can choose different challenges in Zwift. The “Ride California” challenge is the default. I did not know about the Zwift Tron bike until I was halfway through the “Ride California” challenge, so just select “Climb Mt. Everest” right away! There are three steps to select the challenge:
- Jump into any ride/activity on Zwift and click “Menu”
- Select “Challenges” in the top right
- Select “Climb Mt. Everest Challenge”
I am not sure why they made this so difficult to do.
Again, the Tron challenge only counts from the moment you select the “Climb Mt. Everest” challenge. It does not care what you did before that, so any elevation climbed prior does not count. It is 164,042 ft (50,000m) climbed after the challenge is selected and needs to be selected until you finish.
Current Progress on Tron Challenge
As of the time I am writing this post, September 9, 2023, I am 6,938 ft (2,115m) into the “Mt.Everest Challenge”, which is 4% completed.
Follow along as we try to unlock the Tron Bike by the Spring of 2024.
Check Out: Week 1 Update Post