Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

TECH NEWS

Wilier launches new Cento10Pro aero disc road bike

Another new aero road bike, this time from Italian company Wilier

If you’re in the market for a new aero road bike but have been putting off the decision to see what new bikes might arrive before the Tour de France, your patience has been rewarded. We’ve seen the Cannondale SystemSix and Specialized Venge, now it’s the turn of Italian company Wilier.

A couple of years ago Wilier launched the Cento10Air to celebrate its 110th birthday, and this week it has just launched its successor, the Cento10Pro. It’s an evolution of that previous bike rather than a radical redesign, with a focus on improving frame stiffness and offering disc brakes.

wilier cento10pro7

I know you lot love a good stat, so how about a claimed 6% increase in torsional stiffness compared to the previous Cento10Air road bike? That’s the leading claim by Wilier, which it boldly claims is “a never seen stiffness and reactivity.”

The new Cento10Pro is available with either rim or disc brakes, the Italian company is leaving you to make the choice, unlike Cannondale and Specialized who have each stuck their flags firmly to the disc brake pole.

wilier cento10pro9

The Cento10Pro does have a very similar looking frame to the bike it replaces, so we can presume of the changes have happened underneath the paintwork and in the carbon fibre construction.

We say presumably because we didn’t get invited to the launch and we’ve not been sent a press kit, so we’re very much taking this all off the Wilier website. It’s not ideal.

The profiles for the frame and fork are designed to NACA standards with truncated tails allowing Wilier to save weight and increase stiffness whilst maintaining optimum aerodynamics.

Wilier has used the common flat mount interface and 12mm thru-axles for the disc brake version, with 160mm rotor size compatibility at the front and 140mm at the back. Tyre clearance increases to 30mm, a clear benefit over the rim brake version if you’re into your fat tyres.

wilier cento10pro6

Integration was a key part of the previous bike, and it continues with the new model. It has developed its own Alabarda one-piece carbon handlebar that routes the cables and brake hoses directly into the frame via a specially designed head tube and steerer tube.

The Cento10Pro Disc and the standard frameset will set you back €3,800. Add a Dura-Ace Di2 groupset and you’re looking at €10,300, SRAM Red eTap with Mavic Cosmic Pro Carbon UST wheels for €9,100, or at the other end of the range, a SRAM Force 22 groupset will set you back €4,750.

More info at www.wilier.com

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

Add new comment

6 comments

Avatar
yupiteru | 5 years ago
2 likes

Nice bike - shame its spoilt by the ugly brakes.  I will be glad when this disc brake fad/fashion on road bikes passes and we can get back to some elegant more than adequate lighter rim brakes.

Avatar
crazy-legs replied to yupiteru | 5 years ago
3 likes

yupiteru wrote:

Nice bike - shame its spoilt by the ugly brakes.  I will be glad when this disc brake fad/fashion on road bikes passes and we can get back to some elegant more than adequate lighter rim brakes.

No chance. In 5 years time you won't get anything other than super cheap road bikes with rim brakes unless you go for a top end custom build (I reckon Super Record and probably Dura-Ace will still offer a rim brake for the luddites traditionalists)

Discs are about the same weight, about as aero, much easier to integrate (internal hoses), virtually maintainance-free, no issues around rim wear or heat build up in the tyres, and offer far superior braking in all conditions. And it means you can have wider tyres and stronger / lighter / more aero wheels because they don't need to incorporate a brake track.

The fact that Specialized, Giant and Cannondale are all now making complete ranges solely with discs tells you all you need to know - it's not a fad, it's a wholesale change in the market.

Avatar
sunnyape replied to yupiteru | 5 years ago
1 like

yupiteru wrote:

Nice bike - shame its spoilt by the ugly brakes.  I will be glad when this disc brake fad/fashion on road bikes passes and we can get back to some elegant more than adequate lighter rim brakes.

Are you hoping we go all the way back to rod and linkage operated rim brake calipers, or content to accept the current, ugly, complex, cable operated ones?

Avatar
Brummiebiker replied to yupiteru | 5 years ago
1 like

yupiteru wrote:

Nice bike - shame its spoilt by the ugly brakes.  I will be glad when this disc brake fad/fashion on road bikes passes and we can get back to some elegant more than adequate lighter rim brakes.

each to their own. Having been lucky enough to be loaned an early Roubaix disc a few years back for the dragon ride and getting a lot of compliments about how quickly it scrubbed off speed into corners in descents, I’m completely sold. I just have so much more faith in my disc brakes than rims even though the performance in the dry is on par. 

Avatar
StraelGuy | 5 years ago
2 likes

That's a nice looking bike and it's good to see that Wilier have obviously sacked the man who has to put decals all over the frame describing every single feature on the bike .

Avatar
PRSboy | 5 years ago
2 likes

I do like the shiny red paint job... a nice change from the ubiquitous matt black.  I love my Wilier Izoard which has a similar colour scheme.

You'd have to be a fan or want to be different to spend the same money on this as on a new Venge, with their 'win tunnel' development etc etc...

Latest Comments