Wilier Filante SL Ultegra Di2

The Wilier Filante SL Ultegra Di2 is an impressive racing bike that will excel on any terrain, regardless of whether competitive road racing or long solo miles in the saddle is your thing. As an SL model, it’s the more affordable option in Wilier’s Filante portfolio, sitting just below the range-topping SLR offering. Despite this, it still delivers impeccable handling manners and all-round performance thanks to its well-sorted geometry and handsomely appointed specification list.

For more options, check out our best road bikes buyer’s guide, which covers a wide range of bikes at a wide range of prices.

Wilier Filante SL Ultegra Di2: Ride

The Wilier Filante SL does a good job balancing comfort with speed – it’s a fast bike. While the fit is on the racy side, you don’t feel stretched out or uncomfortable – of course, this will come down to flexibility, but I found my position less aggressive than on other Italian race bikes I’ve tested (though this could in part be down to the raised stem).

Wilier doesn’t wax lyrical about the Filante SL being the lightest bike around, nor does it base its marketing literature around aero claims like some of its rivals – after all, at 7.95kg it’s not overly light. Looking at some of its aero bike rivals, the Merida Reacto 9000 and Orbea Orca Aero M120i LTD, for example, the Filante SL is a similar weight to the Reacto but 500g lighter than the Orbea, and is only 150g heavier than the SLR, according to Wilier.

And it really doesn’t feel like a near-8kg bike – you don’t feel its mass on the climbs. Much of its all-round climbing efficiency comes as a result of the frame’s weight distribution and stiffness around the bottom bracket and head tube, the combination of which helps with the acceleration and response to input from the pedals. It feels like a solid package, and is very refined.

The ride quality is great, and there’s not much road chatter coming through the tyres and frame architecture. You can further tweak this by playing around with the tyre pressures, though there’s a limit to what you can do with the tyres set up with inner tubes.

I did change the wheels for a few rides to test the claimed compatibility with 30mm tyres – in this instance, Scribe Elan Superlight 50mm wheels wrapped in Vittoria Corsa Pro tyres set up tubeless.

This transformed the ride quality and traction levels across the board considerably, thanks to the 40psi front and 50psi rear that I used with this setup. By way of comparison, the stock Schwalbe One tyres were pumped to 65psi and 70psi, which delivered good comfort and grip but with a notably deader feel coming from the tyres. That said, the stock Miche SWR Evo 50 wheels set up with Schwalbe Pro One tubeless tyres would have offered similar improvements.

The weight distribution of the frame means descending is intuitive, and you feel part of the bike. This isn’t always the case with performance road bikes, but the Filante SL encourages you to attack descents rather than roll down them, and flick through lefts and rights with confidence. In terms of straight-line performance, the Filante is up there with the best, and you never feel like you’re riding a second-tier offering; it really is a polished performer.

The only area that lets down the package is the absence of a power meter on this specific bike. While this isn’t a deal breaker and several models in the Filante SL range do offer power meters (including an Ultegra Di2 InPeak PowerCrank option sitting just above this particular model), I think it should be standard across the range, especially at this price point.

Wilier Filante SL Ultegra Di2: Frame

So, what’s pearl-metallic-white and red all over?

Okay, white might not be the most practical colours for UK riding, especially given much of the year is underscored by wet weather and cruddy roads. But you can’t dispute the pageantry of this particular paint job, especially when the pearl-metallic-white catches the sun.

The paintwork is contrasted with bold, red graphics – in this case, a Wilier Trestina wordmark on the down tube, while the Filante SL model designation adorns the top tube and seat stays. It does look very premium, and many onlookers shared their appreciation for the bike’s aesthetics when it was parked at the cafe.

Like most aero road bikes, the facade is dominated by clean lines and full cable and hose integration. There’s an assortment of bottle cage bosses on the inner triangle, three on the down tube and two on the seat tube, supplying enough sliding room for a medium or large water bottle.

It’s available in six frame sizes, XS, S, M, L, XL and XXL, and you can choose from five colourways. Our test bike is a medium, with the geometry numbers fairly standard for a 54cm frame. The top tube measures 54.4cm, while the head tube and seat tube angle come in at 72.5° and 74° respectively – the latter two measurements become parallel on the larger models with the XL registering 73° for both angles.

The 408mm chainstays and sub-metre wheelbase make for an agile machine that can change direction and accelerate with alacrity. The 538mm stack and 388mm reach figures translate into a racy riding position.

Looking at the frame, the Filante SL differs from the SLR by way of its carbon layup. The SL is constructed using what Wilier calls an ‘endurance-tuned layup’, which is slightly heavier and less aggressive than the SLR. Despite this, it retains the SLR’s aerodynamic profiling and geometry.

Tyre clearance is rated at a maximum width of 30mm, which seems quite narrow given the contemporary move to wider tyres – but this frame has been around since 2020 and was designed around the 28mm paradigm.

Looking at the frame in detail, there’s ample space around the fork and the seatstays can clear a lot more than 30mm – the limiting factor stems from the chainstay and seat tube junction spacing, a known issue on bikes pre-2022. That said, you could potentially get away with 32mm tyres, though the clearance would be at its absolute limit.

Wilier Filante SL Ultegra Di2: Components

The great build quality of the Wilier is accompanied by a high level of specification.

As the name suggests, the Filante SL is built around a Shimano Ultegra Di2 12-speed groupset with matching brake system and 160/140mm rotors. As the second-tier offering in the Japanese brand’s range, Ultegra offers the performance of Dura-Ace with a small weight penalty – it’s a super-refined groupset that complements the build.

The combination of the 50/34T and 11-30T chainset with 172.5mm cranks provide balanced gear ratios for flat to hilly terrain. Personally I’d have appreciated a slightly bigger chainring to help reduce the cadence on descents, but the ratios were sufficient on the whole.

If you wanted a bigger chainring, you’d have to upgrade later on, as the Filante SL is only available in 50/34T on Campagnolo Super Record EPS, 48/35T on SRAM Rival and Force and 50/34T on Shimano 105 Di2.

An odd inclusion on this Ultegra build is the 105 cassette, but this seems like a UK-specific inclusion (Italian bikes get Ultegra cassettes) and the difference is likely to be pretty much undetectable.

The finishing kit comprises a 400 x 100mm Wilier-branded Z Bar integrated carbon handlebar wrapped in Prologo tape, a proprietary Wilier Filante seatpost and a Prologo Dimension T4 saddle.

Wilier Filante SL Ultegra Di2: Wheels and tyres

The Filante SL Ultegra rolls on Miche SWR Evo 50 wheels but comes fitted with 28mm Schwalbe One Performance tyres in the UK (Italian models get Vittoria Rubino Pro IV G2.0 tyres). 

The setup was pretty straightforward, requiring only a handful of small tweaks, including the fore-aft positioning of the saddle, raising the seat height to 74.7cm and adjusting the lever reach of the controls. These would need a couple more minor adjustments after the first ride, but everything was close to perfect out of the box.

The only bugbear came in the form of the tyres that weren’t properly seated during assembly. This made for an irregular rolling motion that I could only sort out after returning from my shakedown ride. A bit of soapy water got the Schwalbe Ones to pop into place after a couple of firm pushes from the floor pump – the Miche wheels came fitted with inner tubes, which I kept for the duration of  testing.

Wilier Filante SL Ultegra Di2: Value

Wilier’s Filante SL range starts at £4,385 for the Shimano Di2 105-equipped model and goes to £8,500 for the Filante SL Campagnolo Super Record EPS, though that particular model seems only available in the EU. Either way, this places the Filante SL Ultegra in the middle based on its £5,999 RRP, which is significantly cheaper than similarly specced SLR models and provides a gateway into Filante ownership.

For contrast, it’s worth looking at its rivals, one of which is the £6,199 Orbea Orca Aero M20i LTD. On paper, they are similarly appointed bikes and offer like-for-like performance. The Orca also comes fitted with Shimano Ultegra Di2 12-speed but gets 45mm wheels as opposed to the Wilier’s 50mm Miche rolling stock. It’s also 500g heavier and costs £200 more.

Another option to consider is the Merida Reacto 9000, from a brand known for its value. The Reacto is within a few grams of the Filante SL, and is probably the faster of the two bikes. It’s also built around Ultegra Di2 groupset and has deeper wheels but at £6,250 is marginally pricier.

While there’s little between these bikes when it comes to spec and cost, given the price of bikes these days, the cheaper bike is always going to come up tops, and that means the Wilier Filante FL. The more I rode it, the more it grew on me and the more I gelled with its geometry. It’s a really good race bike that can compete against options with a significantly higher spec and price. It’s so good, in fact, that I see no reason to buy the FLR version.

Similarly priced bikes we’ve reviewed recently include the £6,699 Giant TCR Advanced Pro 0 AXS, which comes with SRAM Force AXS, and while not an aero road bike – Giant has the Propel for that – it still has some aero features, and Mat was very impressed with it. The extra money does include a power meter, it has clearance for 33mm tyres and it’s also a fair bit lighter than the Wilier.

For £6,499 the Canyon Ultimate CF SLX 8 AXS has the same SRAM groupset as the Giant, including a power meter and Zipp 303 Firecrest wheels. This looks to be great value, and while we haven’t tested that model, Stu rated the higher-level Ultimate CFR AXS very highly indeed.

Conclusion

The Wilier Filante FL proves you don’t need a super-expensive, lightweight aero road bike to race and have fun while doing so. It belies its weight with super-responsive climbing efficiency, not to mention great handling manners when the gradients become negative. It looks good, has a well-balanced ride and is priced to bring a whole new demographic to the Wilier Trestina family.

Verdict

Well-appointed road bike at a reasonable price that can be used for racing and one-day epics

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