Wilier set to launch mystery new bike

It looks like Italy’s Wilier is set to launch a new road bike, Groupama FDJ riders having been spotted riding an unannounced model in non-team graphics at the Critérium du Dauphiné. The bike has also been ridden in the past few days by FDJ's Lenny Martinez and David Gaudu in the Mercan'Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes, a race that Martinez won.

Wilier has said nothing about this bike so all we can tell you is what we've seen of the bike ahead of the start of the Critérium du Dauphiné in Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule, France, this morning.

Wilier currently divides its top-level road bike lineup into the Filante – the aero offering – and the Zero, which is aimed at light weight and stiffness. However, we don't think the new bike is one of these. For a start, it doesn't much resemble either, and then there's its UCI sticker which contains the code: Wilier-Vert.

The current Zero SL has the code WIL-ZERSL and the Filante SL has the code WIL-FILSL. In other words, the code usually bears some relation to the model name. This suggests that the new bike will be called the Wilier Vert, Wilier Vertical, or something along those lines, although there's a lot of conjecture here. Equally, it could be the Wilier Zero Vert... who knows?

> Wilier claims big aero savings for 2021 Filante SLR 

There are no other clues to the model name on the frame graphics, although we can see the words "Innovation Lab", which is the name that Wilier gives to its research and development department. "Chase the light" is also written in a couple of places, suggesting that weight reduction has been an aim here.

Backing up this idea, frame tube profiles are round or nearly round throughout. The new bike has a narrow-diameter seat tube, a shallow seatpost, skinny seatstays, and a reasonably slim down tube. There are certainly none of the usual features we associate with aero road bikes, such as truncated airfoil shaping, a seat tube that's cutaway around the leading edge of the rear wheel, an integrated fork crown, deep-section seatpost, and so on.

The existing Filante SLR, for example, has widely spaced fork legs and seatstays, and an aero-profile seat tube, which we don't see on the bike pictured here.

> Wilier launches Zero SLR: superlight disc brake bike with fully integrated cables 

What we do see is fully internal cable/hose routing, naturally, and unlike the existing Zero SLR, the new bike doesn’t have a bridge between the seatstays. The junction between the seat tube/ top tube is entirely different too. Rather than having a step in the frame to contain the seatpost wedge, there’s a slant between the two tubes in that area, more in line with the Filante SLR.

Unusually, Wilier has marked the sizes of the thru axles on the prototype bike. The rear is 142 x 12 – nothing uncommon about that – while the front is 100 x 10 rather than the usual 100 x 12. We'll be interested in finding out the reasons behind that one.

When it launched the current version of the Zero SLR (above) back in 2019, Wilier described it as the first super light road race bike with disc brakes and fully integrated cables. The medium version of the frame, in a matt black finish with white graphics, had a claimed weight of 780g (+/-5%). The fork, again in a black/white finish, had a claimed weight of 340g (+/-5%). The complete XL bike we weighed, with a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset and Mavic wheels, was a whisker over 6.8kg (including pedals).

If the bike we've seen today is an entirely new model, it'll be interesting to see whether Wilier keeps the Zero in its range. 

Wilier has always shouted about the Zero SLR's stiffness-to-weight, claiming that a large part is down to the fibres used in the frame's construction.

“For the Zero SLR we selected the highest quality fibres, calling the blend HUS-Mod: this composition is qualitatively superior to any previous type of material [we have] used,” said Wilier. 

“In addition to the HUS-Mod carbon, we also included a highly resistant multi-directional fibre mesh to increase rigidity in every direction and liquid crystal polymer woven to improve impact resistance and vibration absorption.”

We've no idea whether this tech is a feature of the new model or whether Wilier has shifted in a new direction.

More brands are moving back towards the idea of having a single top-end race platform rather than having a lightweight road bike and an aero road bike, so maybe that’s Wilier’s aim here. 

> One bike to rule them all: why lightweight aero bikes are now THE essential race weapon

We don't know, we’re just putting that out there as an idea. Wilier has already announced that a launch is planned for 25th June, so we won't have to wait too long to find out. 

FDJ's David Gaudu is riding a bike fitted with a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset, including power meter, and Dura-Ace C50 wheels with 25mm Continental Competition ProLtd tubular tyres. He has a 54/40T chainset, an 11-34T cassette, and 140mm disc rotors front and rear, and sits on a Prologo Nago Evo saddle.

www.wilier.com