What a beauty! Check out Astana’s Wilier Zero SLR road bike

The Wilier Zero SLR might not be the newest bike in the WorldTour – it’s now three years old – but there's no denying it's a looker. It’s currently being raced by Astana Qazaqstan riders – alongside Wilier’s Filante aero road bike – at the Criterium du Dauphine. We checked out Gianmarco Garofoli’s bike at the weekend

The Wilier Zero SLR is the Italian company’s do-it-all road racer, combining low weight with aero tube shapes, while the Filante is a little more aero and not quite as light.

> Check out our Wilier Zero SLR first ride

We’ll get to the components in a sec, but let’s take a moment to look at the paint job. It’s absolutely gorgeous – a swirling aqua blue for the fork, one-piece handlebar/stem and the top of the frame, giving way to a deeper blue for the lower sections of the seat tube and down tube, and for the stays.

We don’t usually get too hung up talking about finishes – you can judge them for yourself – but this one really is a bit special. If anything it looks even better in the flesh with the sunlight giving it a little sparkle.

Wilier claims that the medium version of the frame, in a matt black finish with white graphics, has a weight of 780g (+/-5%) while the fork, again in a black/white finish, has a claimed weight of 340g (+/-5%). Astana’s paint job will add a little weight.

Wilier reckons that the Zero SLR’s stiffness-to-weight ratio is higher than that of any bike it has previously released, partly thanks to the use of what it calls its HUS-Mod blend of fibres.

Wilier says, “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.”

The main tube profiles vary between different frame sizes, the idea being to maintain consistent rigidity, handling, quality and comfort across the range. 

The cross-section of the fork leg on the disc brake side is wider than that of the other side so as to handle the forces generated by braking. The legs sit fairly wide of the wheel, the idea being to improve aerodynamics.

Astana is running Shimano’s latest 12-speed Dura-Ace Di2 9200 groupset. Gianmarco Garofoli’s bike was built up with a 54/40T chainset and an 11-34T cassette although, like other riders, he’ll vary that according to the terrain.

He uses 172.5mm cranks on a medium-sized frame, 160mm/140mm disc brake rotors, and an SLF Motion BB86 bottom bracket. The bearings are tucked away inside so there’s a sticker on the BB shell to keep the sponsor happy.

The pedals are Look Keo Blade Carbon Ceramic with 16Nm retention – rather than the 12Nm that comes fitted as standard.

> Review: Look Keo Blade Carbon Pedals 

Some Astana riders use a SLF Motion pulley wheel system on the rear derailleur to improve efficiency but Garofoli’s bike was standard Shimano. Maybe there are questions in the ranks as to whether it's worthwhile upgrade, but it's more likely that SLF only supply a certain number.

> CeramicSpeed OSPW Aero officially launches with a €739 price tag 

French brand Corima provides the carbon wheels.

The 47 WS is designed as an all-rounder, intended to reduce drag while remaining light and responsive.

Interestingly, Astana is also using Hed wheels on some of its bikes. It is reported that Astana was looking for aero gains and an improved tubeless option. It’s not unheard of for teams to use wheels from more than one brand – Ineos has swapped from Shimano to Lightweight and Princeton wheels for certain races in the past, for example, and several teams use AeroCoach wheels for time trials – but it’s still unusual. Garofoli’s bike is fitted with Vittoria Corsa tubular tyres in a 26mm width.

As we mentioned earlier, the front of the bike is dominated by Wilier’s integrated cockpit, K-Edge supplying the out-front Garmin mount. Prologo’s textured Onetouch bar tape extends almost all the way to the stem section. Pro teams always stick a little Prologo sticker towards the end of the handlebar drop to provide the brand with extra exposure.

> Check out the best road bike handlebars 2023 

Prologo supplies Astana’s saddles too. This is a Scratch M5 PAS with Nack carbon rails and a claimed weight of just 134g. 

The bottle cages are from Tacx.

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