Bianchi Oltre XR3 Potenza

Bianchi's Oltre XR3 is nimble and sharp handling, and it offers a ride that's smooth by aero road bike standards.

One of Bianchi's key selling points for the Oltre XR3 is the use of Countervail technology, so let's deal with that up top.

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We've covered Countervail many times before here on road.cc because it's something that's included in several other bikes in Bianchi's range. According to Materials Sciences Corporation, the company behind it, 'Countervail is an innovative composite material system that combines traditional vibration damping layer concepts and a patented fibre preform. Unparalleled vibration damping is derived from the fibre preform itself, where the fibre pattern maximises the vibrational energy dissipation by a viscoelastic damping layer.'

The technology has been used to deal with vibration in applications as diverse as helicopters and tennis rackets, although it's exclusive to Bianchi in the bike world.

Bianchi argues that because your body accounts for about 80% of the aerodynamic drag that works against you as you cycle, it's vital that you're able to stay in your most efficient riding position for as long as possible. The Countervail technology is designed to help you remain in an aero position by cancelling vibration and thereby increasing your control, reducing muscle fatigue, and keeping you comfortable.

It's a good argument... as long as the Countervail delivers on its promises. You'd have to say that the Oltre XR3 does provide a smooth ride by race bike standards. It feels like some of the high-frequency vibration is being damped here, but the tyres you use and the pressure at which you run them, the wheels, the saddle, the seatpost, the handlebar, the bar tape... they all have a major effect on how the bike feels too.

As far as I can tell without taking it to the lab, the Countervail does have a positive influence on the way the bike feels, but don't expect miracles here. You're going to get a little less buzz than you'd otherwise get, not a totally different ride experience. Don't expect the Countervail to do anything to soften the blow if you rattle through a pothole or hit a big bump in the road. It might dissipate vibration but it can't smooth over major irregularities.

While we're covering comfort, it seems nuts to me that Bianchi has invested so much in Countervail technology over several years and then wrapped the Oltre XR3's handlebar in tape that is, to put it bluntly, horrible. Thin and not very grippy, it wouldn't last a week if this was my bike. Still, swapping bar tape is cheap and simple so I wouldn't let it alter my buying decision.

The other factor that's going to influence comfort greatly is the geometry and whether or not it suits you. The Oltre XR3 is available in seven sizes from 47cm to 61cm. The top tubes of the various sizes are exactly the same lengths as those of the top-level Oltre XR4 models, while the head tubes are 5mm longer across the board.

To take a 55cm model as an example, the head tube is 145mm, the effective top tube is 550mm and the seat tube is 495mm. The stack height (the vertical distance between the centre of the bottom bracket and the top of the head tube) is 545mm and the reach (the horizontal distance between those points) is 388mm.

The corresponding figures for the Oltre XR4 are 541mm and 390mm respectively, so the Oltre XR3 is a touch more relaxed but the difference is minor. It's very much a race bike setup.

The Oltre XR3 feels super-stiff when you dish out the watts. There's little flex either through the centre or the front end of the frame, and that's always a good start for a performance-focused bike. You get the feeling that your effort is getting turned efficiently into forward movement rather than flexing the various parts of the frameset around.

The fork is a full-carbon integrated design (the shape of the crown flows into that of the frame's head tube and down tube) with a tapered steerer (1 1/8in upper bearing, 1 1/2in lower bearing) and wide legs. It takes you exactly where you want to go no matter how hard you lean the bike into a corner.

Bianchi took the Oltre XR2 as its starting point for the XR3's design and then altered many of the tubes and features, resulting in a very different bike. Although the down tube and chainstays are the same, pretty much everything else has been tweaked or completely changed.

The head tube is new, for example, the aero design fairly similar to that of the XR4, and the seat tube is new too, although it is still cut away around the leading edge of the rear wheel.

The seatstays are beefier than the XR2's. Brands often use super-skinny seatstays to reduce vibration, but Bianchi says that Countervail does that job so well that it can afford to make the stays stronger to reduce flex. The idea is that this boosts the performance of the brakes which, unlike those of the Oltre XR4, are dual pivot rather than direct mount. I can't say that I noticed any difference on that front, to be honest.

The seatpost is aero profiled with a wedge-type clamp that's hidden within the top tube. It has an adjustable head clamp offset (the amount the head clamp is set back from the centre of the post) of 25mm or 10mm, which means you get a lot of scope for altering your riding position.

One feature that I did find a bit odd is that you still get bolts on the underside of the down tube to take an external battery for electronic shifting. Surely that could have been safely ditched.

Bianchi claims a fork weight of 370g and a frame weight of 1,110g (+/-5%, 55cm model). For comparison, the Oltre XR4 has a claimed frame weight of 980g (-/-5%, size 55cm) and a 370g fork. The complete 59cm bike I rode, built up with a Campagnolo Potenza groupset and Fulcrum Racing 7 LG wheels, was 8.06kg (17.8lb).

That's by no means superlight for a bike of this price, but the Oltre XR3 isn't designed to be. If your main priority is a light weight, check out Bianchi's Specialissima. The Oltre is designed as an aero road bike and Bianchi says that although it doesn't match the more expensive XR4 in the wind tunnel, it still puts in an efficient performance (no comparative figures have been published and we're not in a position to conduct wind tunnel testing).

Build options

The Oltre XR3 is available in various different builds:

* Shimano Dura-Ace Mix, with Fulcrum Racing Quattro wheels – £4,599.99

* Full Campagnolo Chorus, with Fulcrum Racing Quattro wheels – £4,199.99

* Full Shimano 105, with Fulcrum Racing Sport wheels – £2,799.99

* Full Campagnolo Potenza, with Fulcrum Racing 7 wheels – £3,299.99

I've been riding the last of these. If you want to know all about the Campagnolo Potenza groupset, head over to Stu's review. I'd agree that it's really impressive stuff and I especially like the Ergopower shifters. The hoods are super-comfy and the thumb lever is easy to push whether your hands are up there or down on the drops. Plus, of course, Potenza will please those people who believe you have to fit Campag components on a bike from an Italian brand.

The Fulcrum Racing 7 LG alloy wheels will be treated as place holders by most people. I mean, they're fine but they're entry level and this is a three grand bike. Don't get me wrong, they do a decent enough job for everyday use but they're not competition wheels and they don't have aero credentials so, in those senses, they don't suit the Oltre XR3's character.

If you intend racing you might well have your own favourite race wheels anyway, which is probably what Bianchi figured when it came to speccing this bike.

Overall

If I'd not ridden the Bianchi Oltre XR4 Super Record last year, I'd probably be raving more about the XR3... but that's not fair because this bike, in this build, is a third of the price! Just about anything is going to be overshadowed by that XR4 which was, after all, the road.cc Superbike of the Year 2016-17.

> Buyer's Guide: 16 of the best & fastest aero road bikes for 2017

The XR3 isn't quite as light or as sparky, naturally enough, but it's still a very able performance-orientated bike. It's lively, quick to react and the ride is unusually good for a bike of this kind.

Verdict

Fast-reacting aero road bike with a very good ride quality