Wilier Triestina Rave SLR gravel bike review: Two hearts that beat as one

It’s been just over a year since Wilier announced their attempt at a drop bar quiver killer with the new Rave SLR. Gravel racers and/or all-road bikes. With the adventure-oriented Jena gravel bike already in Wilier’s off-road range, the Rave is designed as a performance-minded gravel racer and/or all-road bike for sealed and unsealed surfaces. as quickly as possible. As Wilier puts it, the Rave SLR is a bike with “two separate souls” built for allroad and gravel, but with the same “race focus.”

Rave has already lived up to its hefty bills in its first 12 months since its official launch last October. The bike debuted and won at Filippo’s Pozzat’s ‘pro only’ Serenissima label race just four days after his official launch. Ivar Slik won his Unbound Gravel race in June aboard his Rave SLR. The bike was also featured in ultra-endurance races and the first UCI Gravel World Championship.

All the while, I had a Rave SLR for review. Either side of his four-month break due to injury, plus his four-month gravel strain, Rave has provided motivation, thrills, and plenty of food for thought. throughout.

Best of both?

We covered the tech and specs of the new bikes coming out in October 2021, but I hadn’t been to Rave myself at the time. Before delving into the review, let’s first quickly recap what Rave has to offer.

Wilier has borrowed much of the carbon technology used in the Filante and Zero SLR road models to create a frame in a gravel package that we believe offers similar performance, stiffness and weight. The frame features truncated aero tubes, integrated cable routing and clearance for 700×42 mm wide tires. The shape of the frame is slightly relaxed to better suit Rave’s gravel and endurance focus. Lightweight.

Rave offers several electronic and mechanical build options including Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 and Ultegra Di2 R8100, Campagnolo Ekar and SRAM Force eTap AXS. Additionally, two integrated one-piece carbon handlebar setups are available. A more gravel-oriented build has his Wilier’s J-bar, which has a positive rise for a more upright riding position and a split-stem section (which makes the stem look like a Y instead of a J). The allroad version is equipped with Wilier’s more conventional looking Zero-Bar. Both options have fully internal cable routing.

Wilier sent me a Campagnolo Ekar and a gravel-ready Rave SLR with a J-Bar. On top of that, he added a set of Campagnolo Shamal carbon road wheels with 28 and 32mm wide Continental GP5000 S TR tires to test Rave’s on-road qualification. However, even with a single stock wheelset, the Rave is a great investment in anyone’s book and holds great promise. But if Wilier is a true quiver landing on his killer platform and with this one bike of his he can cover two jobs, perhaps that price could be somewhat justified.

gravel roots

My heroes as a child were rally drivers Colin McRae and Bertie Fisher, not Sean Kelly or Stephen Roche. The rally is on the water around these parts, and McRae’s “when in doubt, do it all” mantra crossed the cult rally fanbase. This may explain why you can only go “full throttle” the moment you roll down onto the road surface.

My preferred gravel runs sideways at high speed through loose but short stages connected by sections of paved surface road. No time (maturity) to enjoy longer, more relaxed gravel routes or bikepacking. So when it comes to gravel bikes, versatility isn’t top of the priority list. I prefer a gravel bike somewhere closer to a road bike. bike soul.

On paper, the Rave SLR should be on my street. According to his webpage for Rave SLR, Wilier wanted to “create a product with two separate souls: one that’s allroad-perfect, one that’s gravel-perfect, but one that’s incredibly race-minded.” We aim to create products that are built to last. It’s a lot like my kind of gravel bike, can it live up to the bill?

Yes, No. On-road or off-road, Rave’s speed is unquestionable. When in doubt, immediately recall the stiff ride. Chasing new gravel routes, connecting closed roads with loose shortcuts, and zipping through singletrack, the Rave had very little to complain about. This bike got me riding for days last winter that otherwise wouldn’t have bothered me. And put on his more aero Shamals and narrower, club-friendly Continental tires, the Rave’s sleek lines and fully integrated routing never looked out of place.

To be honest, I was confused by Wilier. On the one hand, it’s a gravel bike for racing, and an all-road bike for running on both sealed and unsealed surfaces. It has the internal cable routing and integrated handlebars that people have come to expect from a performance-minded bike. Not the most aggressive or overly progressive, but stacks at 570 mm (+10 mm mandatory headset cap) and a reach of 391 mm are on the racy side of the gravel geometry spectrum when it comes to rider position. An extra bottle He doesn’t have a cage or luggage rack He has no mounts, suspension or dropped chainstays, so clearly he Rave is a “race-minded” bike, as Wilier claims.

But here’s where the confusion begins. First is J Bar. The positive slope split stem is taken directly from Wilier’s Jena adventure gravel bike to create a more relaxed, upright position. There’s definitely a place for that and yes, it’s definitely the fit that many people really need. To me, the inclusion of J-Bar here feels like a last-minute attempt to extend Rave beyond those who actually want to use it for racing.

Of course there are solutions. That is to buy a Rave in one of his all-road setups with a more aggressive Zero-Bar and add gravel tires. But that ultimately leads to another question.

Wilier kindly sent me a Zero-Bar. This definitely allowed for a much more race-like setup and position (after a lot of headaches in the workshop). But while it solves one problem for him, it highlights another potential contradiction. The Rave is undeniably fast, and more aggressive positions encourage you to stay off the gas. But despite that, there is no sense of urgency or agility. It can handle gravel, road and even singletrack, but lacks agility and speed. We feel that for that “race-minded” bike, it has to qualify for racing. Rave may be a racing bike, but he struggles to feel like a racing cyclist.

In my opinion, the steering geometry, with its 70mm trail figure and slacker head angle of 71°, is too relaxed. This is also a better fit for Jena’s intended use case than Rave. The result is a bike that is predictably stable both at high speeds and in straight lines. This is probably why Ivar Slik won his gravel unbound on his Kansas his flint on the long straight. In fact, Rave is so stable that Slik could have run his entire Unbound course with his hands above his head. But that stability turns into a sluggish, lethargic feel at low speeds and into tight turns where the Rave feels like it has a turning circle on par with the moon.

Keep in mind that there is nothing inherently wrong with any particular aspect of Rave. One could even argue that such extremely stable handling is exactly what modern gravel racing demands. [particularly US-style gravel racing – Ed.]But like I said before, I like my gravel bike to be more like a rally car. Personally, would a cyclocross bike be better with room for a bigger tire? “Gravel riding” is ultimately different things for different people. This interesting combination of fast aero shape, weight and stiffness combined with lazy handling for this Rave SLR of his might be perfect for others, but it’s not. My gravel or allroad tea.

If it’s up to me, I want Jena and Rave to be more clearly differentiated. With more upright positioning, slower handling, and richer mounts Jena Keep her platform for exploration. But it makes the Rave SLR even more race oriented with faster handling and removes the J-Bar.

For more information, visit Wilier.com.