We travelled to the Lotus F1 facility at Enstone, Oxfordshire, earlier this week to check out new, model year 2014 offerings from Wilier.
The 107-year-old Trieste brand commands a place at the top table of Italian road manufacturers, and its new aero road bike, the Cento1AIR, was the machine we’d travelled to see.
A second new edition for model year 2014, however, also caught our eye. The GTR has evolved from last year’s GT, and while all of Wilier’s bikes have a traditional ‘race’ geometry, the lay-up of the GTR’s rear triangle is intended to offer more compliance than its stablemates.
Much of the technology of the upscale Cento1SR is present, however, including a single-piece rear triangle and carbon dropouts. The profile of the full carbon fork has been revised, too.
The internal cable routings have been changed to make the frame compatible with electronic or mechanical shifting, courtesy of interchangeable, aluminium ‘pockets’
The 46-tonne Toray carbon lay-up of the frame remains unchanged, but the extended seat tube has been reduced, giving the GTR a more conventional appearance than its predecessor.
Its most striking feature, however, is the sculpted, ‘sharp edge’ tube profiles. More subtly, the internal cable routings have been changed to make the frame compatible with electronic or mechanical shifting, courtesy of interchangeable, aluminium plates described by Wilier’s man as “pockets”.
Three new colourways have been introduced for model year 2014, including the Team Columbia-inspired black with red, yellow, and blue accents pictured here, and an unmissable black with fluoro green accents and matching graphics on the Miche rims. There’s a traditional ‘Wilier’ matt black with red accents, too.
The price of the GTR has been dropped for model year 2014 to match the Izoard XP, the entry-point to Wilier’s road range. Four builds will be available in the UK. A Campagnolo Veloce-specced GTR will cost £1499, or £1799 with Shimano 105. Budget £1999 for a GTR equipped with Campagnolo Centaur, or £2199 for the new 6800-series Shimano Ultegra mechanical group.
Zero 7
We had little cause to photograph the Wilier Zero 7, other than its stunning looks and the fact that it’s one of the best bikes we’ve ever had the pleasure to ride – a ‘super bike’ worthy of the name.
The model year 2014 incarnation has removable cable guides for riders opting for electronic shifting, and the range of standard colours has been expanded to include the ‘flow red’ used by Team Columbia in this year’s Giro d’Italia. The Zero 7 is one of the machines Wilier has included in the new on-line colour configurator on its Italian site.
