Wilier have revamped the flagship Zero 7 for model year 2015, with the updated frame said to combine the comfort and low weight of the existing model, with features borrowed from the Cento1 SR and Cento1 Air.

We stopped by the dealer show of Wilier’s UK distributor, ATB Sales, to check out the 108-year-old Italian firm’s super-light model, and to see the rest of the 2015 range – yep, we’re talking about next year’s bikes already – including the Cento1 collection (which includes the SR, Air and Disc), the Zero 9, the GTR, the Izoard XP, the Montgrappa and, new to the range, the entry-level, steel Strada.

We’ll cover all that over the next seven pages, but first let’s take a look at the Zero 7, which gets its name as Wilier boast a claimed  weight of less than 800g for a painted size medium frame.

Weight isn’t necessarily the primary motivation for the changes made to what is already a very light frame, however, with the new Zero 7 said to weigh approximately the same as the old model, though we’re told an SL version could be in the offing for weight weenies in pursuit of an even lighter machine.

“This is an evolution of the old Zero 7,” Wilier’s man in the UK, Kevin Izzard, told RoadCyclingUK. “What Wilier wanted to do is keep all the good things about the old Zero 7, which was the handling, low weight and ride quality, but they wanted it to take advantage of some of the technical features that have come through on the Cento1.”

The model year 2015 Zero 7 is noticeably slimmer than its predecessor – with the tube profiles, which have a very subtle Kammtail profile, reduced in size by a claimed 19 per cent. That’s been done without sacrificing stiffness, according to Izzard, and the reduced footprint of the new Zero 7 is said to have improved its aerodynamic efficiency by eight per cent, thanks also to an integrated fork design and the introduction of internal cable routing. The frame, by the way, is compatible with mechanical and electronic groupsets, with a removable plate on the downtube – designed also to ‘provide the perfect cable angle’ and minimise friction – to switch between the two.

“Often with lightweight bikes like this people don’t pay much attention to aerodynamics but, where they can, Wilier have done with this.”

The new integrated fork profile is also designed to increase the size of the fork/headtube/downtube junction, and the result, Wilier say, is a claimed 14 per cent improvement in front-end stiffness. The revamped frame has also switched to a 27.2mm seatpost in a bid to boost comfort – a slimmer seatpost, with 27.2mm now the standard on high-end race bikes, is said to offer more flex.

The 2015 frame retains the Special Elastic Infiltrated Film technology of the original Zero 7. This sees layers of viscoelastic material inserted between the layers of carbon fibre and that’s said to improve vibration absorption and shock resistance. Wilier say the use of SEI Film allows them to maximise the Zero’s stiffness and responsiveness without sacrificing comfort.

The new Zero 7 will be available in the UK in a mechanical Shimano Dura-Ace build with Mavic Ksyrium SLR wheels for £6,599.

So what of the rest of the range? Read on for more on Wilier’s model year 2015 collection.