Wilier Granturismo SLR Road Bike Frame

Wilier Granturismo SLR: An Endurance-Oriented Road Bike for Comfort and Performance

A lot of bike brands get criticized for catering only to the pros and riders who want to have what the pros have. But with the Wilier Granturismo SLR, the Italian brand has put all their love and engineering prowess into developing an endurance-oriented road bike for regular riders like us who value comfort as much as we do performance.

Though the gravel and endurance segments of bike design have recently been merging, the Granturismo SLR tends more towards those riders who are less concerned about gravel adventures and prefer to stick to paved roads with occasional forays into road racing. That is to say, it is an endurance road bike that has the handling and responsiveness that would make it feel right at home in a road race as well. The fact that it can handle up to 32mm tires means that you probably could get away with riding it on tamer gravel paths, but that’s not the focus of the beast.

The Wilier Granturismo SLR is a racing bike that focuses on everyday comfort. The key to this is the implementation of the ACTIFLEX 2.0 rear micro-shock system. Initially developed in 2017 for the Cento10 NDR, the Wilier designers have updated and improved the system to offer up to 5mm of dampening vertical travel without adding an excess of weight.

It’s not really going to feel like rear suspension but will quietly save your bum from fatigue-causing vibrations over the course of a long day in the saddle. And in the 2.0 redesign, they have been careful to improve how the four bearings central to the ACTIFLEX system are protected from dirt, mud, sand and rain. This new design reduces the need for future maintenance.

There are two options for this system. When you order the Granturismo SLR with Dura Ace Di2 12V or SRAM Red AXS setups, the elastomer that comes standard with the frame is replaced with a 3D printed conformal lattice structure, reducing the overall weight of the frame by an additional 20g.

Endurance-Friendly Geometry of the Granturismo SLR

Wilier designers have also focused on giving the geometry an endurance-friendly slant to avoid putting the rider in too aggressive a position. It’s not super upright, but the reach and the stack are a little less severe than the Wilier Filante SLR, which is their top-drawer WorldTour racing bike. This is the type of bike that will put you in a racing mood, and help you keep the pace up when you hit those ubiquitous rough roads outside of town. They have given the same attention to keeping it aero with tube shapes that offer a slippery leading edge, while the front end integration also offers huge aero benefits.

Interestingly for a dedicated road bike, Wilier have future-proofed the Granturismo SLR by making it 1x compatible with the options of a flat plate to cover where the front derailleur would normally attach.

The Wilier Granturismo SLR offers high performance and comfort in equal measure. It’s a racing bike for someone who also likes to test their endurance and ride long distances. And if you live in an area with terrible road conditions, then it might be your secret weapon to keep you free of vibration fatigue.

Also check Basso Road Bikes.