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Wilier Turbine spools up disc brake Tri & TT bike, unique break-down aero bar

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The new Wilier Turbine has an overall form that you could be forgiven for saying looks familiar. But a unique detachable, break-down aero base bar is lurking there too. Outside of the latest P5x, pretty much every TT bike we’ve seen recently looks quite similar (even in steel), and most share a trend for more modular cockpits. The Turbine hits all of those, plus the adoption of road disc brakes, and a new travel aero bar concept.

Wilier Turbine carbon Triathlon & Time Trial  bike

Interestingly Wilier talks about their Tri/TT design focusing on four issues: aerodynamics braking, position adaptability & ease of transport. The first three seem quite obvious, and essentially are why every tri bike we see looks so similar these days.

That last one though seemed a bit out-of-place at first, until you think that pretty much every triathlete, pro or amateur, spends a lot of time dialing in their aero fit & position on the bike, then has to break it down to travel to far-flung events.

Compactable handlebar

Having an aero bar & base bar system that is modular enough to fit a wide range of athletes in various aero positions is one thing. 0-70mm of vertical height adjustment. 15° of aerobar extension angle adjustment. And modular arm rest positioning that can move back & forth and in & out along top of the extensions…

But making a bar that is easy to disassemble and rebuild in the right place quickly can make a anxiety-riddled triathlete’s race weekends a bit less stressed. Wilier’s solution is a unique monocoque aero basebar that can se separated in 40 seconds and folded flat for easier packing and travel – without removing cables, and without adjusting the fit setup.

Tech details

Yes, this is another familiar looking carbon time trial and triathlon bicycle built around a modular bar system.

Yes, it gets deep truncated NACA aero tube profiles, a sleek aero shaped external steerer smoothly extended above the fork, a sizeable rear wheel cutout, an aero seatpost with hidden clamping, and widely spaced dropped seatstays. Those are all de rigueur tech features for a modern race TT bike.

Shaping of the new TT/Tri bike is really just an evolution of their road race proven Cento10AIR aero road bike, now like that bike also with disc brakes for improved stopping. Disc brakes remain a bit of a point of contention for TT bike setup, as really only Shimano’s Di2 system officially integrates hydraulic braking and shifting into a single TT lever. (Although TRP has their own solution that will work with both Di2 & eTap.)

The new tri bike features 12mm thru-axles, flat mount disc brake mounting, and up to 28mm tire clearance. It gets modular fully internal cable routing with a Di2 junction box inside the downtube, a PressFit bottom bracket, a removable braze-on front derailleur mount, and an aero Ritchey seatpost with either -65mm, 0mm, 25mm setback options. And of course an integrated Profile Design HSF/Aeria drinking system will also be available.

Pricing & Availability

The new Turbine will be available this summer in three sizes (XS/S, M & L/XL), with pre-orders being accepted at dealers now. In Europe there are a number of Shimano Di2 only builds in Ultegra or Dura-Ace ranging from 7700€ – 11,000€, plus a 5000€ frame kit option. In the US only the $6000 frame kit will be available, including frame, fork, headset, seatpost, and foldable aero bars setup.

Wilier.com

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js
js
5 years ago

It seems this design would require an extra 10-15cm of brake hose. Assuming that just gets looped in the handlebar when assembled, I’m curious to know if there is anything designed to keep this quiet.

Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot
5 years ago
Reply to  js

Jagwire sells cable wrapping made of foam that should fit brake housing if my recollection is correct. It used to be an OEM thing but they started selling it to bike shops. The fold out bars are a genius idea. I’m still not sold on disc brake for TT/tri bikes, no doubt disc brakes are fantastic, I’ve got them on one of my road frames but they’re not exactly as easy to travel with and the geo of these bikes seem to negate any advantage you get with disc brakes (are people really railing corners on wet descents with TT frames?) . Still if it means cheaper rear rim brake discs for me than I won’t complain.

dockboy
dockboy
5 years ago

The hydraulic component makes them better than traditional brakes; that it’s a stronger brake is secondary. Hydraulic lines don’t care about tight bends. Hydraulic brakes self-adjust.

If there were more rim brakes with hydraulic fittings, TT bikes would surely use them.

therealgreenplease
5 years ago
Reply to  dockboy

Magura has been making them for about six years now and they’re awesome:
http://www.magura.com/media/1946/rt6_rt8_2013_en_08.pdf

barael
barael
5 years ago

(are people really railing corners on wet descents with TT frames?)

Well, there WERE quite a few crashes at the TDF prologue last year in wet conditions.

Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot
5 years ago
Reply to  barael

C’mon WT time trials are often more technical than your weekly 10 miler plus most of those TDF crashes last year would have happened regardless of braking system, sloppy wet roads+road markings+400+ watt ftps= slide outs

Scott
Scott
5 years ago

In addition to the above comments, disc brakes will allow athletes to switch between training wheels and race wheels without having to switch out brake pads or make brake adjustments for varying rim widths. This should help many of the athletes come race day.

Robin
Robin
5 years ago
Reply to  Scott

This. As the road bike market moves toward domination by disc brakes, it only make sense to have disc brake equipped TT/Tri bikes. Riders that are willing to buy aero wheels for the disc brake equipped road bike and aero wheels for their rim brake equipped TT/Tri bike are going to become fewer in number, and they’ll always be a small part of the market.

blah blah blah
blah blah blah
5 years ago

so once your up to speed ya pull the barends out and disgard, sweet taking aero to the next level!

Scott
Scott
5 years ago

I noticed that the article references this as a TT/Tri bike. Is it then UCI legal?

kgro (@kgro)
5 years ago
Reply to  Scott

Does look very much so.

kgro (@kgro)
5 years ago

The adjustability comes from Aeria Ultimate from Profile Design. I wonder if the removable basebars are coming to some version of PD. Of course the shiny graphics have failed to show that you’ve got to deal with the two break hoses, when removing those basebars.

Thanks for the vertical dropouts though! It’s time to ditch the track cycling legacy in TT and tri.

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