Wilier has officially unveiled what might have actually been the first complete road bike with BB386EVO (it was shown as the Wilier 799 at Cycle Taipei in March). The 2012 Wilier Zero 7 uses the new bottom bracket standard developed by FSA and BH.
In a snub to the UCI, unlike their new TwinFoil TT bike, the Zero 7 will not be used by Wilier’s sponsored race teams so they’re unconcerned with the dated minimum weight restrictions imposed by racing’s international governing body. The frame will be their lightest ever, coming in under 800g for a medium painted frame. It’ll use a dedicated BB386EVO FSA crankset and the frame is made of the same ZnO / 60 ton Mitsubishi materials as the Cento 1 SL with brand new SEI Film technology. The result, says Wilier, is a super light frame with exceptional stiffness coupled with outstanding vibration damping properties.
More info after the break…
The Zero 7 will come only in the color scheme shown above and available in six sizes. Pricing is rumored to be around £8250, but that’s not final yet.
The SEI Film is a special elastic film that’s sandwiched between carbon layers in the tubes, which helps dampen vibration without adding much weight, and Wilier boasts a 35% increase in impact strength and 18% improvement in interlaminate sheer strength (carbon layers are less likely to separate) with it. It also lets the frame flex more without cracking by about 12%.
Like the BH Ultralight, the frame can be retrofitted with any standard crankset using adapter cups, which is one of the big benefits of the BB386EVO system, and Wilier will have cups available for Shimano, SRAM and Campagnolo.
Wilier introduced a 93mm wide BB on the original Cento 1 frame three years ago, which worked with current standard cranksets. For this bike, the press materials that accompanied this photo suggest Wilier contacted FSA in advance of the BB386EVO launch requesting a 30mm spindle but longer than the 68mm size required by BB30. They wanted a pressfit system for better tolerances and, as stars aligned, they helped usher in the new BB standard.
Want more? Wilier.it has a countdown timer to full launch of this bike, which as of this posting points to 8 days from now.
