You Are Here: Home > Wilier Road Bikes > Wilier Triestina Izoard XP 2012 Review

Wilier Triestina Izoard XP 2012 Review

The Wilier Izoard road bike has always provided an impressively comfortable ride, and with its superior frame and fork, the XP looks to maintain these high standards. Priced at only £1,750, it’s not surprising that every aspect of the bike isn’t quite as impressive, but the distinctly average wheels and poor quality tyres can easily be replaced.

The frame comes with a 160mm head tube and is designed around the company’s sport-level geometry. Although the tube is shallow by racing standards, it’s not quite as uncompromising as the top flight Zero7.

The angles of the seat and head are similar to the Zero7 which makes for similar handling, but longer chainstays allow for more rear and vertical flex. The comfort of the ride makes the XP perfect for long-distances, but at the same time the longer wheelbase and comfortable rear end don’t hamper speed too much when you feel like an adrenalin surge.

The responsive handling may seem a little out of place with the rest of the bike’s design, but actually we enjoyed the combination of a bike that can cut through bends and zip between other riders, and still give a comfortable, smooth ride at the end of the day.

The cheapest of the Izoard range is the Shimano-105-equipped model. As you would imagine, the cheaper price tag comes with some compromise. Although the RS30 wheels are a little on the heavy side at 1952g for the pair, they do seem to be of relatively good quality and made it through the test without a problem. The real problem is with their Wilier Chen Shin tyre covering.

We found these tyres to be slow and muddy-feeling, and they also have an unpleasant stiff and waxy feel that provides a really poor performance especially on greasy road surfaces. Altogether they seemed to be hampering the bike, so we changed them for a set of R500s which made for a dramatic improvement.

There’s nothing wrong with the Shimano 105 drivetrain with the Wilier-branded FSA compact chainset, but it seemed like a lighter sprocket than the 25T would have been useful; extra hard work that is not necessary.

The Selle Italia saddle is about as comfortable as you could ever want, and the compact drop bar makes it easy to get into an aero position. With its matching kit the Izoard certainly looks impressive; all that’s missing is a pair of quality tyres to allow it to live up to its appearance.