Wilier Triestina’s Cento10 Pro is the brand’s pro-level aero machine available to team riders at Wilier-sponsored Astana. Up until now, the Italian brand’s more affordable aero option has been the Cento1 Air, but today the Cento10 SL has been introduced.
In its time, the Cento1 was a cutting-edge aero machine but the design is now six years old. In that time, Wilier says the Cento1 has accounted for 17 per cent of its road bike sales, making its replacement of huge importance to the brand.
So Wilier has brought the more recent design and tech of the Cento10 to a range starting at £2,450 / €2,700 for the Shimano 105-equipped rim brake model.
The new Cento10 SL, as its known, is struck from the same moulds as the Pro-level bike but uses a more modest carbon configuration and sees some tweaks to the design at the lower the price.
10 facts about the Wilier Cento10 SL
- The Cento10 SL replaces the long-standing Cento1 Air aero bike in Wilier’s line-up
- The Cento10 SL’s aero-optimised frame weighs a claimed 1,190g (size medium)
- There is a new rim brake model alongside the disc version
- If you want to sound in the know you should pronounce Cento10 as ‘Chen-toe - dee-EH-chee’. It means one hundred and ten
- The new SL has tyre clearance for 28mm on the rim brake model and 30mm for disc brake models
- It uses a new bar and stem design made in conjunction with Ritchey
- The new Barra bar is clip-on tri bar compatible
- The dedicated headset uses a patent-pending design to maintain a slim head tube and internally route the cables
- Wilier claims better torsional stiffness than the top-of-the-range Pro model
- Bikes range from £2,450 / €2,700 to £5,540 / €5,600
Heavier but stiffer
The SL frame differs from the existing Pro frame in that Wilier has eliminated the alloy plate on the down tube, originally designed on the top-end bike to house a Shimano Di2 or Campagnolo EPS control box.
The SL’s down tube is a NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) truncated Kammtail shape, with the slim tail section chopped off. This shape “cheats” the air into believing that the tail is still there.
For a tube section to be efficient aerodynamically, it’s important that the air flowing over the surface remains attached to it. When airflow separates, it creates “separated flow” and relative drag in the opposite direction of the structure's movement.
Wilier rather surprisingly claims the SL version of the Cento10 frame actually improves torsional stiffness over its much more expensive cousin. Wilier hasn't put any figures on this, though.
Elsewhere, the SL uses the same moulds as the Pro model and so it shares the same 28mm tyre clearances front and rear for the rim brake model, and 30mm for the disc version. 28mm tyres are fitted as standard.
The frame weighs in at a claimed 1,190g (painted, finished medium frame) compared to the Pro’s claimed 990g, so think of the SL as the Specialized Expert to the Pro’s S-Works, or Giant TCR Advanced to TCR Advanced SL.
Wilier Cento10 SL geometry
The SL remains true to the Pro’s super-aggressive racing geometry. Our disc brake test bike (XL) comes with a low 571mm stack and long 396mm reach (for other sizes see the geometry chart below).
The disc and rim brake bikes share the same geometry, apart from L, XL and XXL disc brakes models which gain a couple of millimetres in chainstay length and wheelbase.
We've listed the disc brake geometry below.
| | XS | S | M | L | XL | XXL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top tube (cm) | 51.3 | 52.6 | 54.1 | 55.6 | 57.1 | 58.7 |
| Seat tube (cm) | 45 | 48 | 50 | 52 | 54 | 56 |
| Seat angle (degrees) | 75 | 74.5 | 74 | 73.5 | 73 | 72.5 |
| Head tube (cm) | 10.7 | 12.1 | 13.8 | 15.4 | 17.3 | 19 |
| Chainstays (cm) | 40.4 | 40.4 | 40.5 | 40.7 | 40.9 | 41 |
| Head angle (degrees) | 71.3 | 72 | 72.5 | 73 | 73 | 73.5 |
| Stack (mm) | 503 | 519 | 536 | 554 | 571 | 589 |
| Reach (mm) | 378 | 382 | 387 | 391 | 396 | 400 |
| Wheelbase (mm) | 970 | 974 | 980 | 987 | 999 | 1,002 |
Aero-winged cockpit
The other cost-saving over the Pro model comes from the cockpit. Rather than use Wilier’s slick (but expensive – around €800 aftermarket) Alabarda one-piece design, the marque has worked in conjunction with long-standing component partners Ritchey.
The relationship between the two iconic brands stems back to the Team Lampre days, when Ritchey and Wilier were co-sponsors, and the result of the latest collaboration is a bar and stem called the Stemma SL and Barra SL respectively.
The Barra SL (claimed weight 320g in a 42cm width) features an aero-winged top but a traditional 31.8mm diameter clamp, with a couple of inches each side of the clamp to enable compatibility with clip-on tri bars.
The integrated cable routing of the bar is designed to exit and flow straight into the Ritchey Stemma SL’s under-stem routing, with the cables cradled in a carbon fibre channel that flows everything down through the steerer tube.
The system is quite similar to both Cervélo’s internal routing seen on the new Caledonia endurance bike and on Orbea’s latest Orca and Avant bikes.
The head tube is kept slender, even with the internal cable routing, by the use of a clever headset system that keeps an oversized 1–¼in top and bottom diameter, but with a clever ‘super thin’ bearing that uses much smaller balls than a standard headset (but lots more of them – around 50 per race compared to the standard, which is around 24). We’ve recently seen a similar innovation on 3T’s new do-it-all Exploro RaceMax.
Carbon wheel upgrade
The new Wilier Cento10 SL range consists of six disc brake and four rim brake bikes. Most are available with either ‘standard’ wheels or upgrades to Wilier’s NDR38 carbon hoops. Every model comes with the Wilier/Ritchey bar and stem.
While the upgraded wheels may be branded as Wilier, they are another collaborative effort, this time with Italian component manufacturer Miche.
The made-in-Italy carbon wheels feature a forged alloy hub shell with stainless steel bearings, hand-built using Sapim spokes and nipples. Those spokes are mated to a unidirectional 38mm-deep carbon rim with a blunted aero shape that is 24mm wide (with a 17mm internal dimension).
With tubeless tape ready-fitted, the Wilier NDR38 wheels weigh in at a claimed 1,665g.
2021 Wilier Cento10 SL range
There are 18 models in the new Wilier Cento10 SL range (including wheel upgrades), ranging from £2,430 with Shimano 105, Shimano RS100 wheels and rim brakes, to £5,540 with Shimano Ultegra Di2, Wilier's carbon wheels and disc brakes.
We've got the flagship model in to test and will bring you a review soon. It weighs 7.77kg on our scales.
With Wilier being an Italian brand, there are, of course, Campagnolo options in the range. With Shimano and SRAM specs also included, it's nice – and rare – to see options from all of the big three.
Wilier Cento10 SL disc brake models
Wilier Cento10 SL Ultegra Di2
Groupset: Shimano Ultegra Di2 Wheels: Wilier NDR38 Price: £5,540 / €5,600
Wilier Cento10 SL Ultegra Di2
Groupset: Shimano Ultegra Di2 Wheels: Shimano RS10 Price: £4,410 / €4,900
Wilier Cento10 SL Force eTap AXS
Groupset: SRAM Force eTap AXS Wheels: Wilier NDR38 Price: £5,040 / €5,600
Wilier Cento10 SL Force eTap AXS Wide
Groupset: SRAM Force eTap AXS Wide (read more on SRAM's wide-range Force AXS groupset) Wheels: Wilier NDR38 Price: £5,040 / €5,600
Wilier Cento10 SL Campagnolo Chorus
Groupset: Campagnolo Chorus Wheels: Wilier NDR38 Price: £4,680 / €5,200
Wilier Cento10 SL Campagnolo Chorus
Groupset: Campagnolo Chorus Wheels: Campagnolo Scirocco Price: £4,410 / €4,900
Wilier Cento10 SL Ultegra
Groupset: Shimano Ultegra Wheels: Wilier NDR38 Price: £3,960 / €4,400
Wilier Cento10 SL Ultegra
Groupset: Shimano Ultegra Wheels: Shimano RS10 Price: £3,330 / €3,700
Wilier Cento10 SL Shimano 105
Groupset: Shimano 105 Wheels: Wilier NDR38 Price: £3,375 / €3,750,
Wilier Cento10 SL Shimano 105
Groupset: Shimano 105 Wheels: Shimano RS10 Price: £2,745 / €3,050
Wilier Cento10 SL rim brake models
Wilier Cento10 SL Ultegra Di2
Groupset: Shimano Ultegra Di2 Wheels: Wilier NDR38 Price: £4,850 / €5,400
Wilier Cento10 SL Ultegra Di2
Groupset: Shimano Ultegra Di2 Wheels: Shimano RS100 Price: £4,050 / €4,500
Wilier Cento10 SL Ultegra
Groupset: Shimano Ultegra Wheels: Wilier NDR38 Price: £3,600 / €4,000
Wilier Cento10 SL Ultegra
Groupset: Shimano Ultegra 8000 Wheels: Shimano RS100 Price: £2,790 / €3,100
Wilier Cento10 SL Campagnolo Chorus
Groupset: Campagnolo Chorus Wheels: Wilier NDR38 Price: £4,410 / €4,900
Wilier Cento10 SL Campagnolo Chorus
Groupset: Campagnolo Chorus Wheels: Campagnolo Calima Price: £3,600 / €4,000
Wilier Cento10 SL Shimano 105
Groupset: Shimano 105 Wheels: Wilier NDR38 Price: £3,240 / €3,600
Wilier Cento10 SL Shimano 105
Groupset: Shimano 105 Wheels: Shimano RS100 Price: £2,430 / €2,700
