Wilier Triestina Rave SLR ID2 gravel bike review: Addictively fast and unapologetically racey

Wilier Triestina released a new Rave SLR gravel bike with a renewed focus on the ever-growing gravel race scene. The first-gen Rave SLR was released back in 2021 and pitched as an on and off-road crossover, when the concept of a dedicated gravel race bike was still forward-thinking.

The original Rave SLR’s success off-road was cemented by Ivor Silk riding to victory at both the Traka 200 and Unbound the following year, but its dual-purpose aims meant the bike had its compromises.

I felt the overall application fell short when I reviewed the original Rave SLR. While I enjoyed the spritely and reactive ride, which undoubtedly contributed to the bike's racing success, it lacked the aero-optimisation and wide tyre clearance that was beginning to creep into the gravel race scene. Ultimately, Wilier’s attempt to juggle both gravel and road duties fell short, leaving the bike feeling confused and compromised, particularly when it came to gravel riding.

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These days, any self-discerning gravel bike brand has to have a dedicated gravel race bike in its catalogue, and Wilier has given the second-generation Rave SLR ID2 a clear gravel racing objective. The downtube is denoted with three pixel-style emblems, an arrow, a blank space character and a smiling emoji – symbolising Wilier’s goals for the second-generation Rave. These represent aerodynamic speed, space for bigger tyre clearance and the smiley because gravel riding is meant to be fun, the spirit of gravel and all that.

To compete with the best gravel bikes, the new Rave SLR was designed in collaboration with Wilier’s gravel racers and is laser-focused on off-road races like Unbound, where we first spotted a mystery stealthed-out, aggressive-looking Wilier.

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Design and aesthetics

The new Rave SLR ID2 tubing shares very few similarities with the previous Rave SLR. Most notably, besides the very green paint, is the new aero profile. Developed using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics)

The resulting tube shaping is claimed to reduce air resistance by 8.9 per cent. For a rider of Slik’s calibre, that equates to a 54-second saving over a 70km course based on Wilier’s own findings.

A couple of key elements have been used to achieve this. The NACA profile downtube transitions from a thinner teardrop into a wider profile to shroud the leading water bottle and smooth out airflow. The fork shares design cues from the Supersonica SLR TT bike, and dropped seatstays and a scooped-out seat tube should limit the disruption of airflow as it passes over the rear of the bike.

To further boost aerodynamics, Wilier recently launched an aero kit which consists of an aerodynamic bottle cage system. The 550ml bottles and cages combined give a smooth profile with the downtube and seat tube to reduce turbulence. The bottle and cage cost €99, so you probably don't want to be throwing these bottles away, but if you need to grab a fresh bottle mid-race, a regular-shaped bottle will also fit in the cage.

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One of the selling points of the previous generation Wilier Rave SLR was its impressively low weight. The Campagnolo Ekar build I tested in 2021 was lightning-quick on climbs and reactive sprints. Despite its larger aero tubing, the new Rave SLR only adds 120g to the frame weight but will be considerably more capable at holding speed on fast flat sections. On top of that, Wilier has added additional carbon reinforcement to the chainstay to increase stiffness by a claimed 11.78 per cent.

Increasing stiffness didn’t just involve slapping some extra carbon to the stays and calling it a day either. The Wilier SLR ID2 features a size-tuned layup to maintain the same ride quality for riders across all frame sizes.

As we provided in our lab test, wider tyres are faster, so it's great to see tyre clearance has grown to 52mm, roughly 2in if you speak MTB. While that isn’t the biggest we have seen for a gravel race bike, it's certainly up there.

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There's one thing I disliked about the old Rave SLR that has been carried over to the new model. The seat clamp is still unnecessarily recessed into the top tube, making it trickier to insert the seatpost than it should be. It’s far from a deal breaker, as it's not something you will be dealing with regularly.

The bike features a Press Fit bottom bracket shell and is equipped with SRAM’s UDH (Universal Derailleur Hanger). Although my bike was fitted with an electronic groupset, there is cable routing that exits through the underside of the chainstay if you prefer mechanical shifting.

Despite the proliferation of 12sp and 13sp drivetrains these days, double chainsets are still holding on as the preference of some gravel riders, so it’s worth noting that this frame is 1x only; there are no fixtures or cable routing for a front derailleur.

As it's a race bike, you’re not going to find much in the way of bikepacking fixings. There are the standard bottle cage mounts, plus eyelets for a top tube bag and under the downtube for an additional bottle or storage, but that's it.

I would like to see some internal frame storage; it's becoming increasingly common on gravel bikes, but it's a feature that is generally excluded from race bikes. Sure, it would require a little more design work and add a few grams to the frame weight, but I think the convenience of the extra secure storage is worth it, especially when you consider the potential aero penalties of taping ride essentials to your carefully crafted aero frame.

Although the new Rave SLR ID2 is visually very different with its new gravel aero profiles, Wilier hasn’t changed all that much in regards to the geometry. Most notable is an extra 10mm to the stack height, which the new aggressively shaped F-bar offsets; more on the handlebar later.

Beyond the stack height, only minor tweaks have been made to the headtube angle, chainstay and reach compared to the previous generation. This gives a far more traditional fit when compared to the longer top tube and shorter stem trend that we have seen on bikes like the Canyon Grail and Lauf Seigla.

On an aesthetic front, I felt the old bike lacked presence, but the same certainly can’t be said of the new aggressive aero profile. While Slik’s Unbound bike came in a subtle raw carbon finish, our test bike is certainly not going to fly under the radar in its eye-catching 90’s electronica paint scheme. My test bike came in the Pixel Green colourway, which incorporates fluorescent pixels of CRT screens and the laser beams of rave parties. There’s also a Neon Purple inspired by futuristic cities and underground clubs, Byte Cream that nods to the retro computers and consoles aesthetic and finally the understated Glitch Black.

Specifications

I tested the top-tier spec, which means I was treated to a full SRAM RED XPLR AXS groupset. That means the derailleur uses SRAM’s T-Type direct-mount to shift across a 10-46T 13-speed cassette. The bike comes with a 40t chainring. This is fine for general riding, but if you are serious about gravel racing, you’re probably going to want to get something with a few more teeth. It's a bit disappointing that spending almost €10,000 doesn’t get you a power meter, especially on a bike that's aimed at racing.

Miche isn’t a brand that's commonly featured on an off-the-shelf bike; Wilier has opted to keep it Italian and specced the Graff Aero 48. It’s a deep-section hookless gravel wheel aimed at gravel racing, with a 27mm internal rim diameter that's broad enough to comfortably support wider gravel tyres. They performed well during testing, although they aren’t the lightest, so there are a few hundred grams to be saved if you need it. These are fitted with Vittoria T50 tyres, but in my opinion, a set of faster-rolling T30S would have been better suited to the Rave SLR ID2’s nature.

Wilier specs its own F-Bar integrated handlebar on models at higher price points, and my bike came equipped with a suitably racey handlebar width of 37cm on the tops, flaring out to 40mm in the drops. All the flare occurs in the curve of the bar, giving the 126mm drops a comfortable inline hand position. The UCI’s handlebar width rules only apply to mass start road and cyclocross events, so these one-piece aero handlebars are still race legal in gravel and, with the hoods turned in, they promote an aggressive aero position. Cable routing is internally routed through the handlebars and continues unseen into the frame. The handlebar is available separately for an eye-watering $1000 price tag if you want to fit it to your current bike.

The full build comes in at a hair under 8kg for my size medium, which is very respectable, especially considering it's got aero tubing and it’s fitted with 48mm deep rims and 50mm tyres. For comparison, the benchmark of lightweight gravel bikes is the round-tubed and shallow rimmed Specialized S-Works Crux at 7.25kg. It's among the lightest of aero gravel bikes, coming in at not much more than 100g heavier than the Ridley ASTR RS and 300g heavier than the Cervelo Aspero-5.

Performance

The Wilier Rave SLR ID2 only has one purpose: it's a race bike, and it encourages you to ride fast. Climb aboard, and it feels as though you have a rocket between your legs. It's sharp and reactive, urging you to kick it up a gear and attack. Its unapoligetic about its singular focus and all the better for it.

As critical as I was about the old Rave, the one thing that really enamoured me about it was the instant reactivity and eagerness for acceleration. The aero upgrade, deep-section wheels and fat tyres could have easily numbed this experience; thankfully, the Rave SLR ID2 still has this explosive thrust forward when power is sent through the pedals.

Handling is extremely precise, with the short chainstay and wheelbase giving the Rave SLR ID2 a lively yet planted feel through the corners. In fact, I would go as far as saying that this is one of the best-handling bikes I have ever tested. Drill the bike through corner combinations, and it's easy to open up gaps that the wheels behind you will need to close.

What's interesting is that the Rave SLR ID2’s singular focus actually makes it a much better bike for spanning across gravel and sealed surfaces. Low weight ensures you are up to speed quickly, and the aero positioning and frame design hold speed well on flat sections.

Ride feel only tells you so much, but our own independent aero testing backs up what I felt when riding. We wind tunnel tested the Wilier Rave SLR ID2 against the top gravel race bikes, including two spicy unreleased gravel bikes from Argon18 aero gravel bike and Specialized Crux, and the Rave SLR ID2 consistently scored among the fastest bikes. If you want to delve into the numbers, check out the full results in our gravel race bike wind tunnel test.

While our rolling resistance testing has proven wider tyres are faster, and they certainly enhance cornering performance, it's worth noting that the wider tyres don’t necessarily equate to more capability. The bike is taught and even though it comes stock with 50mm Vittoria T50 tyres, there is still a lot of trail feedback translated through the bike. This was particularly noticeable when speeds picked up on rougher tracks, with a lot of vibrations communicated through the bike despite my experimentation with low pressures.

The cause could be attributed to a number of factors, so to try to isolate some of the nervousness when descending on raw surfaces, I switched the tyres to a set of Continental Terra Speed gravel tyres in a smaller 45mm size. Although the differences weren’t dramatic, the combination of a more forgiving sidewall and slightly more rounded profile made a difference to handling and I was able to corner with even more confidence. Ride quality also improved, and although the Terra Speeds I fitted were smaller, they dulled vibrations more effectively.

Changing the tyres didn’t transform it into a magic carpet ride, and the frame stiffness combined with the aggressive aero positioning makes descending on proper technical terrain an experience that demands some attention and care. Let speeds pick up on loose and chunky surfaces, and the bike will begin to feel a bit squirrely. I think it's forgivable; it's a race bike rather than a pseudo mountain bike, and if you are racing, the aero performance should outweigh the additional care needed.

Value

Wilier offers the Rave SLR ID2 in 10 different builds plus a frameset option. Pricing starts at $5,200 / £4,150 / €4,400 for the mechanical GRX 12sp bike up to the SRAM RED-equipped range-topping bike I have been testing, which costs $11,700 / £8,900 / €9,900. In between there are also GRX Di2, SRAM Rival and SRAM Force equipped bikes with either Miche Graff XL, Graff All-Road or Aero Graff Carbon 48mm wheelsets.

Is the Wilier Rave SLR ID2 good value? To put it bluntly, not really. Based on component MSRP’s, you will save money buying a complete bike, but it's a tight margin. The frameset costs around £3000 (add £800 if you want to F-Bar too) and with some shrewd deal shopping and a bit of luck, it could be possible to build up a SRAM RED/Miche Aero Graff 48 equipped Rave SLR ID2 bike cheaper than it comes from Wilier. Admittedly, you would have to factor in additional postage costs and deal with assembling the bike too. In the end, the discounts would need to be good to make the juice worth the squeeze, but let this be a reminder that it shouldn’t be assumed that an off-the-shelf bike build will be cheaper these days.

It’s worth noting that Wilier offers significantly better value than many of its gravel race bike competitors. Want to spend under five figures on a top-tier gravel race bike? You will be looking at a SRAM Force-equipped 3T Exploro RaceMax, Allied Able or Cervelo Aspero-5.

Pinarello’s latest Dogma GR can't be had for less than €14,000 complete, although it does come with a particularly flash set of Princeton Grit 4540 Evolution wheels. The Rave SLR ID2 undercuts some of the big players too, Specialized’s S-Works Crux and Cannondale’s SuperX Lab71, both with Red XPLR, are well North of the €10k mark.

There are better value bikes around. The SRAM RED equipped Lauf Siegla Ultimate that my colleague Tom tested saves a huge chunk of cash, and although it doesn't have a fancy integrated carbon handlebar, it does have a suspension fork and power meter. Trek’s Checkmate SLR 9 and Orbea Terra Race M11eLTD just scrape under the five-figure mark and both include a SRAM RED groupset, with a power meter as standard too.

Verdict

The Rave SLR ID2 hooked me on my first outing and the more I rode it, the more I loved it. It's undeniably fast, both in feel and in our independent aero testing, and the handling prowess is frankly outrageous. If you have confidence in the surface, few bikes will be able to hold the wheel of the Rave SLR ID2 through fast twisting trails. It's addictive, willing you to accelerate harder, go faster and brake later with each corner.

If you're looking for a bike that will absolutely rip the high-octane gravel racing that is seen on distances up to 200km, the Rave SLR ID2 is the tool for the job. It will cover the longer Ultra distance too, especially if you choose a supple tyre to improve comfort, but it's definitely better suited to the smoother, faster and more aggressive nature of short distance races.

To get the most out of the Rave SLR ID2 I would recommend switching out the tyres. Pairing the bike with a set of the best gravel tyres for your local conditions will greatly improve control and confidence on descents.