
There actually are a lot of nice fashionable light-weight carbon, aero road bikes today, however few come near the brand new Rose Xlite on worth. Seriously, the place else are you able to get a full aero carbon, disc brake road bike with a sub 1kg body and built-in cable routing for 2999€?
Rose Xlite affordable light-weight aero road bike
Rose calls their 2022 Xlite a ground-up redesign, “characterized by aerodynamics, lightweight construction, and the highest level of system integration.” Compared to the beforehand standard all-rounder X-Lite, just about every little thing is new, from aero tube shaping to the bike’s geometry, and naturally the utterly inside routing resolution.
The bike will get aero reshaping from the deeper fork blades, an built-in fork crown that easily transitions into a deeper aerofoil downtube, deeper seattube, and new D-shaped aero seatpost. While the hourglass headtube is wider to suit the cables via a 1.5″ higher headset, the toptube turns into wider, extra horizontal & tapered. And total, Rose has smoothed the sides, angling the tops of the wide-set dropped seatstays and even closing the ends of the thru-axles for cleaner airflow.
To be trustworthy, the brand new Xlite begins to look extra like most fashionable aero road bikes. And whereas that makes it a bit extra generic, in the long run, this is about constructing a nice bike at a nice worth. That’s arduous to argue with.
Geometry
Rose reshaped the bike’s geometry too, sustaining versatility in a fast race-oriented experience. Overall body Reach has barely elevated, whereas headtubes have gotten shorter for decreased Stack. Handling is stated to be barely faster with a bit extra fork offset and tweaked head angles throughout the 6-size vary, plus steeper seattube angles to shift the rider ahead with the elevated Reach for higher steadiness on the bike.
Chainstay size has stayed brief at simply 410mm, however Rose managed to make room for barely larger tires, now with as much as 32,, clearance.
What’s else is new?
Besides the clearly all-new body & fork, Rose additionally equips the entire digital shift bikes with a new Race One-Piece carbon cockpit.
The 395g handlebar & stem combo options a compact 83mm attain however 130mm drop with 3° of flare, and get built-in absolutely inside cable routing and a modular out-front GPS mount.
These prime builds additionally get new ROSE RC Sixty tubeless carbon aero wheels.
They function a 60mm deep carbon rim, 21mm inside, 29.5mm max exterior, laced with aero bladed Sapim spokes to alloy centerlock disc brake Newmen hubs, at a claimed 1620g for the wheelset.
Tech particulars
The Rose Xlite is available in two completely different carbon body specs. The top-tier Xlite 06 will get a premium hi-mod layup for a claimed body weight of simply 825g, and most stiffness. The much more affordable Xlite 04 shares the identical mildew however makes use of a decrease grade carbon for a 950g body weight declare.
Both share a PressFit BB86 backside bracket, proprietary D-shaped aero seatpost with hidden wedge-style clamp, direct mount derailleur hanger, 12mm thru-axles, flat mount disc brakes, and two bottle cages mount with 3-bolts to regulate the place on the downtube.
2022 Rose Xlite – Pricing, choices & availability
Rose builds their prime carbon spec Xlite 06 into 5 full bike builds, nearly all with digital shifting, home model 60mm deep aero carbon wheels, and Rose’s one-piece absolutely built-in cockpit.
OK, a 4200€, 7.3kg mechanical Xlite 06 Ultegra construct with alloy wheels & 2-piece cockpit is the most cost effective solution to get the highest carbon body… Rose figured some finances riders would nonetheless want the highest body from the beginning.
The digital builds begin at 6000€ for both the Xlite 06 Ultegra Di2 construct (7.1kg) or Xlite 06 Force eTap AXS (7.2kg). A 8000€ Xlite 06 Dura-Ace Di2 construct and a 8200€ Xlite 06 Red eTap AXS construct each drop all the way down to a claimed 6.9kg racing weight.
The second-tier Xlite 04 shares the entire similar shaping & tech particulars in its 125g heavier body, and Rose builds these up with digital & mechanical groupsets, alloy wheels, and 2-piece bar & stem combos which are nonetheless tremendous properly built-in. The mechanical Xlite 04 105 is probably the most affordable at simply 2999€ with a full bike weight declare of simply 8.1kg.
A mechanical Xlite 04 Ultegra construct sells for 3300€ at 7.8kg, an digital Xlite 04 Ultegra Di2 full for 4600€ at 7.3kg with lighter wheels, and an digital Xlite 04 Force eTap AXS construct for 4800€ at 7.4kg claimed.
All can be found to “order” (or perhaps extra precisely… pre-order) direct-to-consumer from ROSE now, and thru their retailer retailers. The Xlite 04 spec bikes look to ship by mid-July. But the earliest Xlite 06 bikes will arrive is round mid-November 2022, with many pushed out additional all the best way to mid-February 2023.
What a tease.