Winspace has unveiled the next generation of its climbing bike at Eurobike 2024.
The new SLC3 makes several improvements over the outgoing SLC2.0, according to Winspace. It shaves weight and increases stiffness and comfort, while maintaining an attractive price.
The Chinese brand says the new climbing bike should be available in a few weeks, but it only had an SLC3 frameset on display at Eurobike rather than a complete bike.
Low weight and low price
Winspace says the new SLC3 frame weighs 700g unpainted in a medium size, which is 80g lighter than its predecessor.
Speaking to BikeRadar at Eurobike, Winspace’s Fred Zou explained how the brand has reduced weight in part through a change to a “better material”.
While the SLC2.0 uses Toray’s T800 and T700 carbon fibers, the SLC3 uses Toray’s high-modulus T1100 and T1000 carbon fibers.
Zhou says an exact price will be confirmed, but we can expect the SLC3 frameset to cost around $2,000. That’s about $500 more than the SLC2.0, but still much cheaper than similar framesets from the bigger cycling brands.
Greater hardness
The SLC3 uses a one-piece molding process to increase rigidity.
Compared to the SLC2.0, Winspace says the SLC3’s head tube is 31.8 percent stiffer, while the bottom bracket is said to be 36 percent stiffer.
Like the SLC2.0, Winspace says its new climbing bike also has an asymmetric design for stiffness and, says Zou, “driving performance.”
The bike also has what Winspace calls an “optimized rear hub design” to aid power transfer.
We don’t have details yet, but Zou says that Winspace has changed the geometry to make the SLC3 more comfortable than the SLC2.0.
Features of the framework
The SLC3 frameset shares similar features with Winspace’s other road bikes.
The frameset has dropouts that bend to a horizontal position where they meet the seat tube. This is the same as the seats on Winspace’s C5 all-round road bike and its T1550 aero bike.
Winspace hides drive-side thru-axle dropouts on the SLC3 and other road bikes with disc brakes – a feature that’s similar to BMC’s Stealth Dropout Design.
The SLC3 runs all cables and hoses internally. It looks like these will also go through the handlebars of the bike.
All these features mean the SLC3 is like many of the latest and greatest road bikes. However, SLC3 differs in one respect. Instead of using a seatpost – now common on many carbon bikes – the SLC3 uses a standard 27.2mm round post.
Winspace T1550 2nd generation road aero bike
Also on display at Winspace’s Eurobike stand is the second generation T1550 aero bike. The Winspace women’s cycling team raced the bike at La Vuelta Feminina and Paris-Roubaix Femme.
Like the SLC3, Winspace says its latest aero road bike is lighter and stiffer than its predecessor. No surprises then.
Winspace says the bike weighs 50g, which is 6 percent lighter than the previous model.
The stiffness of the rear triangle has been increased by 36 percent, according to Winspace, while the bottom bracket is 7 percent stiffer and the head tube is 33 percent stiffer than before.
We’re used to seeing bike brands make bold claims about their latest machines, so there’s nothing out of the ordinary here. The proof is in the travel, of course, and Winspace is an intriguing brand we’d like to see more of.