Winspace has unveiled the next generation of its climbing bike at Eurobike 2024.
The new SLC3 brings several improvements over the outgoing SLC2.0, according to Winspace. It saves weight and increases stiffness and comfort, while maintaining an attractive price tag.
The Chinese brand says the new climbing bike should be available within a few weeks, but at Eurobike only an SLC3 frameset was shown rather than a complete bike.
Low weight and low price
According to Winspace, the new SLC3 frame, unpainted and in a size medium, weighs 700 grams, which is 80 grams lighter than its predecessor.
Winspace’s Fred Zou spoke to BikeRadar at Eurobike and explained how the brand has reduced weight in part by switching to ‘better materials’.
While the SLC2.0 uses Toray’s T800 and T700 carbon fibers, the SLC3 uses Toray’s T1100 and T1000 high modulus carbon fibers.
Zhou says exact pricing has yet to 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 considerably cheaper than comparable framesets from bigger bike brands.
Greater stiffness
The SLC3 uses a one-piece molding process to increase rigidity.
According to Winspace, the SLC3’s head tube is 31.8 percent stiffer compared to the SLC2.0, while the bottom bracket shell is said to be 36 percent stiffer.
Like the SLC2.0, Winspace says its new climbing bike also features an asymmetrical design for stiffness and, Zou says, “ride performance.”
The bike also features what Winspace calls an “Optimised Rear Centre design” to improve power transfer.
We don’t have details yet, but Zou says Winspace has tweaked the geometry to make the SLC3 more comfortable than the SLC2.0.
Frame properties
The SLC3 frameset has similar features to Winspace’s other racing bikes.
The frameset has dropped seatstays that angle to a horizontal position where they meet the seat tube. This is the same seatstays as on Winspace’s all-round C5 road bike and its T1550 aero bike.
Winspace hides the driveside thru-axle dropouts on the SLC3 and its other disc brake race bikes – a feature similar to BMC’s Stealth Dropout Design.
The SLC3 routes all cables and hoses internally. It looks like these will also run through the handlebars of the bike.
All of these features mean that the SLC3 resembles many of the latest and greatest road bikes. The SLC3 differs in one respect, however. Instead of a proprietary seatpost – now common on many carbon bikes – the SLC3 uses a standard 27.2mm round stem.
Second generation Winspace T1550 aero road bike
Also on display at Winspace’s Eurobike stand is the second-generation T1550 aero road bike. The Winspace Women Cycling Team raced the bike in La Vuelta Feminina and Paris-Roubaix Femme.
Like the SLC3, Winspace says its latest aero road bike is lighter and stiffer than its predecessor. So, no surprises there.
According to Winspace, the bike is 50 grams lighter, which is 6 percent lighter than the previous model.
According to Winspace, the rear triangle stiffness has been increased by 36 percent, while the bottom bracket is 7 percent stiffer and the head tube is 33 percent stiffer than before.
We’re used to bike brands making bold claims about their latest machines, so there’s nothing unusual here. The proof is in the ride, of course, and Winspace is an intriguing brand that we’d like to see more of.