Individual test 3T New Strada Force: Fast at the front, comfortable at the back?

3T New Strada Force in the TOUR test

The Italian bike manufacturer 3T stands for bold innovations, both in terms of technology and production: 3T began producing cranks in Italy as early as 2018, and the frames of the RaceMax Italia model are now also manufactured in Lombardy - financed by an investor who took over the shares of Cervélo co-founders Gerard Vroomen and René Wiertz in 2022, but who are still the brains behind the innovations.

The 3T Strada reflects the penchant for bold designs. The bike was launched in 2017 and its inventors demonstrated an enormous willingness to experiment at the time by limiting it to one chainring. However, the supposed progress turned into a PR disaster when it was used by the professional Aqua Blue Sport team in 2018: the riders saw the limited gear range as partly to blame for the team's moderate sporting success. For the new version of the Strada, 3T has therefore once again dispensed with this restriction. The revised frame is now also available for double gearboxes, but only electronic shifting groupsets are planned.

3T New Strada - Not a fabulous value for an aero racer

The most visually striking change compared to its predecessor: the cables and hydraulic brake lines are now routed completely internally. In addition, the head tube has been aerodynamically optimised and pulled far back. This creates a massive, modern look that contrasts sharply with the simple combination of classic stem and handlebars. The competition mainly uses handlebar-stem units for frames of a similar design.

The advantage of the Strada is that the seating position can be easily changed by swapping the stem. Not only bike fitters will love this variability. The relatively narrow handlebars are not an eye-catcher - on an aerodynamically optimised bike, you would expect handlebars of the same shape with a wider contact surface. After all, 3T argues that the front part of the bike is fully optimised for aerodynamics and the rear part for comfort. If you look at the values in the wind tunnel, the 3T is on a par with current competition all-rounders such as the Rose XLite 06 or Canyon's Ultimate CF SL 8 (see TOUR 4/2023) with a measured value of 216 watts of pedalling power for 45 km/h.

This is not a fabulous figure for an aero racer, but the potential of the frame is far from exhausted with the structure provided. It is true that 3T has already replaced the standard, less aerodynamic aluminium wheelset from Fulcrum with Campagnolo Shamal Carbon. But there are faster rims on the market. By swapping to our reference (Zipp 404), the bike improves to a very good 210 watts; an aero handlebar should add a few more watts.

3T New Strada Force - In search of comfort

The second promise of the Strada is comfort. Earlier than other bike manufacturers, 3T designed its frames for the possibility of fitting wide tyres. The test bike is fitted with 30 millimetre wide Pirelli P Zero tyres, which contribute the lion's share of the not particularly high level of suspension comfort. The seatpost, on the other hand, is unyielding despite the long extension in conjunction with the rear triangle, while the unusual frame construction fails to deliver on its promise of comfort. Well-sprung seatposts achieve significantly better results on other bikes with less design effort.

In the saddle, the Italian is a very predictable and smooth-running bike, but given its total weight of eight kilograms, it doesn't exactly feel lively. In the standard set-up with simple Fulcrum wheels, it would take even more effort to get the Strada Force D1 AXS up to speed; the upgrade to carbon wheels therefore makes sense in many respects. All in all, the 3T, which is available in six equipment variants between 5199 and 8999 euros, is a competition bike suitable for everyday use with good aerodynamics. Although the bike is not the comfort world champion of aero bikes, it is sufficiently comfortable thanks to the wide tyres.

3T New Strada Force - Details and reviews

• Price6199 Euro >> available here (the price quoted is for the test bike with Fulcrum Rapid Red 900 aluminium wheels, 3T also offers an upgrade to 3T Discus carbon rims for an additional charge).

• Frame/fork/steering bearing weight* 1054/436/48 grammes
• Frame sizes** XXS, S, M, L, XL
• Seat/top tube/head tube 380/570/144 millimetres
• Stack/Reach/STR*** 551/381 millimetres/1.45
• Wheelbase/caster 975/50 millimetre

Equipment

• Drive/Circuit SRAM Force eTap AXS (2x12; 46/33, 10-36 t.)
• Brakes SRAM Force (160/160 millimetres)
• Wheels/tyres (weights)**** Campagnolo Shamal/Pirelli P Zero Race 30 millimetres (f./h.: 1340/1804 grams)

Measured values & individual notes*****

• Weight of complete wheel 8.0 kilos Grade 3,0
• Steering head stiffness 94 Nm/° Grade 1,7
• Lateral stiffness Fork 50 N/millimetre Grade 1,7
• Bottom bracket stiffness 63 N/millimetre Grade 1,0
• Seatpost spring stiffness 252 N/millimetre Grade 3,0
• Aerodynamics****** 216 Watt Grade 2,3

>> The 3T New Strada gets an overall TOUR score of 2.0

*Weighed weights.

**Manufacturer information Test size bold.

***Stack/Reach Projected vertical/horizontal dimension from the centre of the bottom bracket to the top of the head tube;

STR (Stack to Reach) 1.36 means a very stretched sitting position, 1.60 means an upright sitting position.

****Impeller weights including tyres, cassette, quick release/threaded axles and brake discs if necessary.

*****Single noteswhich are weighted differently in the overall grade, are only partially printed for reasons of space. The grades are calculated with all decimal places up to the final grade; however, for the sake of clarity, all grades are shown with rounded decimal places.

******Aerodynamics Theoretical pedalling power required to overcome air resistance at 45 km/h, measured in a wind tunnel with a pedalling leg dummy.