Wilier Garda: Agile marathon road bike
The Garda is the second most affordable road bike platform in the Italian manufacturer's generally high-priced portfolio. Compared to the suspension Granturismo or the powerful Filante and Zero however, the marathon bike remains somewhat pale. Its greatest strength is its relatively low weight. In combination with the short wheelbase, the rather sporty riding position and fast Pirelli tyres, the Garda is one of the more agile marathon bikes. The carbon wheels offer hardly any weight advantage over wheels with aluminium rims.
Unyielding handlebar-stem combination
On descents with fast cornering, the bike feels a little spongy at the front. The suspension comfort at the rear is decent despite the simple aluminium seat post, which is partly due to the tubeless tyres with which the test bike was supplied. 28 millimetre wide Vittoria Zaffiro Pro tyres are fitted as standard. The handlebar/stem combination, on the other hand, is unyielding. As with the Canyon, our test rider criticised the Selle Italia saddle, which magically attracts cycling shorts. Wilier also offers the Garda with Campagnolo's Chorus groupset, which shifts mechanically like Shimano's 105 and has twelve sprockets. However, this comes at a surcharge of 1400 euros for otherwise identical equipment.
Info & Notes on the Wilier Garda
- Price: 3500 Euro
- Weight of complete wheel: 8.4 kg
- Frame sizes: XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL
Geometry data of the road bike
- Seat / top / head tube: 490 / 540 / 144 millimetres
- Stack / Reach / STR: 568 / 373 millimetres / 1.52
- Stack+ / Reach+ / STR+: 642 / 560 millimetres / 1.15
- Wheelbase / caster: 990 / 64 millimetres
Equipment
- Drive / gearstick (2.0): Shimano 105 (2x12; 50/34, 11-34 t.)
- Brakes (1.5): Shimano 105 (160/140 mm)
- Tyres (1.5): Pirelli P Zero Race TLR 26 mm (eff.: 26 mm)
- Impellers: Wilier Miche NDR38
- Impeller weights: 1248/1742 grams (front/rear)
Overall grade of the Wilier Garda: 2.3
More bikes with Shimano 105
Julian Schultz
Editor
