Airstreeem Race SL

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First Ride

We have been suffering from a bad case of severely cold weather here in the UK, so I had to wait for the weather to break before I could actually take the Race SL out. When a window appeared I wasn’t disappointed.

Climbing on the rolling coastal roads was a joy. All the work that Airstreeem has put into tube profiles and the choice of composites translates into a joy on the road. When you press down on the pedals the Race SL responds instantly, driving forward; there’s a feeling that absolutely no energy is being wasted.

You’ll also feel this instant pick up when sprinting in or out of the saddle. This is

Big and beefy, the Race SL’s BB area allows for no flex

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a bike that wants to be ridden fast. It feels very ‘flickable’, the kind of bike that would be easy to pilot through a packed bunch, but is stable enough to allow you to ride no-handed without any unexpected speed wobbles.

Its a great bike for racing, rewarding an experienced rider, but possibly too much of a thoroughbred for a novice?

Another place the Race SL excelled was on twisty descents. It would have been nice to really throw the Race SL around on our twisting, S bends, but what with the snow and melt water, I was erring on the side of caution. Despite that the SL is a great descender, point it into a corner and it goes where you want, even mid-corner changes (remember all that

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snow?) can be made safely. Then as soon as you need to power out of the corner, that lack of frame flex and light weight wheels means you’ll soon be back up to speed.

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“A great bike for racing but

possibly a little too much of a

thoroughbred for a novice?”

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One thing I wasn’t expecting from the Race SL was it’s ability to roll a big gear. With a combination of it’s light weight, stiff bottom bracket and Rotor cranks (a first for this tester) I found myself pushing a bigger gear than normal.

On flat and rolling sections, the kind of terrain which can hamper you when you’re an hour from home and need to be back in time, I found I was able to ride on the limit – just below that point where you start pedaling in squares and your struggling up even the slightest incline. This meant that on longer, not so steep inclines I could also keep the gear turning over, staying in that ‘sweet spot’ a little longer and not having to go ‘en dansant’.

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