Airstreeem Race SL

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Components

The Race SL comes equipped with SRAM’s top of the range Red groupset. This was my first chance to try out SRAM’s take on shifting. Swapping from Shimano provided only a few mis-shifts, which had me pushing the brake lever to no avail. A few rides will have your muscle memory re-programmed. 

The shifting was faultless and the yaw facility on the front mech is a god send if, like me you hate that annoying little grating sound that just won’t go away. Personally I found the change a little ‘clunkier’ than Shimano, but it didn’t affect the shifting.

I found the shape of the hoods really comfortable, in fact I would go as far as

Rotor 3D cranks, with Q rings and SRAM Red derailleur with chain catcher

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to say I preferred it over my normal Shimano setup.

Braking was spot on; plenty of power without any unexpected grabbing, even when using Airstreeem’s own carbon rimmed Team SL 33s.

These have a special Nano High Temperature coating on them that improves braking and means they generate a lot less heat under extreme stopping. Tests run at the Swiss Stop test facility saw them stopping 30 metres quicker than standard carbon wheels, in the wet – very handy when descending Alpine cols.

This double thickness coating should mean that because the Team SL 33s aren’t being subjected to those high

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temperatures, which has an adverse effect on the resin, they should last longer.

Sitting on top of the Team SL 33s were a pair of Tufo’s Elite Jet tubulars. At 160g, these are race day only tyres and even then only for the smoothest roads. At 20mm wide they look even skinnier sitting on top of the 23mm wide Team SL 33s, bucking the trend for wider tyres, which have improved aerodynamics and rolling resistance.

Pumped up to 130psi they were only part of the whole lightweight feel of the first test ride, and I wasn’t willing to take them out on longer rides around the potholed horror-show that passes for our roads at the moment.

The Race SL comes with Rotor’s 3D cranks and Q-rings, one of those products that seem to divide people. I must admit to being in the “didn’t we try this before?” camp but, despite not following Rotor’s adaptation period for the Q rings, I found they seemed to help; mainly on long seated climbs and rolling sections, where you needed to keep the power down.

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