Willier Izoard XP Xenon or Veloce

teisetrotter

I have been offered a 2012 with the Xenon group set at a cheap price and and the new 2013 Veloce for only £130 more. Is there a distinctive difference between the Xenon and Veloce group sets.

Although if you actually look at the spec they put barely enough Camp' on the bike to get away with the name ....... it is mainly Miche.

I will openly admit the 2012 Xenon, I prefer the colour, sad but true.

c40nl12

Get the Veloce equipped bike, it works pretty well for a budget groupset.

Lord Jimmy 7th

From seeing the xenon on my cousin bike the difference is in the shifters, the new style ones are a more ergo shape, but the 130 difference is a bit much just for that I think

thegreatdivide

Xenon was discontinued by Campagnolo in 2010. The rear Xenon mech is rubbish and the one that came on my first Izoard XP (bought in late 2010) snapped and went into my rear wheel causing the bike to stop suddenly and me to fall off in front of a car. Turns out this type of thing wasn't an isolated incident with Xenon. I now ride and XP with a mix of Veloce and Centaur and it's great.

nathancom

130 isn't a big step up in price to be fair and well worth it. Veloce is a good groupset and will last you well.

nochekmate

nathancom wrote:

130 isn't a big step up in price to be fair and well worth it. Veloce is a good groupset and will last you well.

+1 to this. I find Veloce very reliable and for the difference in price it's a 'no-brainer'

GGBiker

I was looking at buying the XP xenon recently, with the intention of upgrading the groupset and moving the xenon onto my old bike. The xenon groupset and heavy Miche wheels simply don't do justice to the XP frame.

I went into my local Wilier dealer 2 months ago and the salesman who knew I was interested in the XP told me about the new 2013 models because he thought it was great value versus the xenon. Personally I think this is because the sterling euro exchange rate has improved in our favour recently.

The 2013 has a veloce groupset (which is virtually identical mechanically to Centaur) and lighter/better quality Fulcrum Racing 7 wheelset (Fulcrum is owned by Campag).

The veloce model weighs 8.4kg, the xenon is 9.1kg (weighed on the scales in the shop). I thought I liked the black red paint job on the xenon model better but to be honest I love the red/white colour scheme now, it's fresh looking and gets multiple compliments every week on club rides.

The xenon components, particularly the shifters look and feel cheap while the veloce is solid and feels high quality in operation. The Veloce group is used on plenty of other Italian bikes in the £2k ballpark.

The new Veloce model is £1500, but dealers will give you up to 10% off this without much argument in my experience.

Have you also seen the new matt black/red colour? Looks great, as does the Lampre colours (black/flouro)

Have to say at this price the bike is amazing value for an Italian bike. I plan to upgrade the groupset to Campag Record eventually and move the Veloce over to my winter bike.

teisetrotter

Thanks for that. Yes the Willier are certainly looking to compete now with all the rest. Apparently the 2013 Voloce will be in the shops in Oct. If you look at the Bianchi Sempre for example that will still be up at nearly £2k.

But the more you look in the market the more you see fantastic opportunities. LBS just offered a Merckx with a huge discount!

GGBiker

Veloce in stock October? I got mine (2013 model) 2 months ago, LBS ordered it and it arrived about 5 days later.

It's fantastic by the way!