Lightweight carbon racers: Benotti Fuoco Carbon Ultra vs Schmolke Leggerissima TLO
Jens Klötzer
· 21.11.2024
We have tested these road bikes
The lightest test road bike that ever rolled into the editorial office of our sister magazine TOUR weighed 4750 grams and came from AX-Lightness. That was a good 15 years ago, rim brakes and round tube frames were state of the art and 22 millimetre narrow tubular tyres were still socially acceptable. The lightweight construction trend was at its zenith at the time, and the best in this discipline were German specialists in the use of carbon.
Wheels from Lightweight, handlebars from Schmolke, saddles from Tune and cranks from THM were revered like carbon sculptures and were not only popular with tuners in this country, but worldwide. As we all know, the world will look different in 2024: Disc brakes, electric gears with more sprockets, wide tubeless tyres, spring/damper systems, aerodynamic optimisations and the integration of more and more components have made today's bikes in general, but especially sporty mountain bikes and road bikes, faster, more comfortable and safer.
The downside of this evolution is that bikes have also become significantly heavier, and low weight is now just one of many goals in a bouquet of competing characteristics. At the same time, the renowned weight tuners have become less important because it is becoming increasingly difficult to simply replace components - or to sacrifice function.
Reaching for the crown: New lightweight racing bikes from Germany
With new complete bikes, two of these once leading manufacturers want to show that they can still build significantly lighter road bikes than the big brands with their lightest models. Until this issue, the lightest road bike of current vintage known to us was the Specialized Aethos, which topped the weight table in our database at 6200 grams.
That was a huge advantage; the top models from other manufacturers weigh around seven kilograms. But apart from the disc brakes and tubeless tyres, the Aethos looks a bit like a racing bike from 15 years ago: Round tube frame, clamped handlebars, brake lines running on the outside.
Exactly 5400 grams: Schmolke Leggerissima with new record
Stefan Schmolke, who has made a name for himself in the racing bike scene with ultra-light carbon fibre parts since the 1990s, is now taking his place. The Leggerissima, which at first glance looks like an Aethos clone, weighs exactly 5400 grams. Schmolke has integrated the cables, but beyond that there is no trace of the aerodynamic shapes and integral design of modern racing bikes. Instead, there is carbon wherever you look: saddle and seat post, handlebars and stem, crank and chainrings and even spokes and the headset bolt are made of the fibre material. Most of it is manufactured in Constance, and the individual weights are sometimes insanely low.
Ultra light & vollintegrated: Benotti Fuoco Carbon Ultra
The challenger is the manufacturer Benotti, which in some ways also has roots in the German tuning scene. In 2020, Bernd Nolte, owner of the bike brand, brought the lightweight construction expertise in-house with the purchase of AX-Lightness and continues to operate the component brand. Many employees and machines have since moved to Duderstadt in Lower Saxony, where selected parts are manufactured.
The Fuoco Carbon Ultra bears a different signature, the integrated handlebar combo and an aerodynamically optimised frame are in keeping with the spirit of the times. Nevertheless, the Benotti can also just undercut the Aethos: to our knowledge, 6.1 kilograms is unrivalled for a fully integrated road bike. The components on the Benotti are somewhat heavier, but more resilient: overall, the bike appears more solid and less sensitive, and it is approved for riders weighing up to 120 kilograms.
Beguiling lightweight construction - is there anything left?
Schmolke sets the limit for its model at 100 kilos, which is not surprising given the extreme compliance of the seat post and handlebars. If you get to the bottom of the fabulous weights, it becomes clear that the manufacturers achieve their advantage exclusively through the components.
Although Schmolke is also trying to create a particularly lightweight frame in co-operation with a Korean frame manufacturer, Benotti even manufactures the frames of the Ultra series itself in Germany at its own site. But both frames, which funnily enough weigh almost exactly the same (786 and 787 grams respectively), are on a par with lightweight frames from major manufacturers such as Giant TCR, Cervélo R5 or Trek Émonda.
By way of comparison, the scales on the Specialized reference bike stop at 623 grams. Theoretically, there is still a bit of room for improvement. But even if the weight records from the rim brake era have not yet been broken with so much effort: The riding experience on such light Racing bikes is beguiling - doubly so with disc brakes and electric gears.
Jens Klötzer
Editor
