Rose Pro SL Disc 3000 Hydraulic

As part of Rose's Marathon range, the Pro SL Disc 3000 Hydraulic is designed for those big rides where you want to rack up the miles at a decent pace on a bike that is easy to live with. Thanks to its neutral handling and impressive build spec, the Pro SL is the ideal steed for a day in the saddle with no surprises.

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In the first few miles on a new bike you quickly pick up on the little quirks and characteristics that the frame and fork may have: how it responds to rough surfaces, position changes, braking, steering... And it's this overload of information that lets you know exactly what you're working with, it's that all-important first impression.

The Rose is very quiet in this respect; it doesn't 'talk' to you in the way a lot of other bikes do, either through vibrations from the frame or the way it moves around underneath you and transfers feedback from the tyres through to the bar and saddle.

Personally, I like to feel a part of a bike, taking every little signal passed up from the road, to increase the fun factor and involvement of the ride, and the Pro SL was just a little subdued for my liking.

I can see why the Rose designers have created the Pro SL to ride like this, though – after all, not everybody wants to be living with a bike that has the manners of a bucking bronco, especially when it's aimed at sportives and other lengthy challenges. When fatigue becomes an issue and you find yourself on an unknown road, a little bit of dependability goes a long way.

Rose claims a frame weight of 1,350g, which is pretty impressive for an aluminium alloy, disc brake frameset – although oddly, as a complete bike the Pro SL does feel a little heavier than the readout on the scales would have you believe. This could be down to the Mavic Aksium wheels, which are a touch weighty, although the Ribble Gran Fondo Disc that I tested recently also had them and was a slightly heavier bike overall, yet felt as though it had a bit more zip and go about it.

It could just be because the Ribble's frame was also a bit more buzzy over the road, with that feeling of more going on compared to the more subtle Rose, giving an impression of speed.

The numbers on the Garmin certainly seem to back this up, as the performance was easily up there with what I'd been achieving on the Ribble, and also the Simplon Pavo Gran Fondo.

Most of this comes down to the Rose's ability to crush those miles on the flatlands. Tapping out a steady pace for hours on end really suited the Pro SL, and thanks to the compact drops of the Ritchey handlebar, swapping to a multitude of positions was no issue at all, a big bonus if you aren't too flexible.

Through the bends the Rose is exactly as you'd expect: the handling is pretty neutral so you can pick your line and the bike will track without any dramas whatsoever.

As the speed increases, the Pro SL becomes less direct; it's not a race machine with steep frame angles so that is to be expected, but it's here that you could really do with just a bit more feedback from the frame so you know what is going on beneath you, should you go into a bend a little too hot.

If things get really technical, or you have to change a line for a pothole or some gravel, for instance, I'd like to be able to ride it by the seat of my pants a bit more. I could always just slow down a little I suppose, and enjoy the Rose for exactly what it is.

Everywhere else, though, the Pro SL is a decent performer. The stiff frame means that power transfer isn't an issue on even the steepest of climbs or lung screaming sprints, although the trade-off is a ride that is on the firm side, especially on rough road surfaces.

Frame and fork

The Pro SL Disc 3000 uses a 6061-T6 grade aluminium alloy tubeset for its frame and all of the tubes are triple butted, which means that the wall thickness has three varying measurements: thicker at the weld ends and getting thinner towards the centre to save weight and promote a little bit of flex.

Because of this I was quite surprised about the firmness of the ride quality; the Rose doesn't have as shock absorbing a feel to it as most of the other aluminum bikes I've ridden – my own Kinesis Aithein, for example, or even the Bowman Palace:R race bike.

The down tube is fairly oversized, which marries well with the tapered head tube to keep the bottom half of the frame tight to resist the various forces from steering, handling and acceleration. The rectangular profile chainstays also come into play here, although Rose hasn't gone overly massive with the Press Fit bottom bracket shell.

Rose has also resisted the urge to go pencil thin with the seatstays – an area usually exploited for flex and, therefore, comfort, although sometimes that can translate to a soft rear end which I'm not really a fan of. With the Pro SL running disc brakes, Rose has done away with the brake bridge so that could promote a little movement, though it'd be barely detectable.

Keeping things looking clean, the front end of the bike is drilled for internal cable routing for both gears and hoses to the brakes via the frame and the fork. Rather than running through the chainstays, though, the rear mech cable takes the more traditional method of sitting underneath.

The brake callipers are attached to both the frame and fork using the latest flat mount system, which gives a sleeker look than the original post mounted versions.

That fork is full-carbon fibre apart from the dropouts, and is certainly up to the job of dealing with the power of the disc brakes. Even under really heavy braking you can't feel any flex from the front, helped in part by the inclusion of a thru-axle setup resisting the twisting forces of the single-sided disc.

For keeping the front end tight under steering loads, the fork has a tapered steerer: 1 1/8in in diameter at the top and 1 1/2in at the crown to match the head tube of the frame.

The overall finish of the frame is to a good standard, with the smoothed welds looking neat and then finished with a hardwearing paint job.

Finishing kit

We see a lot of bikes at this price come with Mavic's excellent Aksium Disc wheelset. These wheels are so solid and dependable that you can ride them through pretty much anything without fear of them being damaged. Like I said, though, they are a little on the porky side, so if performance is on your mind you might want to upgrade to a lighter set. As an all-rounder, though, they are pretty tough to beat.

Tyre-wise, Rose has fitted Vittoria Zaffiro Pros, which are cheap and cheerful in the grand scale of things but perform way higher than their price would reflect. Grip levels are decent enough in the wet and dry, and rolling resistance doesn't feel too stodgy. Again, though, if you want to up the performance levels, swapping them for something like the Schwalbe Ones would make a massive difference pretty much everywhere.

Ritchey components have always had a good following, most likely because it's good looking kit that performs well. The alloy stuff here is nothing flash but is easy to adjust and set up. The bar and stem combo is quite stiff, though, and with this firm frame can make for a bit of a tough ride for your hands.

Perched atop the Ritchey seatpost is a Selle Italia SLS saddle which I didn't really get on with; it was a little firm for my liking, especially around the cutout section. I often find this, though, as they have to be firm to stop them sagging into the gap.

Shimano Ultegra is an excellent groupset, so its inclusion here is great to see for the price. Our model comes with a 50/34T compact chainset and an 11-32T cassette, giving a wide spread of gears to cover most terrain.

Rose has specced a long cage rear mech to cope with the 32-tooth sprocket, giving you plenty of flexibility to fit whatever cassette you want depending on the topography of your rides.

Gear shifts and braking are taken care of by Shimano's ST-RS685 levers paired with the latest RS805 callipers, and it is a great setup. The shifting is as slick and precise as if you were using an Ultegra lever, and the braking is easy to control and modulate thanks to the amount of feedback through the lever.

Value

Looking at the competition, the Rose is competitively priced compared with what I'd say is its main rival, Canyon's Endurace AL Disc 7.0, which comes in at £1,499 – just £30ish more expensive than the Pro SL at £1,463.32, though that does fluctuate with the exchange rate. Don't forget to take into account the delivery charges on both bikes, too.

I've already mentioned the Ribble Gran Fondo Disc, and the one I tested was £1,503. Although it has a 105 groupset rather than Ultegra, it does have a carbon frame – and a pretty good one too.

> Buyer's Guide: 13 of the best aluminium road bikes

Around £1,500 is a very busy price point for this style of bike, and while you can get a lot of carbon fibre frames for this money, there is still room for a quality aluminium one like the Pro SL – especially one that is draped in such excellent finishing kit.

Verdict

A well-specced road bike that'll happily tap out the miles in a sedate manner