Rose Shave in the tuning review: Do Schwalbe Pro One and lightweight Aerothan tubes change the ride feel?

Carbon frames, ultralight wheelsets and the latest electronic groupsets usually take center stage when the performance of a road bike is discussed at the bikers' table. Often underestimated: the tires. Tires and inner tubes largely determine how a bike accelerates, how direct it feels and how much comfort ultimately reaches the rider. That's exactly what the long-term review of the Rose Shave should be about.

In a direct comparison between the Rose Shave and its sharper sister model, the Shave FF it already became clear that a significant portion of the differences in weight and riding behavior is not due to the frame but rather down to the components. In particular, tires, tubes and wheels contributed decisively to the livelier character of the FF. So the obvious question arose: how much extra performance can be extracted from the "standard" Shave by optimizing tires, tubes and a few select components?

An additional 140 grams of weight advantage comes from switching from the 270‑gram Selle Italia Novus Boost Evo TM Superflow to the mere 130‑gram and, moreover, extremely comfortable SQlab 612 R Carbon. The setup is rounded out by two ZEFAL Pulse L2 bottle cages at only 18 grams each and a set of Mavic Zxellium Pro SL Ti pedals. The name is still hardly ever pronounced correctly to this day — the weight of just 155 grams per pair, by contrast, speaks for itself. It's a pity that Mavic long ago gave up the pedal business. Technically, the concept lives on today in the TIME XPRO 12 SL. But the old Zxellium still delight me with their feel, their workmanship and their feather‑light construction.

Back now to the actual subject, the tires. Already in the first meters it becomes clear that the Rose Shave has changed noticeably. This is most evident when accelerating. The bike feels livelier, accelerates more willingly and responds more spontaneously to powerful pedal strokes. This is exactly where the advantage of the reduced rotating mass becomes apparent. At least as surprising to me, however, was another characteristic. I had expected the bike to feel a bit more direct and perhaps even twitchier due to the lighter tires. That did not happen.

On the contrary. The Shave's composed core character remains fully intact. The bike still rides pleasantly relaxed and conveys a lot of confidence, while at the same time feeling noticeably snappier.

Equally exciting as the tire change itself was the search for the right air pressure. After several rides, for my 72-kilogram body weight a range of 3.9 to 4.0 bar on the front wheel and 4.4 to 4.5 bar on the rear wheel emerged as my personal sweet spot.

With higher air pressure, some of the gained comfort was lost again, while lower pressures made the ride feel a bit too soft for my taste.

Even if you factor in the official RRPs of €64.90 for a Schwalbe Pro One and €28.90 for an Aerothan tube, the complete upgrade for both wheels adds up to a modest €187.60. For around 340 grams less rotating mass, noticeably more liveliness on acceleration and a gain in comfort, that's a comparatively inexpensive upgrade — especially since these exact components are in constant contact with the road and influence the character of a racing bike more directly than their price would suggest.