Fairlight Strael 4.0 review: this is the perfect steel road bike – just don’t tell my Strael 3.0

The Fairlight Strael 4.0 has much to live up to – its predecessors have earned the Strael cult status in recent years. I bought one with my own money before I joined BikeRadar, but only after consulting colleague Jack Luke’s review of the Strael 3.0.

I used to think mine was impossible to better, but then Fairlight launched the Strael 4.0. With a completely new Reynolds tubeset to save weight and improve strength, the new bike ups tyre clearance to a scarcely believable 39mm. It’s the perfect all-road bike.

In three and a half years at BikeRadar, I haven't awarded any bike or product a five-star score… until now.

• Fairlight Strael 3.0 review
  

Fairlight Strael 4.0 performance

The Strael 3.0 was highly regarded industry-wide for its handling and ride quality, while offering bags of practicality. You could ride one as a fast summer-special bike, an Audax mile-muncher, a winter commuter, and probably even take it on some light gravel. I know, I do.

For the Strael 4.0, designer and Fairlight co-owner Dom Thomas concedes he approached the new bike with some trepidation – after all, it’s fair to say it’s hard to improve on a bike that’s already setting standards, to “push it on in a meaningful way”.

This has been achieved mainly thanks to the use of new Double Zone Butted (DZB) tubes, for which Fairlight tasked Reynolds with developing new tooling. 

The walls of the tubes are thicker towards the ends to improve strength and stiffness, tapering down to only 0.4mm in places in the centre of the tubes, reducing weight and improving compliance. 

As importantly, this construction has enabled Fairlight to modify the bottom bracket area, helping to boost tyre clearance to 39mm. This is still the 68mm BSA standard, but further weight is saved thanks to a new relieving process, reducing material used between the threads.

Overall, the result is an incredibly forgiving ride. My test bike came fitted with 35mm Continental GP5000 AS TR tyres – the biggest the Strael 4.0 will fit with mudguards. 

Alongside the remodelled tubes and updated Anraed carbon fork (which is also said to be 10 per cent more compliant), these serve to isolate you from all but the worst potholes the UK has to offer.

I swapped to the same wheel and tyre setup on my Strael 3.0 (needing to remove my mudguards in the process) to compare the experience directly. The Strael 4.0 is the slightly smoother-feeling of the two, but it’s worth remembering the high water mark the previous bike had established.

This made the Strael 4.0 feel unerringly stable on almost any terrain I subjected it to – it’s excellent on all kinds of tarmac and light gravel paths. I still needed to treat the odd small tree root with care, but the composure is impressive when you encounter one.

However, the reduction in weight means the Strael 4.0 feels livelier than before – not tangibly stiffer or more flexible, but certainly a little lighter-feeling as I rocked it from side to side under power. 

It’s still no hill climb conqueror at 9.21kg, but it feels markedly more agile than that weight would suggest. 

Fairlight hasn’t gone out of its way to change the geometry, seeking to preserve what had served the Strael 3.0 so well. Instead, the tweaks here and there are a direct result of the desire to up the tyre clearance. 

The head tube angle is 0.25 degrees slacker than before, and the seat tube angle 0.5 degrees steeper – complementary adjustments, rather than big changes. I found the difference practically unnoticeable.

It will come as little surprise, then, that the Strael 4.0 still offers an excellent balance of ride position and handling manners. It lends itself brilliantly to long all-day rides, plus everyday commuting, while remaining exciting enough for more aggressive summer riding.

I tested a size 58R – a 58cm frame, with a ‘regular’ 158mm head tube. Fairlight also makes ‘taller’ versions of equivalent sizes. 

A 58T frame has a 195mm head tube, with just an 8mm shorter reach – the head tube naturally extends further back, but features the same angle to preserve handling across the regular and tall variants.

The brand offers a useful fitting guide online if you’re trying to decide between sizes and have never had a bike fit. Those with their bike-fit data can submit this to Fairlight for assistance.

For reference, Fairlight suggests I (just) fit a 56R for a racier fit, or a 58R for a balanced geometry, while a 58T would err more towards endurance and touring riding. 

Smart details

Fairlight’s penchant for details has extended to the Strael 4.0, and it remains candid about the development of the bike through extensive design notes. 

I agree with Jack’s assessment that the notes (154 pages this time, including the high-quality imagery, which itself is helpful) are a real balm to the often-sweeping material published by lots of brands. 

Fairlight lays out how it goes about its design process, and explains the reasoning in real detail – you might not agree with every decision and justification within it, but it certainly shows the thought that’s gone into the design.

Made in partnership with Bentley Components, the washer plates are the most distinctive ‘feature’ to my eye. Laser cut with attractive detailing, they elevate the mudguard and light mounts into a visual feature. 

A machined cable stop guide, which attaches to the washer plate, is also available for those running a mechanical drivetrain. My test bike was fitted with a Shimano 105 Di2 R7100 groupset, so it wasn’t present – but the beauty of the modular design is that it isn’t sitting there unused.

The bike also sports Fairlight’s modular dropouts. These are created from machined alloy (as opposed to casting). They enable the rider to run any manner of drivetrains. 

You get the Universal Derailleur Hanger as standard with this latest bike, variants of which were launched as an upgrade part for Strael 3.0 owners. 

For SRAM T-Type users, Fairlight forgoes the driveside washer plate entirely – the T-Type dropout bolts directly to the frame.

The frameset is also well-stocked with bottle cage mounts (two in the traditional places, plus one on the underside of the down tube), and features very neat routing for a dynamo hub. 

I’d personally rather see Bento box mounts on the top tube so I can bolt my top tube bag there (rather than strap it), as you’ll find on a Columbus-tubed Standert Pfadfinder. 

However, it’s fair to say this ‘omission’ doesn’t spoil the bike – just as many people will be happy with the clean lines in that area instead.

The Strael you want

Fairlight hasn’t messed about with the process of buying a Strael 4.0. Essentially, each bike is built to order.

You can buy a frameset, which starts at £1,499. You can then upgrade the headset and seatpost clamp, select a dynamo lighting system, choose dropouts for the drivetrain you wish to run, plus choose between a direct-mount and standard hanger, and a few accessories. 

Buying a full bike costs from £2,649, and on top of the above, enables you to select the groupset, wheels and tyres. 

Customers can also customise the setup of the bike free of charge, in the following areas:

• Handlebar width (380-440mm in 20mm increments)
• Stem length (60-130mm in 10mm increments)
• Crank lengths (165, 170, 172.5 and 175mm) 
• Brake arrangement 

Plus, while not customisable on the website, Fairlight says inline seatposts are available if required.

The frameset is now £200 more expensive, with a similar hike seen for full builds, but given how prices have risen since Covid times when the 3.0 launched, this is hardly surprising. For my test bike, as specified, you’ll have to part with £3,909.

Given this buys a Shimano 105 Di2 groupset, very good 50mm-deep carbon wheels, excellent tyres and high-quality finishing kit, with all its endearing qualities thrown in, this represents decent value. 

A Canyon Endurace CF SLX will set you back £3,749, for example, but you’ll be forced into the spec choices made by Canyon. One spec change aftermarket, and that £160 difference would likely be wiped out.

The Standert Pfadfinder is a similar steel-framed alternative, but this costs €5,449 (around £4,800 at time of writing, not including import duties) in a similar-level Rival AXS specification. 

Fairlight Strael 4.0 bottom line

The Fairlight Strael 4.0 is a worthy successor to the Strael 3.0 – it improves the overall package without detracting from what made the 3.0 so excellent. You can’t say fairer than that.

I’m wary of advising anyone to go out and buy a Strael 4.0 frameset to replace their Strael 3.0 on performance alone, though – the improvements are too small to justify this, albeit I confess I’m sorely tempted by one.

For anyone new to considering a steel road bike, it’s even harder to pick fault than it already was. The Fairlight Strael 4.0 is in a class of one.