I similarly have a hard time with whats considered a reasonable price today.
When I saw the Soloist name I briefly had hoped that Cervelo made a a budget friendly bike. The Soloist Di2 is $8500 CAD in Canada. I remember the Soloist back from the 2000s being a reasonably affordable bike. But as the poster above suggested, I guess we live in a world where this is reasonable. Looking through the rest of Cervelo's lineup, it continues to blow my mind how many bikes are in the $10,000 to $15,000 range. I did a bit of calculations with an inflation calculator and its crazy how fast bike prices have outpaced inflation over the past couple of decades. And I get it, disc brakes, electronic shifting, better materials, better design; but at the end of the day its still a bike that you need to pedal.

Heh, that's where my head is too. I need a new bike, and there would be some poetry to replacing my 2002 Soloist with a 2022 one. So I'm looking at the 105 Di2 model, which is already a budget stretch - and it comes with a pretty crappy wheelset. For 2K(CAD) more, you get full Ultegra and a nice carbon wheel upgrade.

The new Ultegra DI2 version, after the wonderful provincial and federal taxation applied, comes to a whopping 10K. I bought a Kawasaki ZX6-R for less a few years back. Ack!

I want one in 56cm. I wish they would give it some proper tier 1 love instead of making it a second tier bike but it’ll still probably be the next acquisition on my list.

With that said 20 years ago the options for accurate power meters were SRM and that’s it and that would take you 4k instead of say assioma duo for $800. Not a wash of course but it’s not all bad. As a former owner of a soloist back in 2005 I’m pretty excited to have the newer version.

Having a tough time not pulling the trigger myself. A Canyon Aeroad (if in stock) is $700 more with similar spec. Was leaning towards it until this came out.

Also agree that it’s crazy we think $6800 is “good”.

Will have a tough time deciding on di2 vs AXS. AXS includes the crank, cassettes will cost more and the wheels use the “proprietary” free hub.

Edit: sram includes the PM, not the crank

I'm surprised people cross-shop these at all.

The gearing concept is completely different to me and I'd never in a million years trade small jumps in the rear (Shimano) for small jumps in the front (Sram).

Let's say you don't care. In that case Shimano is much lighter (Ultegra almost identical to Red if youre using the same 3rd party crankset for both) and tends to be more reliable for more riders.

Just FYI to those considering, I was looking through the cervelo site, and noticed that there's a rider weight limit of 193lbs - which kind of surprised me, and will scare me off, as I probably start the season at a little over 200.

I doubt this will affect too many people here, but FYI if you're a larger individual.

That’s a random number. Didn’t notice so thanks for calling out as I hover around there.

Thoughts on the new Soloist vs. S3 Disc? I just built up a new to me S3 disc with Force AXS and am disappointed with how sluggish it feels getting up to speed/climbing. It weighs a hefty 18.5lbs as it's a chunky frame and the integrated headset/stem weighs a ton. Thinking of picking up a Soloist frameset and swapping components over.


Would love some real world feedback if you've ridden both...?

For comparison, why not the Canyon Aeroad CF SLX 8 Disc AXS (Force)? It's $800 less and if it's anything like my 5-year old CF SLX 9, it's awesome.

With that said, my first tri bike was a P3 and it was a dream to ride. I envy your decision! Good luck.

can you post a link to their page that shows this limit? I've just perused their site and see no rider weight limit.

Hi Mudge - yeah, they don't exactly make it easy to find. If you go to the "product manuals" section of their site, you can select the manual for the soloist, and it breaks down the rider and gear max specification weights near the bottom of the pdf.

https://www.cervelo.com/...port/product-manuals

cheers

Yikes, that's crazy. I suppose you could forego bottles, cages, spare tubes, etc... and gain an extra 11 lbs on the rider weight :)

Mostly because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get the fit that I wanted. Short legs long torso and I ride fairly stretched out and low. Something I knew I could do on the soloist.

The problem is the Aeroroad are almost never in stock if you live in the US. So Canyon can put whatever price on them and it doesn’t really matter. That particular model lists it as ‘coming soon’ but only in the XS

https://www.canyon.com/...wE#sections-products

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Matt

Another example of how Cervelo gets the front end right for their smaller bikes :)

why is canyon not good at hiding their cables at the bars...

Exactly. So yes there are cheaper options but there are no option that works as well in terms of fit in a 51. I have a madone SLR 6 disc which is a super nice bike but I just can’t get the fit right.

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Running is the best source of fiber that I know of...

I've been working with my shop on a white one. Have a 8070 rear derailer and crank I was wanted to bring over to it. Woke up this morning thinking I might just go 12 speed. YOLO

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IG - @ryanppax
http://www.geluminati.com
Use code ST5 for $5 off your order

 I have a madone SLR 6 disc which is a super nice bike but I just can’t get the fit right."

Have you considered this option?

Well, you may live more than once... but, just in case not, couldn't hurt to spend $$$ ;-) Good luck with the purchase!

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Running is the best source of fiber that I know of...