I just read their review for best road bike of the year. According to their tests the Soloist has a very stiff frame. They explain that the tubes that are used create an aerodynamic and stiff bike, but one that does not handle the road the very well and tends to vibrate more than other frames in the test.
How dare them say anything negative about a Cervelo.
Was this the carbon or aluminium version? I’ve also read that the carbon Soloist feels harsher than the R3 but is slightly faster because of the aerodynamics. Unfortunately I haven’t rode either bike so can’t make a personal comment.
BTW, which bike was their best road bike of the year?
sounds about right. I went from a smooth riding Ti Litespeed Vortex to my SLC. Remember, it was designed from the ground up to be an aerodynamic race bike, tuned by team CSC through several iterations to its current config. I noticed a similar feeling with other high end “racing” road frames when test riding (most memorable was the Scott CR-1 as well). Since the downtube is so large/aero, it can be affected more by crosswinds, just like a Zipp 404 would be vs. a std box rim. But again, give me the aero benefit of the Zipp wheel over the “stability” of the box rim anyday. Buy the bike for what it is.
I do think you will eventually see a lot of R3s and SLC for sale used as deep pocket buyers get these bikes and eventually don’t like their ride or get out of road racing, etc. For now, I love mine!
It was the carbon model. As they do every year, they take a selection of the top models from the tour. So they had a Trek, Tarmac S-Works and so on.
I have no idea who won, once they said negative things about Cervelo I had to stop reading… I am definitely not going to buy it again
Last year, it a Look KG 585:
http://www.fisheroutdoor.co.uk/public/index.php/news.php?action=item&id=447
I have the magazine and read the whole article. They actually had a lot more positive things to say about the SLC than negative. It made it into the final four bikes - the testers’ favourites out of the whole group.
The winner was a Parlee.
So, uh, how does it feel now being a “dwarf planet”?