I had a short test ride the other day on an aluminum Soloist and I really liked it. Are there other bikes in the same price to performance range that I should test as well? i do both road races and tris (sprint, olympic, 70.3) and don’t see purchasing a dedicated TT bike for a few more years. Presently i’m on a rather vintage steel road frame with clip-on aero bars.
Any bike that has a compact geometry will be reasonably similiar. Giant TCR comes to mind, but there are several others.
I can’t think of any that have genuine aero tubing however. This is where the Soloist is unique. Probably saves 15-20 seconds over a 40 Kms TT.
The Soloist also has a flipable seat post to give a 75/76 degree effective seat angle for TT/tri. The same could be accomplished with any other compact frame with a neutral setback seat post with the seat forward on the rails.
Overall, I’d look at others but the Soloist is probably your best choice unless you don’t want aluminium.
Giant TCR Aero 1 or 2…
A ton of those on eBay.
Speialized Allez. Compare the geometry.
How about a compact Litespeed Vortex?
Dave in VA
He mentioned PRICE range too though. You can buy 2 fully equipped AL Soloists for the price of a Vortex Frame!
Why not just get the Soloist?
I had a short test ride the other day on an aluminum Soloist and I really liked it. Are there other bikes in the same price to performance range that I should test as well? i do both road races and tris (sprint, olympic, 70.3) and don’t see purchasing a dedicated TT bike for a few more years. Presently i’m on a rather vintage steel road frame with clip-on aero bars.
There are other compact frames in the same price range…however, they may not work as well for your needs as a Soloist.
The geometry (specifically the long “front-center” measurement) of the frame was designed to help keep the bike stable when the riders weight is further forward, as in when in the aero bars and with the seat rotated forward.
Other road bikes may be less stable when “converted” to TT mode due to having too much weight over the front wheel. This may not be an issue for you if you don’t ride very far forward in the TT mode…but I just thought I’d point that out.
Similar to the Soloist? and you’re asking here?
Thats like asking the Dairy Farmers Association what type of soy milk they consider on par with the nectar of the bovine.