Cervelo Soloist (5)

Triathlon Forum
1

I’m researching having and buying only one bike for both road biking and my first tri’s this summer.

Anyone have a Cervelo Soloist?

If so, what do you think of it? How does it handle it’s TRI duties???

Any and all feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks

2

The Soloist is a great unsung and misunderstood hero of a bike. It does wrok as a road bike and a tri bike surprisingly well (I’ve owned two, sold a bunch and used them in both road and tri orientations).

The most significant part of the bike is the unusual rear triangle. That is what makes the bike work well as a tri bike. There have been a lot of subtle changes to the bike over the years. Current frames have a new chain stay bridge in them to further improve the already good rear end. It is a nice bike. I enjoyed the two I owned, especially the more recent version.

3

Thanks, Tom. It seems everyone agrees it’s a great road bike, I was really just concerned about the tri part.

Also I wanted you to know that I am a devout follower of all your reviews and your site. If I lived anywhere near your store, you’d have me hooked.

What aero bars do you like for the soloist in tri conformation?

4

I bought a 2004 team issue (used - from Jetfuel… one of the teams they sponsor).
This was to upgrade from a 2001 Devinci Silverstone.
I havn’t put huge milage on mine yet but here are my initial impressions. Stiff, I don’t have the new bridge thing they put in, but even without it, I have noticed a lot less bottom bracket movement compared to my old bike (on a trainer at least)

  • I feel its a little more comfortable than my devinci, however I don’t know if I can say its all due to the frame, between the two bikes the wheels, bars, saddle, post and fork are all completly different.
    I use it for draft legal racing, and so havn’t tried it out in its triathlon setting, but in its road setting I think its awsome, the bike corners extremely well, doesn’t have any speed wobble (my old bike did… scary), climbs well (well… i feel faster… but i suck at climbing so its all relative).
    The tubes are a work of art… I’m continually impressed everytime I look at the bike as too how cool the tubes are… if they actually work thats a bonus, but they look freaking fast!
    Cons - I don’t like the brakes, frankly the rear brake is mushy. I’ve tried “supercharging the spring” to improve return, but still the improvement is marginal. I think the 105 brakes on my old bike were better. All the other componants are from the team jet fuel bikes, and so arn’t what is speced with the bike.
    I know several other people who have them for tri duties, and they have had nothing but good things to say about them either.
5

I was and am in the situation you are and after all the research there was only one bike to go with. Thank goodness it comes from such a great bike maker in Cervelo.

I must say, be prepared for a wait.

6

Had mine for two months now and I love it. It really is a stiff beggar and each time you stand up and give it some it really responds.

Feels pretty comfy as well. Corners well. The ponly thing is in the smaller sizes there is a lot of toe clip overlap, but that has not been a problem for me, except a couple of times at the lights!

7

A friend of mine sold his road bike and P2K for a Soloist. He’s just as fast on the Soloist as the P2K.

8

2 cents.

I have a Soloist which I built up with full DA/Easton/Zipps. Makes a great road bike, but would not consider flipping the seat post around and monkeying with the front end. So…depending up the STA you plan to ride, that might become an issue. A great combi UCI style bike though! My road position is around 73, perhaps a bit less and can slide the seat (Arione) to about 3cm behind the BB at 76cm seat height (I ride a 54cm Soloist). Too lazy to check Slowman eSTA.

If Gerard is reading this post…I do have a question. The geo listed on cervelo.com says an esta of 73. However, the seat tube sits slightly in front of the bottom bracket. Depending upon your seat height, it appears this number will change assuming the same saddle position. No?

9

Hi,

Simon Lessing won Ironman USA last year on a soloist so its probably safe to say that the bike won’t be what keeps you from success. I have a 2005 soloist set up in tri config as I have a short torso and a standard tri bike has too long of a top tube. Not…I have these:

http://www.profile-design.com/product_pages/clip_carbon_stryke.html

I would imagine just about any aerobar would fit and it has more to do with your size and preferences.

10

aloha target -

have been on a soloist since last summer and am delighted with it. i would wager the average tri shop sells as many of these as they do “real” tri bikes, and i think the only reason cervelo doesn’t advertise it harder in the tri market is to avoid confusing their line-up.

i’ve got cinelli spinaci lite clip-ons on it and am very happy. i should say, i race it fairly aggressively (low!) and do sprint and olympic only; some draft-legal. i loaned it to my room-mate last summer for a half-ironman, though (with a different set of aerobars) and he was quite happy with it.

my only caveat would be that i think it’s better suited to a cleaner set-up and to shorter-distance racing. don’t put on huge one-piece aerobars and aero bottle-holders and etc etc. keep it clean, light and tight. in fact, even lessing kept it pretty stripped-down when he raced it at ironman usa. if you want a big rig for longer-distance racing, i’d opt for a dedicated tri bike. that said. . .

a great bike for road and tri - simple as that.

-mike