I’m very surprised this isn’t up here already. Yesterday Cervelo announced (via dealer e-mail) a new model called the Soloist Carbon.
No photo, not much further information. I presume it is to be a carbon fiber version of the Soloist and in predominantly in response to a new bike for the CSC guys.
Personally, I love the aluminum Soloist and my carbon R2.5. I do look forward to getting some of the Soloists carbons. ETA for early '06 release (which means last quarter of '05 maybe). WE immediately called our friendly, helpful sales staff at Cervelo- Dwayne, Rodney and Emma and ordered a couple bikes.
Don’t blame Gerard. When I called to place an order, a couple people at Cervelo were not yet familiar with the bike and there was no SKU number in their ordering system. This is very raw intel, barely actionable.
I am more refering to his past comments about there not being a need for a carbon P3, or that the cervelo soloist is better in aluminum. We were right. He appears to have been wrong.
I can’t wait to see one. In the tour maybe? Or is he gonna make us wait til interbike?
Excuse the uneducated - but what would be the differences in application for the r2.5 versus a carbon soloist? Seems like the only difference between the two frames now (other than material) is the downtube - the soloist has the true-aero downtube while the 2.5 is round. Geomatry is exact save for a 1cm difference in chainstay length - the soloist is shorter.
Tom, you are borderline guilty of proliferation of “carbon” bikes as being better. I know, I know…you didn’t say it, but its being implied. ;o)
Sounds like a sexy bike, although I’d need some heavy duty vertical compliance stats b/w the bikes to talk me out of my current Soloist. Unfortunatley, no manufacturer is releasing this data b/c sales are too good…
I’d much rather see a Ti Soloist. Perhaps we should jump on Herbert to make an aero tubed road bike…
"That’s saying a lot from you, considering you are not the type of guy to always jump on the “next big thing”, like the rest of us ;-). "
True, but although I said it could be my next bike, I didn’t say when.
I have a tendency never to buy brand new things right away but wait a year or so until until the bugs have been completely sorted out. Early production problems in hot new items are not uncommon. I’ll want to wait a bit until the reviews are out.
Besides if I wait a year or two they’ll be 50% cheaper on ebay.
The big advantage of the carbon Soloist would be the aero tubing. It would still serve the same dual purpose of road/TT that the aluminium model serves now. If anything I’d suspect it could cut into R2.5 sales.
Tom how much lighter do you think the carbon will be than the aluminum. As a side note how come cervelo does not list bike weights. They will tell you that the p2ksl is x grams lighter than the p2k but they don’t tell you the weight of the p2k. Why not pick a frame size for all the bikes and list weights so you can compare the differences. It would be nice to compare weight on the different models.
I would love to see a picture. I am in the process of trying to decide on the right 2005 Soloist to buy. I love the ride but my issue is that I really like the Chorus part kit on the r2.5 (I have a Veloce bike now and Centaur does not seem like much of an upgrade). Maybe when the hype and attention swings to the Carbon Soloist I’ll be able to get a good deal on a frame or persuade a dealer to swap parts from r2.5 to make me a Chorus Soloist. I like the Soloist Team but for the price I think the Cannondale R5000 is a better value (about $750 less in Canada).
Guaranteed it won’t be all that much lighter than the aluminium version. It’s the carbon vs aluminium ride that will attract most buyers plus the high tech sexiness factor.
I’d also suspect the carbon frame may be slightly more aero. I’d be disappointed if Cervelo didn’t put aero seat stays on the carbon version.
I'm sure my message said something like," don't mention it to anyone 'til the 10th "! Of course, if Cervelo really wanted to keep it hush,hush they would've just waited a few more days.
Hmmm. Why would Cervelo make an all carbon Soloist when it would virtually be an areo 2.5? Doesn’t make much sense.
Could it be an AL Soloist with a carbon tail? It’d be almost as good and a lot cheaper as a full carbon ride. The only knock I’ve heard on the soloist is that it can beat you up for a long ride. Putting carbon in the stays would help.
Oddly enough, Emma’s boyfriend lives down the street from me, and he is a mech at a local shop. I met them both when i was driving home, and stopped as they were loading an R2.5 into a car (gotta stop and stare at a sexy bike). Both are very nice people. For that matter, every Cervelo rep/employee I’ve met is super nice. Emma and a few others were at the Endurosport birthday bash last weekend.
I have found everyone at Cervelo to be very helpful and nice. That goes a long way toward making business with them pleasant. They are a five star company in my opinion, I enjoy working with them.
