Review: Cervelo Soloist

[dilbert]

Cervelo Soloist carbon - The Hollywood superstar of bikes?<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

I must confess, I have been trying to take one of these for a spin for a while now. Few bikes come with such a reputation: It has lots of high profile international wins and have been voted the no. 1 frameset in the world for the past two years by cyclingnews.com ? serious stuff!

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http://www.tcsn.co.za/downloads/TCSSolo01.jpg

 

The bike I was fortunate to loan from Carel came kitted out with DuraAce, a FSA K-Force MegaExo crankset and a custom paint job. Needless to say, I was quite eager to go riding!

 

The frame:

The shape of the frame has to be seen to be appreciated. Every tube catching wind has been shaped to be as aero as possible, from the head tube to the seat stays. It is a real beauty in the looks department. The down tube is BIG, and the BB junction has to be the beefiest in the market. The chain stays look very sturdy as well, promising a lot of stiffness. The chunky Cervelo fork looked out of place on this frame, but they have been replaced by Wolf and 3T forks on current Soloists. I were not crazy about the loud, multi-colour paint job ? I?m a fan of nice paint jobs, but perhaps this one has a colour too many.

 

I had some high expectations going out on the first ride, and I?m glad to say, the Soloist did not disappoint. The BB is very very stiff, I enjoyed how the bike climbed and cornered. The carbon rear end was also very stiff, perhaps not the most comfortable, but it has a bit less road buzz than aluminium. The fork rides well too. It felt so similar to my System6, in fact, that I think it would be difficult to tell the difference when riding blindfolded. Yeeehaaa!

 

The equipment:

This was the first time in 10 years I rode a road bike equipped with Shimano. The shifting was super smooth, and the brakes must be the most powerful in the business. I have KCNC brakes with Coolstop carbon pads on my usual ride (a seriously under powered combination), I must confess that the power of the DuraAce stoppers caught me completely off guard on the first ride. There I was, just riding along, rounding a gentle bend on a smooth downhill. Approaching a speed bump, I grabbed a handful of brake like I usually do to slow down. SCREEECH! On a steeper downhill the family jewels would have been decorating the stem. It was like my first introduction to disk brakes on a MTB. I did not like the shape of the brake hoods; they were especially uncomfortable when riding out of the saddle. The FSA crank looks very cool, especially the chain ring. With the outboard BB, the cranks are quite wide (called a big Q-factor), and could bother some folks. I was a bit disappointed that the cranks felt less stiff compared to the Hollowgram SI cranks I?m used to. This could have been due to a mechanical problem at the pedal to spindle junction ? I did not take the BB apart to see if anything was loose.

 

Conclusion:

The Soloist certainly lives up to its reputation. I loved the bike! The only thing better would perhaps be a Soloist SL, which is the same, only lighter. O yes, before I forget, a pic of a girl to describe the frame:

 

 

Sleek, sexy, and dressed with a lot of colour!

 

dilbert2008-12-22 04:20:53

[blingking]

sweet review.. i want one!! oh no wait i want your 808's!!

[dilbert]

#$%#$% having trouble with uploading the pics, will fix later 

[Kent]

I have a soloist carbon and i love it. Its the buz niss!!!

 

I LOVE IT! I wish it was a bit lighter. Not prepared to pay for the SL. Reckon i will get a Tarmac SL2 next.

 

You feel like superstar on this bike and people give you the respect. I used to ride a Giant TCR for my first bike and no one gave a sh%t. When i started riding my soloist everyone gave the "nod"

 

Perception is everything!

 

Enjoy

 

 

Kent2008-12-15 12:34:34

[wisecrack]

Nice review would love to see a pic of the bike's custom paint job.

 

I was considering selling my Dura Ace brake calipers for lighter KCNC ones ,but after reading your thoughts on stopping power I think I'll stick with the DA ones.

 

I ride a cervelo RS and it's definitely a huge step up for me from my Merida Scultura I rode. I love my RS ,but would really like to have a Soloist to compare.

 

[dilbert]

Fixed the pics.

@ Kent: Agreed. SLC-SL would be perfect, but paying close to R50k for a frameset to shed 100 grams is not worth it imo.

@ wisecrack: The KCNC brakes on my normal ride will be better with standard brake pads. I use Coolstop pads which are optimized for carbon rims, though, so stopping power is compromized on alu rims. DuraAce calipers still the most powerful I've tried. Still need to try out SRAM Red...  

[Man with no name]

Only in TCS.... where we pimp our dales and the "loaner" is a Cervelo Soloist....