Aero bike choice - Felt Ar2 or Cervelo s3

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Gary71
Posts: 267
Joined: Wed Aug 21, 2013 5:25 am
Location: Brisbane Australia

by Gary71

martyh wrote:Huh, price-wise in Australia, or at least where I seem to be looking, the ar2 is around $1500 more than the s3?


Then get the S3 and use the $1500 on some aero wheels. Win,win

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dunbar42
Posts: 191
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2014 9:20 am

by dunbar42

mitchgixer6 wrote:I'm sorry but this is just ridiculous. Why did you even bother with a test ride?


I'm not sure what you find "ridiculous" about my post but I bought the bike that spoke to me (after test riding it.) The price difference between the S2 and AR5 is about $200. That's the same price difference as the AR1 and S3 frames as well in the states.

mitchgixer6
Posts: 225
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2012 2:22 pm

by mitchgixer6

Point is why test a bike if you only ride one? You have nothing to compare it to so total waste of time. How do you know the Felt wasn't even better than the Cervelo? You do know never to trust a salesman......

mitchgixer6
Posts: 225
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2012 2:22 pm

by mitchgixer6

martyh wrote:Huh, price-wise in Australia, or at least where I seem to be looking, the ar2 is around $1500 more than the s3?


Obviously prices in every continent will vary wildly. Have you considered buying an AR1 frame and building it yourself? When I did that this year it worked out about £1k cheaper than the same spec on a Cervelo S3. The S2 wasn't released.

Slagter
Posts: 250
Joined: Thu Jul 25, 2013 6:42 am

by Slagter

I'm extremely satisfied with my Propel Advanced. Feels very fast. Can't think of any better aerobike. The brakes take some getting used to, but they stop the bike perfectly although they feel a little springy. And I like the fact, that they are aero as well. IMO it doesn't really make sense, to design a aerobike with nonaero brakes. If you don't like the stock brakes, you can upgrade to the Fourier ones

http://www.fouriers-bike.com/en/pro.php ... cid=10&f=2

Martin.dk
Posts: 203
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2007 11:35 pm
Location: Denmark/Herning

by Martin.dk

well it isn't the brakes themselves that makes the total bike aero is it? I believe it's a question about pros and cons and a pure design choice.
Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez wrote:Ohh okay! I just knew "plug" was something to put inside a hole... yikes

Slagter
Posts: 250
Joined: Thu Jul 25, 2013 6:42 am

by Slagter

^agreed. On the other hand it just shows, that if you wanna design a frame, you mean business....

dunbar42
Posts: 191
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2014 9:20 am

by dunbar42

mitchgixer6 wrote:Point is why test a bike if you only ride one? You have nothing to compare it to so total waste of time. How do you know the Felt wasn't even better than the Cervelo? You do know never to trust a salesman......


Why test ride a bike before buying it? Is that seriously your question? Did you test ride a Cervelo S3 before buying your AR1?

And to expand on my situtation, they didn't have a 54cm AR5 in stock at the time. The salesman offered to let me ride his 54cm AR1 with di2 and carbon clinchers. I don't think that would've been a realistic representation of how a stock AR5 rides. The Cervelo also fits me better and had a zero offset post available 3 months ago when I bought it. Felt just recently started shipping their neutral offset (5mm) seat post. As I mentioned, I didn't really care for the paint scheme of the AR5 or the aero rear brake. So I'm terribly sorry if I offended a Felt AR fanboi like yourself.

mitchgixer6
Posts: 225
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2012 2:22 pm

by mitchgixer6

You're totally missing my point. And no I'm not going to take the bait and turn this into a my bike is better then your bike argument.

I hope the op finds the bike that is right for him.

dunbar42
Posts: 191
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2014 9:20 am

by dunbar42

It has nothing to do with which bike is better. You called my original post "ridiculous" because I didn't test ride both bikes. You obviously didn't ride the S3 before buying your AR1. Quit being a hypocrite.

martyh
Posts: 190
Joined: Sat Nov 03, 2007 5:46 pm
Location: Northern Ireland

by martyh

So just a quick update. Took a bit of time at the weekend and test rode the s3, r3 and ar2 (unfortunately not at the same place... but whatever). Did the r3 and s3 together and for me, I just preferred how the s3 was. Doing the ar2 an hour or so later was harder to judge against the previous bikes and it felt like I would be well happy with either as the ar2 rode very well... so I went for the s3. Will hopefully pick it up next Sat! :-) Will post up some pics once it turns up and I get the 202's onto it.

thanks for the opinions folks!

mitchgixer6
Posts: 225
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2012 2:22 pm

by mitchgixer6

Glad you managed to get a test on them all and make an informed decision. I'm sure you'll have many happy miles on the Cervelo.

User avatar
53x12
Posts: 3708
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 6:02 am
Location: On the bike

by 53x12

martyh wrote:Hey folks,
Looking at a new treat for myself and thinking either a cervelo s3 or a felt ar2.
Reviews of both seem like they are both pretty excellent... looking at the geometry the cervelo has a stack height I kinda prefer as I can run it without any spacers. Kit wise.. I can take or leave electronic shifting... no issues there. Both seem to have great reviews for handling... the aero tests slightly concern me with the ar2 as it seems it was done without any rider dummy thingy on board... yet it seems to stack up pretty well.

Looked at the propel as well... the spec is appealing, yet I hate the brakes. Venge... meh.

Looking for some opinions and ride reports if anyone has any! Thanks!

Marty



Marty, I was in a similar situation as you recently. I was debating the AR1 vs. S3 framesets. So rest assured that whatever choice you make, I think you will be very happy either way. Both are great/awesome frames. Can't really go wrong with either one. Not sure if this helps, but I'll provide you with a few of my thoughts when I was deciding.

Aero: Both are very aero road bikes. Depending who's data you believe, either the new AR is the fastest road frame right now, or is probably #2 behind the Cervelo S5. The Cervelo S3 isn't far behind as Cervelo says it is only 4W behind the S5. Jim Felt and the guys at Cervelo (White and Rinard) are well regarded and have lots of experience and knowledge. Felt and Cervelo are probably two of the bike manufacturers who take aero seriously and do a good job with it. There are other makers coming into this as well now. But Felt and Cervelo have been doing it for some time now.

Geometry: Not sure what you need in geometry, but I love what Felt did with the new AR geometry coming from a Cannonade guy. Matches up nicely with what I am use to with Cannonade. Cervelo isn't bad, just a bit higher stack and shorter reach than Felt for the same size. That might work better for you but I like Felt's geometry slightly better. Both will work and both would work for me.

Price: Not sure what the pricing is in your market for the two builds you are looking at, but for me the two framesets were within $200 of each other. So I considered that a wash. For you, the price of the two builds might be significantly different. Or the build parts might be different and help you lean in one direction or another.

Warranty: Both are lifetime so no difference here.

Aesthetics: Up to personal preference but I think both frames look great. I really like what Cervelo did with the new S3 paint job. One of their better designs in recent memory. I also like the simplistic look of the AR1. Not sure what the AR2 looks like in your market, but overall I think both frames look really nice.

Image

Image


Handling, comfort, stiffness: Handling of both bikes was really responsive and quick. Not twitchy quick, but more sports car quick like you would want from a bike like this. Also, when I road both bikes, I was surprised by the comfort of both of them. Especially being aero tubed frames, have always had an unpleasant connotation in terms of being too stiff and uncomfortable. But Felt and Cervelo both did a great job with their layup and tube shapes to make two comfy aero frames. That Felt/3T seaport really does it's thing. But I am also of the opinion that you get more comfort from proper wheel & tire & tire pressure along with bib, saddle and bar tape choice. Both frames were plenty stiff for me and I couldn't notice any flex in the frame. I'm 5'11 175-180 and put out around 1200w when sprinting.

I ended up going with the Felt as I wanted something different and there are very few guys who ride Felt bikes around here. Cervelo isn't bad at all, it is a great frame, just very popular and I wanted something different than what most have for this build. One thing I wish is that Felt would have left the rear brake where it traditionally is. I understand the reason for placing it down by the bb and Felt does as good of a job as anyone with the design of their bikes, but I'm not sure if the gains are really worth the hassle. I guess it allowed them to gain a few watts plus help tune and design the seat stays to be more focused on comfort rather than worrying about building it up for a rear brake. I love the new S3 and I am still thinking of ways that I can add that to my quiver of bikes. The S5 doesn't even tempt me. But that S3 sure does.

Hope this helps you in your selection.
"Marginal gains are the only gains when all that's left to gain is in the margins."

nathanong87
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by nathanong87

cervelo looks better

/thread

by Weenie


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Ahillock
Posts: 456
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2010 6:30 am

by Ahillock

Felt AR looks better.

/thread

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