Just built up this 58 frameset using parts from my Soloist. Thought I’d share my first impressions after about 300km.
- Frameset: Satin blue onyx size 58
- Groupset: Ultegra di2 12 speed, dura ace crankset
- Wheels: Farsport 58 ‘gravel wheels’ (wider internal rims they made before the hyperdisc)
- Stem: 120 s-works tarmac stem
- Bars: new EXS R175 in size 40
Weight 7.4kg with pedals. I have ordered a EXS integrated handlebar, lighter wheels and some other bits so expect for this to be around 7kg when finalised.
Build report: the build was fairly straight forward however the saddle clamp design is a nightmare. The front female bolt falls into the seat post if you unscrew it which caused me about a 30min headache of redoing this a few times. The di2 battery holder also sheered a bit from continuously pulling it out so I would advise not undoing the bolt further than you need it (if that makes sense).
Same as everyone else I have the annoying gap between bearing and cover so will be investigating that further.
Ride feel: overall I feel like the SL8 is -10% speed and +20% handling compared to the soloist. The small loss of speed I put down to the flexier rear end on the SL8 I think is noticeable. The biggest improvement is in the handling and cornering. I am able to corner a full bike length later on the sl8 which is a significant difference. This handles like a sports car compared to the truck feeling soloist. Stiffness is about the same and climbing feels similar. I have done some sprints and tempo efforts which felt similar but yet to race it so will report back.
I think in summary it made me appreciate how good the Soloist is for the price. Probably not what you want to hear but I think carbon layup and frame design is quite advanced the difference between mid-high end frames is small.
Cheers
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk