
and this one...

and this one...

and this one too...

this one had to be my favourite so far LOL...

but what about this one?

This Simplon Pavo III is my current road race/sportive bike and it does a fine job being both light and responsive but still reasonably comfortable over longer distances. I’m considering taking this bike, with a different wheelset, to Flanders next spring for my annual bash over the cobblestones. But is the frameset too light for such harsh roads?
Frame weight is 860g and the fork comes in at 324g with the rider usually weighing around 76-77kgs. I know that this year IAM Cycling and Orica Greenedge rode the new Scott Addict at Flanders which has a claimed frameset weight of <1000g whilst Katusha were aboard the Canyon Ultimate CF SLX which is also lighter than the Pavo. I believe Alexander Kristoff also rode the Canyon at Paris Roubaix where the cobbles are even harsher then Flanders.
In general, over the last few years the pros have been using increasingly lighter equipment for the cobble classics and of course you might say that they can afford to replace expensive bikes if they break. However the flip side to that argument is the reality that when Cancellara, Boonen etc are in the closing stages of a crucial race they absolutely cannot afford to lose even a couple of seconds to mechanical failure which would suggest that any equipment they use would need to be reliable as is humanly possible. Sure there are no guarantees in those circumstances but I’m pretty sure the top teams aren’t going to use any gear with even the slightest question mark over it.
From what I can ascertain from their website (German wouldn’t be my strongest point..), Simplon do make a big play of the Pavo’s strength/ weight ratio, citing the frame’s top results from the well known EFBe testing protocols.
So guys, what do you think – would you use this frame in Flanders?