Cervélo 2014 - Rumours / Details?

[Cheers!]

I like the paint scheme on the R3.

But honestly. Is the R5 and S5 that much of a marked improvement from when Cervelo was at it's pinnacle when R3 SL and SLC SL were king? I think Damon Rinard is a very smart man. But Cervelo has lost its ways.

Back then Cervelo appealed to me. Not because a tour de france team was riding one. Because the owners were actually really close to the bike designs and marketing and such. I like that no thrills geeky engineering website they used to have from 2003 to 2009ish time frame. I liked how 2 engineers from a University in Canada went for broke and made it. I have a similar dream as theirs.

Now I go there, and I don't see anything special, and the new bikes don't seem that special to me. Gerard Vroomen and Phil White no longer run the show. It's sad.

Sad... If you asked me 3 years ago which was the best bike, I would say Cervelo. Now I'm not sure.

I own a 2006 Cervelo Soloist (the old S1 with black anodized finish) and also a 2008 Cervelo SLC SL.

The SLC SL although old now, still wows me each time I ride it.

Some people will notice I also started the thread: under rated carbon frames. But in honesty, every day I still google search, look at pinkbike.com and also the local classifieds if someone is unloading a size 54 R3 SL from 2008 or 2009. The SLC-SL and R3-SL to me are the 2 top road bikes that Cervelo has ever made. Even though the R5CA or California project are lighter with more claims of breakthroughs.

[justkeepedaling]

The RCA may be one of the most innovative frames of all time. Right up there with the lightest from A2J and Crumpton despite meeting every possible strength and impact testing there is and then some. And one of the first bikes constructed with full on CASE iterations.

[duodiscus]

But Cervelo has lost its ways.

I couldn't disagree with you more. You have a romanticized image of a company and its founders and most of us like to root for the underdog. I'm with you there. At some point small successes inevitably become large successes.

Yes, those bikes you cite set a golden standard back then, but to claim that they've lost their ways with the work they've done most recently on the CA bikes is to not know what it is they're doing these days.

It doesn't sound like you've ridden an R5 and certainly not an RCA.

[em3]

But Cervelo has lost its ways.

I couldn't disagree with you more. You have a romanticized image of a company and its founders and most of us like to root for the underdog. I'm with you there. At some point small successes inevitably become large successes.

Yes, those bikes you cite set a golden standard back then, but to claim that they've lost their ways with the work they've done most recently on the CA bikes is to not know what it is they're doing these days.

It doesn't sound like you've ridden an R5 and certainly not an RCA.

+1....having owned R3 and R3-SL, and now R5, there is definitely a noted difference (and great improvement) in design and ride characteristics (e.g. BBRight, tapered headtube and steertube, carbon layups). There is nothing nostalgic about carbon technology from last decade especially when carbon tech innovations are moving very quickly. Get out and try a new R5 and see for yourself....EM3

[cyclenutnz]

I am not impressed by the S3 from what I see. I think they could have done more!

I get the feeling that this is a response to Venge/Foil/Alize etc - increased front end stiffness with taper. Nice rear end compliance with svelte seatstays. Simple cable routing. More 'traditional' (for an aero bike) looks. Intended to match all the features of those other bikes but as the 2nd tier model from Cervelo. Price will be the decider on whether this is a good bike - would be pretty happy if it came in at current S2 pricepoint, not so impressed if it is only 10% lower than S5 (like P5/NP3).

As for the Propel - Superdave (from Felt) said that in their testing the Propel is slower than the S5 - I suspect they will have tested without the fit limiting integrated bars. As aero focussed as I am I wouldn't care if the Propel was faster - TTV calipers are too high a price to pay on a road bike.

[goodboyr]

I have to add my two cents to this. I own a 2006 R3 and now an RCA. The R3 is still a great ride and at the time was way ahead of everything else. Even now its on par with many present gen bikes in weight and ride quality. The RCA is years ahead of todays best bikes. That's why Cervelo is great.


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[Cheers!]

wouldn't the S5 or R5 be a better comparison against other competitor's offerings? Not many other brands have any models that are in the price range of a RCA.

[justkeepedaling]

Not really. We're talking about the pinnacle of current day technology. Price is essentially irrelevant since one can't simply buy expertise and R&D. The RCA is more affordable than most if not all UCI Track Olympic level framesets. More available too.

[Getter]

I like the S3...but wonder why they went back to the old style derailleur cable routing. The ICS3 looks much cleaner.

[MattSoutherden]

An RCA-like R5 might tempt me to upgrade my trusty old 2009 RS.

[GT56]

Of course they pulled the thread from Slowtwits on these bikes.

I am not impressed by the S3 from what I see. I think they could have done more!

they did, it is called S5

[Ghost234]

The new R5 looks nice. But I am not very impressed by the other stuff.

I've known about the new S3 for about 8 weeks, but this is my first time actually seeing it. I'm a little dissapointed. They had such a great frame mold with the original, and they decided to change it.

[wingguy]

Agreed. The original S3 was a design classic, and the only aero frame I've actually wanted. This new one doesn't look like it has any of the same flow or style.

I wouldn't be surprised if Cervelo are afraid that using the old S3 mold with an updated carbon layup would steal too many sales from the S5.

[djconnel]

I didn't like the 2013 paint scheme compared to 2012, but it wasn't as bad in person as I'd expected.

Cervelo's biggest geometry changes since the "glory days" was lengthening their chainstays (a good move, I think), going to long-rake forks on the small sizes (another good move), and unifying their previously two stack-reach trajectories (which depends on your fit). You're not going to see drastic change since the human body is still the same and bike frame geometry is hardly cutting edge.... it's at least 120 years old.

Cervelo avoids gimmicks for the purpose only of novelty so I wouldn't say that they've failed to progress. For example, they had a quality control issue back in 2008 and even just improving that would have been significant progress.

[53x12]

I've known about the new S3 for about 8 weeks

Well thanks a lot for sharing the information you had.