Cervelo Soloist 105

Price Paid:  $2300.00 at wheels of bloor

Model Year:
2005

Favorite Ride:
everywhere - up the hills, down the hills, all around

Summary:
After humming and hawing for awhile, and trust me, i hummed and hawed, i decided to drop the cash on this hunk of metal. and trst me, it's a lovely hunk of metal.

Strengths:
smooth ride. light. great on climbs, due to light frame. transfers cycling power well, where none of the effort is wasted, but used on converting to speed.

Weaknesses:
i have to say the derailleurs. shop owners says that it takes a while for the derailleurs to "warm up", but i still find the shifters still slightly "hesitant" when shifting. definitely can be smoother.

Similar Products Used:
trek1000 was the clunker i used before i upgraded to this cadillac.

Price Paid:  $2100.00 at LBS

Favorite Ride:
Ste. Adolphe loop

Bike Setup:
Stock with upgrade to Easton Equipe bars and EC90 carbon stem (my hands where much happier) and Speedplay X2 pedals.

Summary:
After hearing about this brand at last years tour I discovered that one of the local shops carried them. Went for a test ride and loved the bike, great looks decent wait for the price and felt great on a quick test ride.

Strengths:
Aerodynamics and Velomax wheels. The Velomax wheels where the biggest surprise for me, even though they are just the entry level set they are fast light and stiff, 3500KMS lots of bad roads and still don't need to be trued.

Weaknesses:
Thought the bike felt nice and stiff but after a bunch of miles decided that it was far too flexy. Head end of the bike is far too flexible and so is the bottom bracket. Carbon fork does very little to soak up road chatter and again I find it too flexy out of the saddle. Cervelo brakes are crappy, for this price it should be full 105 and maybe even have some Ultegra bits on it.

Similar Products Used:
Specialized, Trek, Look, Oryx, Argon18 and Marinonni

Price Paid:  $2700.00 at ibike Onehunga

Favorite Ride:
St highway 16

Bike Setup:
Fi’zi:k Arione saddle, Deda aero blue aero bars, Profile air wing base bars, Shimano bar end shifters, Speedplay zero pedals

Summary:
I was purchasing my first road bike with the ambition of building towards an ironman event. This caused a lot of confusion as I wanted a bike that I could adopt an aero position on. It seemed from the information available that I should make a road bike my first purchase. This was quite a quandary as it seemed good advice but I was going to need two bikes if I wanted to be really aero for triathlons.
Quite fortuitously the Cervelo Soloist 105 became available in New Zealand just when I wanted to purchase. I thought this would be a good choice as the bike was not too expensive but had adjustable geometry. Something that could grow with me for a while.
Well, now with 3000 kms on the clock I can say I made a good (perhaps lucky) choice.
I was really glad I didn’t buy a full on tri bike first as the flexibility to make the aero position work does not just happen and requires time and persistence. The soloist allowed me to work into a more aero set up gradually, by way of adding an aero bar then starting to flip the seat post back and forth depending on what I wanted to try that weekend.
Now the STI’s are gone and the front end is the full bar ends shifting set up and the bike still works really well.
I have also added the Fi’zi:ks Arione seat to give me the ability to move even further forward. It’s also more comfortable than the stock seat and I would recommend this modification to anyone cycling on rough chip roads.
The bike accelerates and handles well. It should be noted that the bike steers sharper with the seat in its forward position. You really only notice this however when you when you put the seat back and come into a corner too fast and start drifting wide. Stock wheels were velomax. I have found them very robust.

In short I would not hesitate to recommend this bike to anyone who is starting out in triathlons and wants an economical bike that gives options to the owner in terms of setup. The only trouble I have now is that in changing the front end to the degree I have means it’s quite a bit of work to go back to the STI’s for group rides, perhaps I’ll get another soloist!

Strengths:
Versatility, Reversible seat post

Weaknesses:
None really for price paid

Similar Products Used:
none

Price Paid:  $1799.00

Favorite Ride:
Cervelo Soloist 105

Bike Setup:
Stock. Upgraded Selle Italia SLR saddle.

Summary:
Already own a Cervelo Dual (I've been riding Cervelo since 2000), but wanted a second bike with a regular road geometry. A local bike store (who has asked to remain anonymous) had a demo that had a small scratch on the paint that was exactly the right size for me (51cm), so, realizing I was going to save close to CAN$1000 (when you add in taxes), I didn't think twice. Now I love the Cervelo Soloist even more than my Dual!

Strengths:
Accelerates fast, good on the climbs, surprisingly comfortable on rough roads.

Weaknesses:
Not exactly heavy, but not as light as I would like -- though with an upgraded component set, carbon seatpost and carbon handlebars, I can see it shaving some weight off.

Similar Products Used:
Cervelo Dual.

Price Paid:  $2700.00 at iBike Onehunga

Favorite Ride:
Flat, hard efforts

Bike Setup:
Ritchey clip ons, Pro Race tyres.

Summary:
Note: price in NZL dollars.Fast fast fast. This thing loves 40kmh+ road racing on flat and rolling/undulating terrain, and Time Trials and Duathlon type racing. I loved the reversible seat post as it allowed me to get further forward where I sit all the time (odd body dimensions).

Strengths:
Stiff, Aero, looks good. Descends like its on fricken rails! yea baby! Fast wheels, they sound good. Not as harsh as everyone seemed to think it was.

Weaknesses:
Weight, (but its for TT and road racing, not hill climbs) Vista rear wheel is not quite stiff enough for sprinting or hill climbing out of the saddle. For steady efforts it is fine.

Similar Products Used:
None