Cervelo Soloist Team

Price Paid:  $1400.00 at craigslist

Model Year:
2006

Favorite Ride:
No traffic and steep

Bike Setup:
Ultegra SL
Easton EC90
Speedplay Zero
Selle San Marco
Mavic Ksyrium

Summary:
This bike is awesome if you're man (or woman) enough to ride the only aluminum frame on your team. Light (for its price), aero, stiff, corners great, responsive, no speed wobbles 45mph+, not a harsh ride, and being alu, it's bombproof.

I've raced hill climbs, crits, road races, and time trials against guys on carbon dream bikes and never felt I had an inferior machine. Bottom line, if you want to race on a budget and aren't married to carbon, it's hard to beat this bike.

Strengths:
Everything! See above... light, stiff, aero, great price. It's a race bike, but has a good ride, I don't feel unnecessarily thrashed after 100+ mile rides.

Is a good (not perfect) TT bike with forward seat position and aerobars.

Aero shape and internal cable routing look sexy (at least I think so).

Weaknesses:
Seat is difficult to adjust, not baffling, just difficult. It's unavoidable because of the two-position seatpost. I'm willing to spend an extra 5 minutes adjusting my seat than spend $1500 on a TT bike.

Seat and/or seatpost make creaking noise if not oiled and adjusted correctly.

Similar Products Used:
Pinarello Galileo. Was a good intro bike for me. No comparison to the Soloist.

Price Paid:  $1200.00 at 3sports, Richmond VA

Favorite Ride:
The next one.

Bike Setup:
Campag Centaur; DTSwiss handbuilt wheels w/ Vittoria tires; Deda Zero100 stem & bars; Fi'zi:k Aliente Saddle

Summary:
What an impressive bike!! It's the only way I could afford a Cervélo, worth every penny. The frames stiffness is amazing, but is not at all harsh. Doesn't soak up road buzz like carbon, or have that steel/ti feel, but certainly feels "unaluminium".

The bike's responsiveness cannot be understated: this thing explodes under effort. I didn't appreciate how reactive it is to hard efforts until I rode my other bike. Also the hadling is flawless. It tracks a no-hands straigt line perfectly, and is very responsive to steering input without being nervous.

There's no such thing as the perfect bike, but the S1/Soloist Team is the perfect aluminium bike.

Strengths:
Responsiveness to hard efforts (cannot be overstated); confidence-inspiring handling; unaluminium ride-quality.

Weaknesses:
Paint quality could be slightly better, but if that matters to you on a bike @ this price w/ this pedigree, you're missing the point.

Similar Products Used:
CSK 7005 (great crit-bike); Scattante aluminium frame (first "proper" road bike, and not that bad actually); BMC Streetfire (also a very good frame)

Price Paid:  $3000.00 at Emerys

Model Year:
2007

Favorite Ride:
rolling hills

Bike Setup:
Sram red, dura ace, FSA super light crank, Chris King wheels

Summary:
I have put on about 2K miles and I loves every minute on it. Short rides, long rides doesn't matter this bike fits me and gives me sooo much confidence I have become a much bettter bike handler.

Strengths:
It feels compact, handles excellent in all aspects. Even being AL it seems no harsher than the carbon bikes on the bumps.

Weaknesses:
I do wish it was lighter although I wish I was lighter. lol

Similar Products Used:
Giant

Price Paid:  $2200.00 at speed theory

Model Year:
2007

Favorite Ride:
stanley park, horseshoe bay

Bike Setup:
ritchey classic bars, white hudz, selle italia (135g seat that kills me but is pretty) white seat, grey fizik bar tape, shimano sl pedals.

it looks prty sweet. just make sure that the stem is parallel with the top tube and you should be good as well. also dont put a water bottle holder on the down tube, that ruins the aero properties and is a big mistake. it'll slow you down BIG TIME.

if i wasnt a poor ass student. id buy this frame set, full dura ace, carbon this and that, zipp wheels, etc. it'd be prty bad ass and fast. i would consider custom painting the frame as well, but i kinda like the gun metal gray.

Summary:
2008 bike.

this bike is awesome except for:

im about 195 lbs and the carbon seat mast slips down sometimes, very annoying. maybe its not tight enough, but i was told not to tighten it too much because its carbon and it will crack. i told the shop about this, they put some carbon finish on. it stayed put for a while, but eventually slipped down some more.

the cable rattle was really bad. i told the shop, and they crossed the cables inside the frame and that solved the problem, except now i have cables that rub on each other and one day will maybe snap. i should get new cables every now and then anyways.

the spacers and cone for the headset are not carbon and are a weird diameter. i tried to get an after market carbon cone, but it didnt fit. i want a carbon instead of alloy!!

the steer tube is ultra thin (maybe too thin), and consequently, i have indentations in mine from putting the stem on too tight.

i didnt like the stock handlebars. i got some ritchey classic bars instead.

sometimes if im climbing a very steep hill (~15degrees) and i pull up on the handlebars on the left side, the headset makes a weird "urch" sound.

stock seat sucks. stock cranks are kinda lame, but they work. stock brakes are okay. basically cervelo cheaps out on these things to reduce the price.

i like the easton wheels i got, they look better than the shimanos from later generations. i dont know if theyre any better though.

stock front tire has lasted me forever. but i dont know why it came stock with 25mm instead of 23mm. u gotta bang a fully inflated stock tire through the brake calipers to get it in there which is just retarded and misaligns the brakes.

thats about all i can think of now.

Strengths:
im faster than all my friends (theyre not on cervelos, coincidence??)

i've never felt like this bike cant handle me.

Weaknesses:
see: summary

also im not a huge fan of the wolf fork. partially cuz the steer tube get indents and partially cuz its kinda lame and the paint sucks. the new 3t stuff looks better.

(not having a carbon cone and spacers really fired me up)

Similar Products Used:
1984 custom rocky mountain steel with campy record (my dads bike that fits me perfectly and still works quite well)

Price Paid:  $675.00 at Ebay

Model Year:
2007

Favorite Ride:
Gaps in North Georgia

Bike Setup:
Ultegras, Rotor compact Q-Rings

Summary:
For the MOST part...this bike is as advertised by the many reviews here; very versatile, handles extremely well, responds well when out of saddle sprinting, yet very comfortable on longer rides. I had a Giant OCR-C2, and wanted something a little more race oriented, yet something that won't beat me up too bad when doing centuries. This bike is great..it realy truly is. Now I won't say I got on this bike and noticed I was faster\ (like others said). I WILL say due to the short wheelbase, it handles better than my Giant, it's a wee bit more responsive on the climbs, it's WAY more responsive to sprinting, it MAY be a little more faster on flats and descents due to aero frame (maybe), and it is for sure just as comfortable. My only gripe.....the toe overlap on the 51 frame is crazy bad. Doing tight turns in parking lots can be tricky. But overall I love the bike. Slap aero bars on it, and it double SO well for doing TT's. Take the bars off, and you have a damn nice road racing bike. p.s. I got the black anodized finish. Can't say it's totally scratch proof, per other comments I've read. But, I like it. Very classy finish. Also, I have NOT noticed any of the cable rattles or noises other spoke of either. Very happy about that. Go buy a S1 or used Soloist. Can't go wrong.

Strengths:
Versatility (second to none), handling, responsiveness when sprinting, stability.

Weaknesses:
Toe overlap on 51 frame. That's all....and I'm picky :-)

Similar Products Used:
Giant OCR-C2, Cannondale R4000