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New Cervélo Soloist blends best of S5 & R5 for every day speed

cervelo soloistPhoto c. Cervélo
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Some of you might remember the Cervélo Soloist of the early 2000’s when it made a name for itself on multiple Grand Tours. Now the brand brings the popular bike back, with a fast-and-light focus somewhere between the S5 and the R5 bikes.

The Soloist comes in a touch lighter than S5, but improves on the R5’s aerodynamics with a contoured frame, dropped seat stays, and a D-shaped seatpost. It borrows the threaded bottom bracket from the R5-CX and can accommodate either mechanical or electronic shifting.

Cervélo puts the new iteration of the Soloist at “about” 250 grams heavier than the R5 and 250 grams lighter than the S5. The design objective is clear: the company makes the Soloist for anyone who doesn’t have the space, cash, time, or other limiting factors you need to overcome to own multiple high-spec road bikes.

“Far from being pros-only, the new Soloist has been designed for the week-in, week-out amateur racer. It balances lightweight and aerodynamic performance to deliver a bike that really is just right,” Cervélo says.

The bike comes in six sizes, from 48-61cm. Component sets range from a Shimano 105 wired kit at the lower end to Shimano Di2 at the top of the line. MSRP: $3,400 to $6,800, or $2,700 for a frameset including a frame, fork, and seat post.

cervelo soloist geometry

cervelo.com/soloist

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Velo Kitty
Velo Kitty
1 year ago

BBRighT-47 should not exist, just like BBRight should not exist. Every company does not need their own bottom bracket “standard”.

tilla85
tilla85
1 year ago
Reply to  Velo Kitty

What should exist then? I’ve been on t47 for 2 years now, it’s super easy to live with, almost any crank will fit it without any downsides, unlike bsa or bb86 where you’re compromising bearing life by using anything but 24mm cranks. BBright t47 doesn’t reinvent anything, doesn’t use any proprietary parts, it’s an external t47 cup on the drive side and an internal one on the non-drive side. It gives you room on the drive side to drop the chain and not get it stuck, to install magnets for your power meter if you run one of those, and it spaces the bearing cup/frame as far outboard as possible on the non-drive side for maximum stiffness. T47 is not the best possible system but it’s pretty damn good, and it delivers on all the knucklehead home mechanics’ demands, but people have to complain all the time regardless.

Velo Kitty
Velo Kitty
1 year ago
Reply to  tilla85

> What should exist then?

BSA or BB30 for metal frames, BB86 or BB386EVO

> BBright t47 doesn’t reinvent anything

Yes, it doesn’t invent anything and just adds to the confusion. Cervelo doesn’t want to admit BBright was always a stupid idea. Even the co-founder of Cervelo, Gerard Vroomen, has moved on to BB386EVO.

JBikes
JBikes
1 year ago
Reply to  Velo Kitty

I have a cervelo. Not a fan of BBright but its main (and maybe only) issue was the PF, since Cervelo is incapable of maintaining any dimensional tolerances. Move that to T47 and its simply a non-issue as its just a different cup set-up but functionally easy and less prone to tolerance issues

JBikes
JBikes
1 year ago
Reply to  JBikes

Just to add, I don’t trust that Cervelo reams (for PF) or threads (for T47) correctly, so its very likely you’ll still have a crap BB because the two cups are out of alignment. Yeah, I thought I was crazy too but this is all based on 3 2018+ frames I’ve worked on (and ridden). 2 had BB reams that were not aligned to the shell (how does that happen on “CF bikes come out a mold perfect…”) and 1 ream wasn’t square/parallel with its mate across the BB.

So yeah, BB47whatever is better, but I won’t ever buy something from Cervelo again. I like their geometry though.

Velo Kitty
Velo Kitty
1 year ago
Reply to  JBikes

I’m not sure why you use the term “reamed”. From the Cervelo models that I’ve seen on youtube, the holes just seem to be molded into the carbon fiber frame… and not very well.

In my opinion, they should have molded a metal cylinder into the frame for BB386EVO and skipped the threading.

JBikes
JBikes
1 year ago
Reply to  Velo Kitty

The “ream” is an approximate 1/2” deep section that was cleaned up by cervelo for the PF BB. Every 2018+ Cervelo frame I’ve seen shows it. Not sure it’ll show on YouTube too well

Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot
1 year ago

The non-series cranks these brands get away with on the 105 bikes always really gets my goat considering how expensive they are these days. Especially when you can get an R7000 105 TCR $400 less with a 105 crank and the bottom bracket will probably be a circle and in alignment.

Dinger
Dinger
1 year ago

It’s a long running practice to spec 2nd brand stuff (FSA, Cannondale’s “HollowGram”, Specialized’s older carbon S-works, even Cervelo’s past use of Rotor’s stuff) to escape the cost of Shimano’s groupset cranks. I think these non-series cranks are a way for Shimano to offer some flexibility while keeping the whole groupset under the Shimano umbrella.

Ernest Fitzgerald
Ernest Fitzgerald
1 year ago

Yes, the BB (lack of) standards situation sucks. But receiving less attention are proprietary, aero seatposts, which probably gain you maybe an inch per every 100 miles traveled.

Bob
Bob
1 year ago

I was trying to find a proprietary seat wedge for a 10 year old Specialized and it was impossible. Whole frame was pretty much useless. Sold it for pennies on the dollar I was so frustrated.

Cyclingfan
Cyclingfan
1 year ago

What is the point of this bike, you have the S series, Caladoina (sp), R series, Aspero, CX bike.. Not sure what market is this bike targeting.. other than nostalgia.. and if that is the case, paint it CSC red and make it look like an OG Soloist.

Matt
Matt
1 year ago
Reply to  Cyclingfan

This S-series doesn’t exist anymore – it is being replace by this

Here is how their bikes stack up:
Aero = S5 and Soloist
Road/Classics = R5 and Caledonia
Gravel = Aspero
Cyclocross = R5CX (which they really only make since they sponsor some standout cz riders)

JBikes
JBikes
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt

you made a good argument that the S-series is comprised of the “5” and the “oloist”.

Dinger
Dinger
1 year ago
Reply to  Cyclingfan

More accessible price points without having to address it in both road bike families?

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