2008 Cervelo R3

[equus123]

Hey everybody,

Apparently since my review of the '08 Madone 6.5 WSD was such a hit (lol), I'm going to write up a full review of the '08 Cervelo R3 in the next week or so. My team just got sponsored by Cervelo for 2009 and the R3 was chosen as our official racing bikes. So I'd love to do a full review of it and also compare it to the Madone.

Stay posted.....

[fidlfreek]

Hi! just PMed you this but thought I'd post too just in case.

CONGRATS. Thats so so so awesome. The R3 gets ridiculously hot reviews and I'm eager to hear your especially since I am chasing one on ebay. Am interested to hear a woman's perspective since of course it would never cross Cervelo's mind (or RoadBikeReviews etc) to have a woman review a high performance man's bike. If anyone else knows of any women's reviews of this sweeeeet ride I would love to hear them!

[equus123]

Hey, thanks.

I was going to wait until I got fit on it (who knows when that will happen) so I'll throw my saddle, pedals, and wheels on there and take it out for a quick spin. I'm a fan of immediate first impressions so no need for a fit there.

Two great guys from Cervelo came to our team's bike shop two weekends ago to unveil the new S3 and P4C (omg are they amazing in person) and a big group of us went on a group ride with the Cervelo guys (John and Jared(?) ). They were curious to ask me about my Madone I was riding and went on to say that Cervelo believes that there are just big bikes and little bikes, that they're unisex. They don't believe in the need for women's specific geometry. I agree with them whereas I also agree with Trek in (from a business perspective) marketing towards women especially since so little IS, especially in the cycling world. (Although it also allows for women's color schemes and all that stuff). So I agree with both sides of the fence.

I'll try and hop on the R3 one day this week. Hopefully it's not too late for your Ebay sale!!

In the meantime, here are some glamour shots!

















(And if anybody is keeping check - the saddle and wheelset that are on the bike in the pictures are the one's I'm selling in the For Sale forum)

[fidlfreek]

WOW. Thats bike porn right there! Its good to hear about the Cervelo unisex concept. I think it ALMOST works for them because they have made their smallest bike with a 515 virtual TT. This works for me but probably wouldn't for anyone smaller than me (5'2). WSD has a very important place in the market for women who must have something shorter than that - probably 2% of the population...(If Cervelo made a 505 top tube w/ 650 wheels then they would truly IMHO have a unisex line but who really wants to build for that tiny demographic. haha) Having the Black/White color choice is also very unisex of them.

As WSD goes Your Madone is like the the best options out there IMHO and even then you don't have the SRAM Red build option, at least on the Trek site.

Enough. So the R3. I am so so anxious to hear your opinions! The reviews about comfort, combined w/ record setting lateral stiffness, handling etc are truly breathtaking. I swear I don't work for Cervelo.

Would also be interested in your FSA carbon crankset opinion as well.

[equus123]

Alrighty, here's my review! The only thing to note is that everything has to be in comparison to the Madone 6.5 WSD because that's my baseline at this point. I've ridden the Madone since the middle of January.

I put my other saddle on the Cervelo and also took the Easton wheels off, swapping them with my Bontrager Race X Lite's. I'm selling the Selle Italia saddle and Easton's that came stock with the Cervelo and they've never been used. ....not even for my 10 minute first ride.

First impressions - this thing is light! The Madone is nothing to snuff at either but this R3 is really light! I'm not really the weenie weight type so I don't know the frame, fork, blah blah blah weight on one bike vs the other but there seems to be noticeable difference in weight between the two bikes. I'll have to throw a bias out there, though, because my Powertap wheel and Maxxis training tires on the Madone certainly don't make it any lighter because those puppies are kinda heavy. I've heard that the R3 is in fact lighter than the Madone anyway.

The ride feel - the R3 has a nice feeling to it, you can feel the bike beneath you. So you can feel the strength and the stiffness beneath you. As soon as you go to hit a turn (most noticeable at slow speeds) this puppy wings around it. The whole bike has the feel that the tubes have super tiny diameters. I'm sure that doesn't make sense to anybody but me but when you're riding and if you were to swerve and snake around, it's like there's no delay or feel to the movement when you swerve the bike. It simply just goes there...if it's not there already. lol. The bike moves side to side (or around a corner) as fast as your neurons and synapses fire. It's pretty incredible.

The R3 handles well and holds a pin straight line. It is incredibly quiet over rough roads, bumps, holes. After playing around for the first couple minutes the main feel that came to mind was that this bike is the perfect racing bike. It can track a line well but it's also extremely reliable because you can turn on a dime. I also kinda like the bars that came with it, too. It has an interesting bend that I've never seen or used before. The bend is very sharp so the ends of the drops seem relatively close to parallel to the ground. The drop on them is shallow so it's weird because I'm used to deep drops.

The only two ways this bike didn't blow me away on were the out of the saddle climbing and out of the saddle sprinting. It felt a little bit dead to me. Because of how light the weight is, I was certainly expecting it to fling itself forward after the first two hard pedal strokes but I didn't really notice anything.

In comparison to the Madone - the Madone is a bike that has a feel of almost a Harley. It feels super wide (a figment of your imagination) and super stable beneath you and it's such a comfortable ride and feel that you could ride it all day. In a weird way, the way I can describe the Madone's ride/feel is "friendly". Not in a "soft on your parts/not harsh ride" kind of way but that it rides like it's smiling and happy. (corny, I know. ...but the best way I can describe it. )

The most noticeable difference between the new Madone and the R3 is the twitchiness. On the Madone, it's the front end. On the R3, it's the entire bike from skewer to skewer. The Madone has a spring to it and jumps with you when you get out of the saddle. The R3 just goes along with you. When you're doing a seated climb on the Madone, you can feel every pedal push thrusting you and the bike forward. I didn't quite notice it on the R3 to the degree you can feel it on the Madone.

That's it for right now.....

[Dogmama]

I'm semi-in-the-market for a 6.5 Madone. Do you have SRAM or Shimano on yours? Which style? I love my Campy, but alas, it doesn't come stock on Madone & I'm loathe to spend any more $$, since it's already a pretty expensive toy...

Loved your description of the Madone.

[equus123]

I'm semi-in-the-market for a 6.5 Madone. Do you have SRAM or Shimano on yours? Which style? I love my Campy, but alas, it doesn't come stock on Madone & I'm loathe to spend any more $$, since it's already a pretty expensive toy...

Loved your description of the Madone.

I have the Dura Ace build on my Madone. Nothing's as smooth as butter like Dura Ace...