Cervelo R3

October 18th, 2007 by

Gregg

(originally posted by Francois)

We had to stop by the Cervelo booth and try the R3. This bike won the Roadbikereview ‘Best Of’ frame award this year receiving 43 reviews with an average of 4.5 stars.

http://www.roadbikereview.com/cat/latest-bikes/road-bike/cervelo/PRD_366584_5668crx.aspx#reviews

A lot of carbon bikes ride very similar nowadays. Surprisingly, the R3 is quite different. It seems to have gone to the extreme of stiff bottom bracket and lateral rigidity. The power transfer on this bike is just incredible. It loves to sprint and it loves to climb. Cornering is very stable too as the bike holds the line on demanding high-speed corners.

As far as ride quality, it is quite good, specially for a bike that has a front end and bottom bracket this stiff. This seems to be accomplished by the ultra-small, almost flat seat stays. The tubing on the frame looks imbalanced but that’s because this machine was designed to extremes on the qualities important on a race bike.

So if you want a bike to stay in decent shape or to commute to work, this might not be the bike for you. But if you want to fly and you want to race, this is a good choice.