G'day guys,

long time lurker, first time poster, very close to first time Cervelo owner.

Have had a hunt through all the forums and have come across a theme that the r3 is 'stiffer' in the front end than the s3. Does anyone have any real data that shows this? RIDE mag does testing by putting known weights on the cranks, but they haven't tested the r3/s3.

Reason I'm asking, I'm an ex-downhill mtbr and pretty agressive all mountain rider who has gotten tired of breaking shoulders racing dh and have started to really enjoy my road riding wanting to upgrade and potentially have a crack at some road racing. I'm currently around 98kg's and heading towards 90 and hopefully below. I ride around 150-250kms/wk consisting of up and down the Adelaide hills here in South Australia, (don't really favour flat rides even tho I should, guess that's the mtbr in me)

Anyway, I'm torn between the s3 and the r3, I'm lucky enough to have scored a test ride of a s3 coming up but unlikely to get my hands on an r3 to compare and want to know are the differences in frontal stiffness noticeable for bigger riders or not. I like to descend at a faster rate than I prob should to make up for the suffering that i undertake climbing hills at 100kg+! Unfortunatly I won't be allowed to take the s3 up any decent hills to test out what it's like coming down but will have a test around a crit track which i'm very grateful for. The owner of the s3 that i'll be testing has also an r3sl and only mentioned that he feels the bb of the s3 is stiffer than the r3sl. I'm grateful for his feedback but he is also the one selling me the bikes and is also about 70kgs which i'll never be.

I am leaning towards the s3, but availability times and price is making me think the r3 is a great option too. I'm not concerned about the weight differences between the s3/r3/r3sl as I'm more concerned with steering precision and ride comfort. The 'Aero' of the s3 is great too, but not the defining factor for me.

Also a item of concern (being an engineer also) is that the seat stays of both the s3 and r3 have obviously been 'tuned' for rider confort which is what I want, but would they have been tuned for a 70kg and subsequently under a 90kg monster would be 'too active' and feel like i'm riding my old dh bike? I'm expecting it to be more active than my current alu/carbon Sintessi Oxalis. I'm sure the stays will 'survive' underneath me as they don't have a rider weight limit, but still interested in hearing any feedback from the bigger crew out there.

 oh, build wise i'll be going for full dura-ace 7900, wheels i'm thinking dura-ace 7850 c50clinchers or stretching to zipp 404 clydes/maxs.

Cheers guys/girls

Paul

Hi Paul

 

I am about 90kgs down from 117, and 183cm. Late last year I test rode a R3 & S2 at about 100kgs both were come top road bike to ride. For me I found that the R3 was a whole lot nicer going uphill when I out of the saddle. The S2 wasn’t bad it just felt that is preferred to be in a straight line not thrown from side to side in you know what I mean. This could be due at the time I tested the bikes I had a bit more weight in my body and less weight in my legs and was not the best bike rider.  

 

There are several posters on this forum who have both R and S bikes: greg66 has the R3SL and SLCSL (S3), but I don't think he's your heft. republicanrider had the R3, then the S3, then he sold it and got a RS. You could find these posters and send them a PM. Use the search for one of their posts and click on their name to contact them directly.

The R3 was made to be the stiffest possible for the given weight - that's what attracted me to that bike. It has tube shapes to optimize stiffness. The S bikes are more aero and inherently less stiff; they had to be "overbuilt" with more carbon plies to make them close to the stiffness of the R bikes. All the S bikes are heavier as a result: the S3 is 1079 grams, the R3 is 940 grams (those weights are from the competitive cyclist website - don't know for which frame size). The team uses both bikes. I don't think they would ride the S2 or S3 if they gave up a lot of stiffness to the R bikes.

 Hey there i purchase the RIDE magazines on a frequent basis too and I can assure you that the flex test on a jig with 40kg crank arms on the frame were already performed on the R3SL and S2 ( when it was reviewed, it was still known as the Soloist Carbon )

 

Unfortunately I do not remember which issue they did the reviews but if i remember correctly, the R3SL averaged a flex of around 0.3mm+ while the S2 averaged around 0.2mm+ with 40kg cranks. Hope this is correct and helpful to you!! 

Oh wait hang on, I think the review on the Soloist Carbon was done in 2005 with Robbie Mcewen on the front cover! I'm overseas right now so am unable to verify this with you.

Hi Paul,

can't comment on the stiffness issues, but I'm 90kg and have an RS (also from Adelaide).  The seatstays handle road vibration etc really well, without feeling spongy.  The only thing I notice is how much better my lower back feels after a decent length ride.  I imagine the R3 and S3 stays would be even a little stiffer as they are straight rather than curved, so I don't think you need to worry about them being too active.

 But I reckon as long as it's a Cervelo, you can't go wrong :)

Andy

I actually wrote to Ride magazine about the tests and they printed my letter in an issue last year (can't remember which one but you might want to find it - i wrote both the R3 and S2 data in it). I can't remember the numbers but the Soloist Carbon tested stiffer than the R3 which is of course against everything I've read and felt whilst riding my SLC and my friend's R3. Ride said the tests where done with the same setup and jig. Here's something from Specialized someone else posted earlier http://www.specialized.com/bc/microsite/tarmacsl3/_img/stiffness-to-weight-torsional.jpg It's stiffness to weight so the SLC is always going to be behind the R3SL. In the end, BB stiffness is really a function of a person's power output rather than their weight and if it's stiff enough for the pro's, it's stiff enough for us! But regarding headtube stiffness, I would go for the R3 for the following reasons: 1. If you're heavy, it will help you get up hills 2. The R3's headtube is stiffer and there are several comments of speed wobble occurring on the larger frames, especially the S-series more than the R-series. Cheers

I have an S3 (actually SLC-SL) and have riden a R series, quite simply both are stiff enough in all areas for a non pro like myself. In fact given that the top pro's use both I will only start to think "is the R series or S series the stiffess" when I can honestly say I put out more watts that the likes of Carlos, Thor and the rest of the boys on the Test Team.

 

Go with which ever you feel comfortable with both are stunning bikes.

Thanks guys/girls. I tested out the S3 last night, was amazing and from the limited riding i could do on it's pretty much what i'm after. Have had some confirmation regarding my queries around the r3 steering stiffness and will be getting one of those. Really looking forward to it now. Thanks for your help.