'Not every road bike has to be an aero spaceship' - Cervélo launches a brand-new Soloist

Cervélo has launched a new version of its Soloist road bike today. This update sees the model get its second update following its relaunch back in 2022 after a lengthy hiatus.

If you aren't familiar with the name, the Soloist was one of the Cervélo bikes raced by Team CSC back in the early and mid-2000s.

Perhaps it's just a sign of the times, but sometimes it feels like every bike launch has to be a thing, whether that be a new hyper aero road bike, gravel bike with MTB specs or aero wheels with laser beams and a single-digit spoke count.

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Whisper it, but bikes aimed at regular riders still exist, and the Soloist is one of them. In the brand's words, it's for 'the ones riding through the sunrise before work, the ones gathered at the shop for the Tuesday night fast ride.'

The Soloist is very much a performance road bike, designed to be faster and lighter than the last version, and yes, there are some wattage-saving claims for me to share. It's even being raced by the Visma-Lease a Bike development squad this year, but it's not as aggressive and unapologetically race-oriented as the brand's S5 model.

I headed to the Netherlands to attend the bike's launch, test ride it, and talk to the Cervelo engineers and product managers about what went into it.

How has the new Soloist changed?

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Cervélo has given the Soloist a pretty thorough overhaul, changing a lot of frame tube shapes to increase surface area and make the bike faster, and carrying out a comprehensive weight-saving programme that's resulted in a 176-gram system saving.

The top-flight SRAM Red build weighs a claimed 6.85kg out of the box, and the heaviest build is only 7.41kg; competitive weights all round.

Weight has been shaved in a few places, from the handlebar to the lightened seapost clamp bung and seat tube shaft; lots of components have been on a diet. The frame itself is 28 grams lighter, whilst the fork saves 16 grams.

Let's look at a few numbers first; I also have a number for the difference between this bike and the S5, which I found interesting. I don't, however, have in-depth wind tunnel testing protocols or testing procedures for you.

The Soloist is said to be 8.6 watts faster than the old bike, with the older HB13 handlebar, and the same Reserve 42/49 wheels.

The new HB18 handlebar the bike comes with is said to be 134 grams lighter and 5.8 watts faster than the current HB13 model, so a chunk of the overall saving is coming from the bar.

And the S5 difference? The S5 with the aggressive HB19 bar, the one with the split, positive rise stem and 57/64mm Reserve wheels, is 11.8 watts faster than the Soloist in the above spec.

There's also an additional 4.3-watt saving when the bike is ridden with the new Cervélo 650ml aero water bottles, which are included with the bike. The cages themselves will take a round bottle, and the aero bottles physically stand up on their own, which is a nice touch.

Interestingly, the brand says round bottles will add 6.3 watts of drag to the bike, and using Soloist aero bottles adds two watts over using none at all. Food for thought there if you are watt hunting.

Why don't the Visma WorldTour team use the aero bottles? Simple: they have an existing bottle sponsor, though the aero bottle question sounds like it's being worked on.

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Geometry has also been tweaked; the bike has a 2mm lower bottom bracket across all sizes to account for the updated 36mm tyre clearances the bike has.

The bike fits exactly the same as the R5, the brand's superlight climbing bike, and is a little more relaxed than the S5.

For instance, a size 54, the size I test rode, has the following geometry:

Stack: 544mm
Reach: 383mm
BB Drop: 74mm
Chainstay length: 410 mm
Seat tube angle: 73.5 degrees
Trail: 45.5mm

Pricing and specs

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The Soloist will be available as a frameset and in five SRAM and Shimano-equipped builds, including a 1x SRAM Force option priced the same as the double version.

The bike and frameset will be available in 'black magic' and 'cloud break' colours and in an additional 'Maldive' colour as a frameset.

The frame is electronic only and is UDH compatable with a threaded bottom bracket.

All builds will come with the Cervélo HB18 integrated bar and Reserve 42/49mm and 40-44mm carbon wheels; all builds also come with a power meter.

Anyone purchasing a Soloist will also be able to request an alternate handlebar size and have it swapped at an official dealer within the first 60 days of ownership at no extra cost. A nice touch, if like me, you would want a different-sized bar or stem.

Claimed weight for a Red AXS-equipped bike is 6.85kg and rising up to 7.41kg for a SRAM Rival-equipped bike. Overall build weights are pretty competitive across the board.

Soloist Red AXS: $11,000 / £9,000 / €10,999
Soloist Force AXS: $8,500 / £7,000 / €7,499
Soloist Ultegra Di2 (4iii PM): $8,250 / £7,000 / €7,499
Soloist Rival AXS (Quarq Spindle Single PM): $6,800 / £5,500 / €5,999
Soloist Frameset: $4,000 / £3,500 / €3,799

First impressions of the Soloist

I snuck in two rides on the Soloist, including a fun devil take the hindmost race around a small circuit that Cervélo organised which was actually a refreshing and welcome test compared to some press launches. It also included a 50km/h tear-up with recently retired WorldTour pro Carlijn Achtereekte along a Dutch canal, another good chance to ride the bike in anger.

My main point of focus, if I were buying this bike, would be to swap in the narrowest bar I could get my hands on, and switch in the alternate lower stack height bearing top cap cover the bike comes with to drop the front end.

The front end felt a touch too high, and the bars were wider than I would like, which resulted in the front end feeling pedestrian and not as racy as I would like.

If a racy and aggressive setup is of importance for you, check the numbers to see if the available bar configurations will be right for you.

Issues like this can be a part and parcel of launch rides, and my job is to take those out-of-the-box setup niggles into account and feel through them. Bars can be swapped, and front ends lowered.

Even from clipping in and rolling around the block to check my saddle height and setup, I sensed a stiff frame that responded well to my inputs and an engaging overall ride.

This feeling only grew the more I rode it, and I found it to be a very good all-rounder that, crucially, is exciting to ride. It felt comfortable and smooth when up to speed, stiff and responsive when accelerating, and it handled very well when I pushed it into corners during our mini race.

One minor concern for me related to the stock Cervelo out-front computer mount; it felt very flexible and nowhere near as solid as a lot of units I try. I didn't have any issues, but I'd at least be double-checking it if paired with bigger units or with heavier lights and action cameras because it felt flimsy to me.

I also believe bikes come with Vittoria Corsa N.Ext tyres; switching to premium Corsa Pros would also extract even more speed.

There's a solid bike at the heart of the Soloist; now that it's received another update from Cervélo, it's more competitive than before. It may not be as fast or as exciting as the S5, but it strikes me as exactly the kind of bike amateur riders buy and own for years, tackling races, epic rides, sportives and holidays on, and hanging on to it because it means so much to you.