At a glance Stiff rolling road mile-muncher that responds to hard, powerful riding and positively thrives when the road gets rough.
Tested by
Nik Cook, tester for The Bike List
Performance
Forget the Tour De France, the toughest bike race in the world on bike and rider is the cobble and mud fest of Paris Roubaix. Since 2006 the R3 has been on the podium every year and clocked up three wins, including propelling Johan Van Summeren to his shock win this year.
Not resting on their laurels, Cervélo have completely re-engineered the R3 for 2011. The Squoval tubing, combining the resistance to side to side flex of square tubing with the resistance to torsional flex of round tubing, remains along with the super-thin seat stays and cutting edge carbon lay-up. The new BBright system beefs up the non-drive side giving more balanced stiffness and, according to lab tests, a doubling in total stiffness. The new Tapered 1-3/8th FK30 fork is another much touted improvement and apparently “tracks like no other”. The group-set on this build is Shimano’s second tier Ultegra and, although being marginally heavier than top end Dura Ace, is a great option for dropping the price without sacrificing significant performance. The RS30 wheelset pairs carbon laminate rims with Ultegra hubs. They’re stiff, light and reliable performers but you might hope you’d get a bit more wheel on a £3500 bike. Mounted on the RS30’s are the ever dependable Conti Grand Prix 4000’s. The seat-post is a traditional fitting 3T Dorico Team and the saddle is the very classy looking San Marco Treggle. Upfront the aero Profile Cobra bars, without tape on the bar tops betray the R3’s purpose. This is no hands on the tops pootler, it’s a down on the drops, big gear speed machine.
Riding through the tail end of the winter, the R3 consistently just felt right. The massively oversized Squoval tubing might not be to everyone’s tastes but it exuded strength, speed and aggression. The riding position felt slightly stretched but not uncomfortably so and almost goaded you into getting down on the drops. Despite the massive stiffness, road buzz was amazingly low and the comfort of ride very good. On flat and rolling roads, cranking a big gear and powering over rollers, the R3 flew. It responded best to tough love and brutal unsubtle injections of power. There was absolutely no discernible flex and, if you’ve got the wattage to invest, the R3 pays you back with interest. The Ultegra group put in its usual no-nonsense clinical performance. Shifting was slick and the brakes were predictable and effective. The RS30 wheels were a pleasant surprise and didn’t let the rest of the build down at all. They were stiff, light and coped well with some horrendous road surfaces. There’s no doubt the R3 rode better when our tester fitted his own £1000 Corima wheelset but the RS30’s are a decent enough set of hoops. When the road kicked up, the R3 climbed efficiently and rapidly. It shone on steep, short and powerful stuff but, as long as you put the work in, also responded well on longer and draggy efforts. It rewarded you keeping the gas on and somehow felt a bit stilted and frustrated if you tried to sit-up and spin. Descending, it was staggeringly good and the front end felt 100% locked and secure. Even on broken and rutted roads with a liberal covering of slush and mud, it gave you the confidence to just keep on pushing and, like on the flat and when climbing, thrived on fast, aggressive and confident riding.
I’d have loved the opportunity to take the R3 to its spiritual home of the battlefields of Northern Francebut, on the weekend of Paris-Roubaix, made do with the rural lanes of Hertfordshire and Rapha’s Hell of the North tribute ride to the Queen of the Classics. Rather than Pavé, the guys at Rapha had scoped out 20 sectors of “gravé” consisting of broken tracks, rutted by-ways, twisting forest singletrack and field crossings. My only tweak to the R3 was fitting Vittoria Open Pave Evo tyres and adding a dose of Stan’s into the inner tubes. On the road, the R3 was good but, hitting the rough stuff, it was superb. Mashing a big gear it floated over bumps, ruts and roots and was never twitchy or unpredictable. At times, kicking out the back end on loose corners, I had to remind myself I wasn’t on my crosser but the handling and confidence the R3 inspired was just too much fun to even consider backing off. I like to think that the scores of people I overtook and dropped on the gravé sectors were vanquished by my power and bike handling skills but there’s no doubt that the red and black flyer underneath me took the lion’s share of the credit. Finishing the day with a beer, chips, watching the finale of Paris-Roubaix on a big screen and seeing an R3 take top spot, I couldn’t help occasionally glancing dewy eyed over at mine. I ride a lot of great bikes but there are very few I have genuinely fallen in love with. It perfectly suits the type of rider I am, how I ride and the rough roads and tracks I seek out. Giving it back is going to be a real wrench.
