Cervélo presents us with a challenge unlike anything we've ever before experienced. For the first time, our two best-selling bikes are made by the same manufacturer. The Cervélo Soloist Carbon and Cervélo R3 sell at a rate no one would dare forecast, and both sold like wildfire despite the fact that many customers paused midstream in the purchase process for the same reason. Time and time again we heard the same question: Which one should I buy? The question is an entirely sensible one, and we still hear it to this day.

The R3 is a mouthwatering bike nearly any way you approach it. Most impressive is its weight. Depending on the size you choose, it weighs in at ~900g. Beyond this is its brute strength. While Cervélo notes that the R3 surpassed all the records in the EFBe frameset torture tests, that data isn't as vivid as the fact that Team CSC's Fabian Cancellara won the '06 Paris-Roubaix on his stock, off-the-shelf R3. His seven hours of full-throttle racing on the heinous cobblestones of northern France tells us all we need to know, especially when you consider that he's the tallest and heaviest rider on CSC. His 58cm frame weighed 866g, and once he hit the velodrome in Roubaix -- clearcoat nicks aside -- it was still good as new. And, as we all know, Stuart O'Grady repeated the feat in 2007 with another solo victory for CSC. On the one hand, this race pedigree says a lot about the durability and the handling of the R3, but on the other hand it might obscure its most compelling trait: Its ride quality. The thin, flat seatstays of the R3 resemble leaf springs and they lend the frame a gentler ride that what you'd expect at first glance of the massive Squoval downtube. Few carbon bikes feel as forgiving on rough roads -- indisputably giving Team CSC an advantage on the horrid farm roads of L'Enfer du Nord.

As amazing as the R3 is, the big bosses of Cervélo -- Gerard Vroomen and Phil White -- personally asserted to us numerous times their belief that their finest bike design is in fact the Soloist Carbon. Why? The aerodynamic advantage of the Soloist Carbon over any other road bike in the market is massive. The headtube and downtube are kissing cousins of what you get with the P3 Carbon time trial frame, which means the Soloist Carbon pierces the wind with near-invisibility. And given that ProTour teams can't ride bikes lighter than 6.8kg, the 250g-300g weight difference between the Soloist Carbon and the R3 is inconsequential, since it's a piece of cake to build up a Soloist Carbon to 6.8kg. Evidence of this comes in the fact that Team CSC's Frank Schleck won the '06 Amstel Gold Race -- a one-day epic with the climbing volume of Liege-Bastogne-Liege and a maze-like parcours as perplexing as the Sunday Times crossword -- on his Soloist Carbon. And then he backed it up with a solo stage victory on his Soloist Carbon in the most famous mountaintop finish of the 2006 Tour de France, Alpe d'Huez.

Choosing between the two isn't easy for anyone. The R3 saves some weight and it rides with unmatched smoothness. The Soloist Carbon is measurably faster, though, thanks to its aerodynamics. There isn't a right answer, and many-a-customer pulled out fingerfuls of hair trying to make the best choice. So the braintrust at Cervélo concocted a fantastic idea: Blend together the signature traits of both bikes to make the decision easy for people fixated on one solitary consideration: Riding the very best.

With the introduction of the SLC-SL you can bid farewell to buyer's remorse forever. It tips the scales at nearly 200g lighter than the standard Soloist Carbon. A 54cm frame weighs 990g, +/-30g. But even though it's within arm's reach of the R3's weight, it sacrifices none of the aerodynamic shaping of the Soloist Carbon. In fact, Cervélo's testing on the SLC-SL proves that it has a 10% increase in bottom bracket stiffness and a 5% increase in torsional stiffness in comparison to the standard Soloist Carbon. If you spend most of your hours on the bike riding alone, or if you love Jens Voigt-like breakaway efforts, the SLC-SL is the unquestionable choice for you regardless of the terrain.

The SLC-SL comes with a one-position aero carbon seatpost that gives you an effective seat angle of 73 degrees. Cervélo's two-position reversible seatpost will fit in the SLC-SL, in case you'd like the option to give it an effective seat angle of 76 degrees for time trial applications. The SLC-SL comes standard with a Cervélo Wolf SL carbon fiber fork and an FSA Orbit IS integrated headset. It requires a braze-on front derailleur and an English bottom bracket. It's available in 6 sizes between 48cm-61cm, and comes in Black Carbon with White decals and removable CSC decals.

2008 Cervélo SLC-SL Pricing
	Frameset	Record / Chorus	Centaur / Dura Ace	Ultegra SL / Red	Force / Rival
SLC-SL	$4500	7155 / 6748	6153 / 6890	6052 / 6881	6265 / 5878

2008 Cervélo SLC-SL Geometry

Size	Top Tube	Head Tube	Head Tube Angle	Seat Angle	Standover
48	51.5	10.0	72.5	73.0	70.9
51	53.0	12.0	73.0	73.0	72.9
54	54.5	14.0	73.0	73.0	74.6
56	56.5	16.0	73.0	73.0	76.4
58	58.0	18.0	73.0	73.0	78.1
61	59.2	20.0	73.0	73.0	80.0