It's a carbon-mad world we live in, but nevertheless we're amidst the 4th straight season of ProTour podium placings for Cervélo's aluminum workhorse, the S1. Matt Goss led out his Team CSC teammate JJ Haedo to a field sprint victory in front of about a million spectators at the Philadelphia International Championship -- the biggest 1-day race in America. 3 of Team CSC's 7 riders that day chose the S1 over the Soloist Carbon, proving that not only is aluminum still relevant at the highest end of the sport, but to some it's preferable. Through 2008 this frameset was known as the Soloist Team, but in an effort to unify the naming conventions of their bikes (think of the R3 and the P3) Cervélo re-named this model the S1. All that's changed is the name. Structurally, though, it's identical to the Soloist Team. No similarly priced frame on the market comes anywhere close in terms of raceability, aerodynamics, comfort, and durability. Elsewhere on our site we offer the S1 as a frameset so you can custom-build it with suitably ProTour-caliber components -- Record, Dura Ace, Red, etc. But here we offer it as a pre-configured complete bike comprised of components like Shimano Ultegra SL, FSA, and Easton in order to provide you with maximum value. At a complete bike cost 20% less than the price of a Soloist Carbon frameset alone, you get a race-ready machine unmatched by any other bike in the $2,000 range. In fact, we don't know of any $3,000 bikes in the marketplace we'd choose over the S1/Ultegra SL. Why buy the S1? It comes down to one simple fact: Engineering. The heart and soul of the S1 is its Smartwall 2 tubeset. If you sawed the S1 downtube in half and looked down into it, the first thing you'd note would be its airfoil shape. It looks almost identical to the profile of the wind-cheating time trial helmets Giro makes for their marquee riders in the Tour de France. Most importantly, the leading edge of the tube is not round. Rather, it's elliptical. In the end analysis, it's this elliptical leading edge that makes it so aerodynamic. It's impossible to create an elliptical section by starting with a round tube and forming it into shape. Rather, you must extrude the tube into the proper airfoil shape -- a process substantially more difficult, time consuming, and expensive. Cervélo goes to the trouble to extrude their aluminum tubing because they know that "aero" tubes with a round front and a sharp trailing edge (this is the design you see from almost every other manufacturer in the marketplace) offer hardly any aero benefit since the bluntness of the round front deflects the airflow before it reaches the trailing edge. The aero design of the S1 goes beyond the downtube. It has a bulge-butted seat tube and tapered and ovalized top tube to make it even more invisible to the wind. And these tube designs go beyond concerns of aerodynamics -- they increase the frame strength and BB stiffness, they reduce the overall frame weight and add comfort to the ride. It's the secret behind the S1's "un-aluminum" ride quality and exceptional handling. You should think of the S1 as an aero frame fully suitable for TT's or Tri, but since it has road geometry it's equally ideal for road racing. It comes stock with Cervélo's proprietary Aero Carbon seatpost. The post has a reversible design. When you situate its head to the rear it gives the frame a 73 degree effective seat angle, the standard for road riding. When you position the head to the front it converts the frame to a 76 degree effective seat angle, making it ideal for TT's and Tri. It's available in sizes 48-61 in a glossy Red/White with Black trim. S1/Ultegra SL Complete Bike Price: $2200.00
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configure/buy S1/Ultegra SL Complete Bike
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