Competitive Cyclist

CERVÉLO R3

This is the classic Cervélo race bike. For 5 years it's been the standard by which all other ultralight bikes in the marketplace have been measured. The R3: It's stiffer, stronger, and more beautiful than any Cervélo not built with an aerodynamic focus.

The "Squoval" tubes on the R3 are part square, part oval, with the purpose of maximizing the stiffness-to-weight ratio of the bike. The Squoval downtube of the R3 is bigger in diameter than virtually any other sub-1000g frame, but the R3 weighs so little due to the fact that Cervélo uses the latest in ultra-high modulus carbon materials. Thanks to the combination of the weight savings and the increased diameter of the tubing, the R3 has a higher stiffness-to-weight ratio than any other bike Cervélo has ever designed or tested.

Not only will the R3 easily build up into a sub-15lb wonderbike for the climbs, but when you accelerate the frame won't flex or flinch. No better option exists for the hills -- after all, owning a featherlight bike does you no good on the climbs if it rides like a wet noodle under power. The name of the game is to transfer every watt you expend into forward motion, and the R3 offers drivetrain efficiency like none other.

Cervélo's goal with the R3 wasn't as simple as building something sub-1000g. Rather, it was building something that light that can withstand any condition or circumstance. In its first win at Paris-Roubaix the R3 lived up to its full potential under the awesome power of Fabian Cancellara. He was literally the biggest rider in the race that year (we've heard that his race weight is 185lbs), and he was on the lightest bike in the race. He rode his R3 to a solo victory in a race that will always be remembered for George Hincapie's catastrophic fork failure, and the fateful meeting between a commuter train and Peter van Petegem and Leif Hoste on the outskirts of Roubaix. Cancellara rode sans flat and sans mechanical on Mother Earth's most savage parcours. Most people recognize Cervélo as the world's leader in building aerodynamic bikes. The real story is this: They're also the world's leader at building bikes that are tough as nails.

Cancellara's teammate Stuart O'Grady matched the feat the next year: His 20km solo break on his R3 brought him solo into the Roubaix velodrome for the biggest victory of his career. O'Grady's one-minute time gap over the chasers -- an all-star group of wily veterans and super-hungry neophytes -- was definitive proof that he was the strongman of the day.

In understanding the differences between the R3 and other bikes, there's one other important distinction: The R3 has unique seatstays specifically engineered to increase its compliance. They're thin and very flat, and in their shape and flowing appearance remind us of leaf springs. They bring a suspension-like feel you'll be delighted to have on long rides.

In a way, you can't compare the R3 to similar bikes in the marketplace because no similar bikes exist. Nothing else out there is sub-1000g, race-proven in the most rigorous conditions of the UCI ProTour (both on the cobbles and on the giant Alpine cols), and comes with a lifetime warranty. Since nothing out there is similar, the best you can do is compare it to bikes that have a passing resemblance to the R3. What do you find? You get the limitations always associated with "climbing" bikes -- rider weight caveats, short warranties, and jaw dropping prices.

The R3 comes standard with a 3T Funda Pro carbon fiber fork, an Cane Creek integrated headset, and a 3T Doric carbon fiber seatpost. It's available in 6 sizes between 48cm-61cm. It requires the use of a braze-on front derailleur and an English bottom bracket.

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2010 Cervélo R3 Pricing

2010 Cervélo R3 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