Cervélo Soloist comes back as an affordable racer

Aero trailblazer is reborn as a wallet-friendly high-performance machine, writes Luke Friend

- Luke Friend

For those of a certain vintage the return of the Soloist is likely to trigger a trip down Memory Lane. Back in the early 2000s, it was the bike that started the aero revolution, with its extruded aerofoil tubes, developed by brand founder Gerard Vroomen and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. Thanks to Team CSC the bike received plenty of racing exposure too, with the likes of the Schleck brothers, Jens Voigt and Ivan Basso all riding the bike to victory on the World Tour. But the bicycle industry waits for no one, and by 2008 the Soloist was phased out, replaced by Cervélo’s S range. Still, its influence was profound and every aero race bike since has a little bit of the Soloist’s DNA in its make-up.

So given the popularity, and proliferation, of wind-cheating, watt-saving race machines today, it’s little surprise that Cervélo has decided to bring it back. However, its aero credentials are only half the story of the Soloist’s comeback.

With Cervélo’s current road line-up featuring the Tour-winning S5 and R5 as well as the endurance-focused Caledonia 5, which niche would the Soloist now serve, especially given the enhanced aerodynamics of the latest S5?