Cervelo R3 Road Frameset

Many of us are drawn to the aesthetics of a classic road frame. In a world of radically sloping frames and super-aero tube sets, it's refreshing to see a frameset with a familiar silhouette that places a premium on stiffness to weight. If you're reading this, we're fairly certain that the R3 from Cervelo has that certain appeal that's drawn you in, and maybe you're not fully on board with disc brakes on road bikes quite yet. If that's the case, we can think of very few options to recommend over the R3 Road Frameset. So whether you're building up a brand new race rig from the ground up or you already have a perfectly good groupset and wheels and have always wanted to build up a Cervelo, now's the time to pick up this R3. The R3 is no stranger to the limelight. Consistently a winner in bike shootouts and with numerous editor choice awards to its credit, it also has a Tour victory to its palmares under Carlos Sastre and was the first bike to enter the Roubaix velodrome under the likes of Cancellara, O'Grady, and Vansummeren. This tells us a few things. The frameset is durable enough to handle brutal cobbled roads, it's light enough to scale hors categorie climbs, and it's comfortable enough for a 3-week stage race or a 6+ hour one-day classic.There's no need to fear any climb when aboard the R3. The frameset is built using special carbon layups and construction techniques, allowing Cervelo to reduce the frame's weight while making it stiffer at key points. This remarkable stiffness to weight ratio means the R3 is agile and responds instantly to pedaling efforts and tracks through turns with authority. Cervelo uses advanced engineering software like Finite Element Analysis (FEA) that allows it to better understand exactly how each layer of carbon fiber is working and if it's being used properly. Its carbon expertise prescribes a specific frame layup by placing hundreds of individually cut plies of carbon in a mold in a certain order and orientation. By precisely cu...