Great review. Very informative. I'm considering purchasing an S3 frame to complete my own build. Your review helped the evaluation process. I'll second the comments about including your height and weight. The context is helpful. Thanks.
I have the same bike tho in 58cm. 94kg, 1.85m. I concur with all of your comments. however I work as a cycle mechanic and have found that the 6800 front mech results in a very poor shift regardless of set up due to cervelos cable routing. The r8000 front mech resolves it.
matt vernon, thanks for the info, I’ve now got 6870 Di2 on it, that too has resolved the issue! My pal is still struggling on with the 6800, I’ll let him know that the R8000 solves it. Cheers.
Just bought one of these. What a smooth ride. I might get Q rings since so many are noticing benefits. Also want to run a 25c vittoria rubino pro tires if they will fit 😬
Now that I got my own cervelo s3, i can concur with the incredible speed increase. Added the aero wheel set to it and OMG, they are literally screaming you to go faster. Even used it to climb the highest mountain here. Now it is time to spend some time and effort in upgrading my legs to get more rocket power out of it.
Great news! Mine is in winter hibernation at the moment, but looking forwards to getting back on it in about a month. Mine is also running Di2 now, which is totally awesome and managed to squeeze a 30t on the back, should make the mountains a bit more accessible. Hoping to ride up Mont Ventoux this year.
Lloyd Grose thank you for the comment, if you have any questions about the bike feel free to ask. I am also @alifeinlycra on Instagram, there are some more photos of it on there.
Lloyd Grose interesting to hear about the rubbing on the rear, mine is the same on the all red S3. How long did it take to replace to the one you have now?
Syed Shah mine went back to Germany (European distributor) and they tried to fix it. It didn’t work, so the shop I bought it from got them to agree to a frame replacement. Cervélo didn’t have my size frame in stock, so the shop persuaded them to give me a whole new bike. I was lucky mall in all it took about 6 weeks.
This is how reviews ought to be done, no fluff but concise and to the point. How easy is it to remove and put on new tubes on the wheels, my one and only nightmare as a casual rider.
shaddapforever actually pretty easy on the Boras with Continental GP4000/5000. The 4Season are a little tighter. I’m running Hunt Carbon 50s on another new bike, massive pain to get tyres on as they are tubeless ready. Snapped a fair few tyre levers!
@@alifeinlycra5622 Can I ask your opinion? I am currently riding a TREK 1.1 from 2012 ish. If I were to get a Cervelo S3 2018, would I notice any significant difference even when I am 190 cm and 90 ish kgs? Thank you!
shaddapforever I’d say yes. At your size (similar to me, I’m 182cm, 92kg) I assume your more of a power along the flat rider than a climber? The S3 is like riding on fast forward, especially with deep section wheels. I’m normally between 3-5km/h faster on the S3 than the R3 I used to have, and now the Genesis Zero Disc I also have. The bike encourages you to go faster. If I could only have one bike, it’d be the S3. Very direct handling on descents too.
@@alifeinlycra5622 Thanks, True I love to power along flats. But I love to go up a mountain as well, although very casually. Thanks for the information, the more I read up, the more confused I get and when I finally decide to settle something else pops up.
Excellent review, mentioning your frame size and height and all, hardly hear that in a review, many reviewers are missing the trick I think. Q ring question, have you ever dropped the chain shifting small to big ring and not dropping your cadence, chain normally falls off inwards at ‘2 o’clock ‘position and gets wrapped round the back of the chainring and rear stay? Happened to me on 3 bikes using the rotor q ring system.
S W thank you for your kind words! Not had any chain drop since running Q rings, including changing up under high power and cadence. It had been a bit ponderous on occasion. The AbsoluteBlack shift far better, but I couldn’t get them to work on my Rotor crank. Hoping to do a better review (if the weather ever improves!) and comparison with my R3.
Douglas Hernandez, yes, I get some rubbing on the drive side chainstay and worse though, is round my way they don’t fully resurface the roads, they ‘dress’ them, basically lay down a load of chippings and wait for cars to crush them in. I’ve had a road chipping caught between the front tyre and fork crown, and between the rear tyre and down tube. Scratched the hell out of it. Boo.
I suppose it depends on the tyres you're running. Contis tend to "overlap" their width compared to Vittoria's. But still, 25mm is too close for comfort, at least for me!
Contis run a little bit wider than normal I believe , based on that I skipped the contis and I'm running the Pirelli P Zero All weather ones during the winter months then will switch to tubular wheels in the spring
Great no-nonsense concise review
Great review. Very informative. I'm considering purchasing an S3 frame to complete my own build. Your review helped the evaluation process. I'll second the comments about including your height and weight. The context is helpful. Thanks.
William Percival its a great bike, It’s like the R3, but on fast forward! Mine now had Di2, its awesome!
I have the same bike tho in 58cm. 94kg, 1.85m. I concur with all of your comments. however I work as a cycle mechanic and have found that the 6800 front mech results in a very poor shift regardless of set up due to cervelos cable routing. The r8000 front mech resolves it.
matt vernon, thanks for the info, I’ve now got 6870 Di2 on it, that too has resolved the issue! My pal is still struggling on with the 6800, I’ll let him know that the R8000 solves it. Cheers.
Very nice to know indeed, thanks for sharing!
Great review! just bought a second hand 58cm version of this bike. I like your other videos mate. It's a shame you stopped making content
I’d make more content, if only I had the time!!
Just bought one of these. What a smooth ride. I might get Q rings since so many are noticing benefits. Also want to run a 25c vittoria rubino pro tires if they will fit 😬
Dustin Smith I reckon you’ll squeeze them in. I’m loving the bike at the moment, running Di2 on it now.
Now that I got my own cervelo s3, i can concur with the incredible speed increase. Added the aero wheel set to it and OMG, they are literally screaming you to go faster.
Even used it to climb the highest mountain here.
Now it is time to spend some time and effort in upgrading my legs to get more rocket power out of it.
Great news! Mine is in winter hibernation at the moment, but looking forwards to getting back on it in about a month. Mine is also running Di2 now, which is totally awesome and managed to squeeze a 30t on the back, should make the mountains a bit more accessible. Hoping to ride up Mont Ventoux this year.
Thanks for this just ordered mine I'm about the same weight as you so this review has been really useful
Lloyd Grose thank you for the comment, if you have any questions about the bike feel free to ask. I am also @alifeinlycra on Instagram, there are some more photos of it on there.
Lloyd Grose interesting to hear about the rubbing on the rear, mine is the same on the all red S3. How long did it take to replace to the one you have now?
Syed Shah mine went back to Germany (European distributor) and they tried to fix it. It didn’t work, so the shop I bought it from got them to agree to a frame replacement. Cervélo didn’t have my size frame in stock, so the shop persuaded them to give me a whole new bike. I was lucky mall in all it took about 6 weeks.
This is how reviews ought to be done, no fluff but concise and to the point.
How easy is it to remove and put on new tubes on the wheels, my one and only nightmare as a casual rider.
shaddapforever actually pretty easy on the Boras with Continental GP4000/5000. The 4Season are a little tighter. I’m running Hunt Carbon 50s on another new bike, massive pain to get tyres on as they are tubeless ready. Snapped a fair few tyre levers!
@@alifeinlycra5622 Can I ask your opinion?
I am currently riding a TREK 1.1 from 2012 ish. If I were to get a Cervelo S3 2018, would I notice any significant difference even when I am 190 cm and 90 ish kgs?
Thank you!
shaddapforever I’d say yes. At your size (similar to me, I’m 182cm, 92kg) I assume your more of a power along the flat rider than a climber? The S3 is like riding on fast forward, especially with deep section wheels. I’m normally between 3-5km/h faster on the S3 than the R3 I used to have, and now the Genesis Zero Disc I also have. The bike encourages you to go faster. If I could only have one bike, it’d be the S3. Very direct handling on descents too.
@@alifeinlycra5622 Thanks,
True I love to power along flats. But I love to go up a mountain as well, although very casually.
Thanks for the information, the more I read up, the more confused I get and when I finally decide to settle something else pops up.
Excellent review, mentioning your frame size and height and all, hardly hear that in a review, many reviewers are missing the trick I think.
Q ring question, have you ever dropped the chain shifting small to big ring and not dropping your cadence, chain normally falls off inwards at ‘2 o’clock ‘position and gets wrapped round the back of the chainring and rear stay? Happened to me on 3 bikes using the rotor q ring system.
S W thank you for your kind words! Not had any chain drop since running Q rings, including changing up under high power and cadence. It had been a bit ponderous on occasion. The AbsoluteBlack shift far better, but I couldn’t get them to work on my Rotor crank. Hoping to do a better review (if the weather ever improves!) and comparison with my R3.
my coated-shimano rear mech cable snapped at ~7500 miles
That’s some decent mileage out of those cables!
@@alifeinlycra5622 I know. It snapped at the shifter too.
so coooooool 😎
What size q rings do you ride?
Sage Deluce I ride 52/36. Feels perfect for me, and son out occasionally, but it’s too hilly around here for 53/39
Disappointing that I can't run 25mm and had to go to 23mm, have you encountered any other issues while running that width?
Douglas Hernandez, yes, I get some rubbing on the drive side chainstay and worse though, is round my way they don’t fully resurface the roads, they ‘dress’ them, basically lay down a load of chippings and wait for cars to crush them in. I’ve had a road chipping caught between the front tyre and fork crown, and between the rear tyre and down tube. Scratched the hell out of it. Boo.
I'm running 25mm I've not had any issues so far.
I suppose it depends on the tyres you're running. Contis tend to "overlap" their width compared to Vittoria's. But still, 25mm is too close for comfort, at least for me!
Contis run a little bit wider than normal I believe , based on that I skipped the contis and I'm running the Pirelli P Zero All weather ones during the winter months then will switch to tubular wheels in the spring
P Zeros have got some very nice reviews indeed. Have you got a rub on them?