New Bike Tech: the Soloist Gets Faster and Cycling Specific Coat Hangers

At what point can a road bike be considered a race bike if it will never be close to seeing a WorldTour start line? As we go through this week in new bike tech, that is the question I am asking myself as we see a new Soloist from Cervelo that is lighter and faster than ever, but not light enough or fast enough to be raced by the WorldTour team.

Is there room for it to stand on its own as a race bike for everyone else? Let’s dig into that new bike and a mix of odds and ends that were released into the bike tech world this week.

Cervelo’s Soloist gets lighter and faster

Cervelo has unveiled a new Soloist road bike that brings improved weight and aerodynamic shaping to the Cervelo option that is geared towards the everyday rider. Compared to the S5 and R5, the Soloist is Cervelo’s generalist bike. One that is geared towards the racers who are “the ones riding through the sunrise before work,” and “the ones gathered at the shop for Tuesday night fast ride,” according to Cervelo’s press release. Nevertheless, with this latest iteration of the Soloist, the bike seems increasingly close to its race-centered frames.

The main selling points for the new Soloist are a frame that is 8.6 watts (at an unspecified speed) more aerodynamic, 267 grams less weight, and a design around new aerodynamic water bottles that add 4.3 watts of gains to the overall aerodynamic package compared to the previous Soloist.

With all of these advancements, the Soloist has become a much more racing-oriented, premium racing bike, and the builds have adjusted accordingly. The highest spec build is complete with SRAM Red with a power meter and Reserve 42 | 49TA wheels, weighing in right at the UCI weight limit of 6.85kg. Likewise, the price for that build does enter the realm of top-of-the-line race bikes, with an MSRP of $11,000/€10,999/£9,000.

That being said, the five total build specs range from the most premium SRAM Red build to the $6,800/€5,999/£5,500 for a SRAM Force build. Additionally, in an effort to improve the accessibility of the Soloist, Cervelo is offering free swaps between different cockpit dimensions within the first 60 days of buying the bike to ensure the aerodynamic one-piece bar stem is the correct fit.

To learn more about the new Soloist, visit Cervelo’s website.

Tout Terrain announces a GRX conversion kit for a Pinion Gearbox

Pinion gearboxes have generated a cult following, especially around the bike-packing community for their contained drivetrain that offers maximal durability. The system was developed for flat bars and grip shifting mechanisms, but as more people are looking for drop bar setups for bike packing, the need for drop bar shifting has developed over the years. German company Tout Terrain first answered the call seven years ago and has recently released the Shift:R Allroad, a system to pair with Shimano GRX levers and brakes, to bring drop bar Pinion gearbox setups up to speed with modern tech.

This allows the Pinion C-Line range of gearboxes to be built to interface with Shimano’s popular GRX mechanical groupsets, minus the drivetrain components. The Shift:R Allroad conversion kit comes with GRX shifters, calipers, cables, and a Tout Terrain shift box. To learn more about the Shift:R Allroad conversion kit, visit Tout Terrain’s website.

Cycling-specific coat hangers from Foothill

I don’t know if it is just me, but I always dream about one day neatly hanging my best kits in a wardrobe instead of keeping them in drawers, all wrapped up in each other, blending in the dark. While there are many reasons why I haven’t, one is a lack of intuitive hangers to make the kit hanging simple and quick. Foothill, a company that specializes in elegant cycling storage accessories, seems to agree. The brands refined Kit Hanger Limited Edition attempts to do just that, offer a sleek design to look nice and provide a better hanger for cycling kit.

The Kit Hanger Limited Edition has both a matte silver and “bone” styles to add additional flair to Foothill’s specialty hanger design, with a specific cutout on the bottom to easily hang bib shorts. The only downside? $40 is a pretty penny to pay for a quartet of hangers anyway you slice it.

You can check them out at the Foothill website.

Lapierre marks 80 years with limited-edition Xelius DRS frameset

Lapierre might not be the first name that comes to mind when you think of legacy French cycling brands, but the frame manufacturer is celebrating its 80th anniversary this summer. To commemorate the occasion, Lapierre has released a “highly limited-edition” version of its flagship Xelius DRS frameset. In total, there were just 100 frames made in this one-off Kinetic Dust colorway, pictured above.

The color concept, Lapierre said, “illustrates the emotional residue of performance,” with “particle dispersion across the frame, with the density increasing in areas put under the highest stress, such as the bottom bracket, aero fork, and the junction of the seat stays and top tube.” The color scheme is underpinned by three main colors—dark blue, teal, and champagne—and uses the dust motif to fade between the different colors.

The frame was raced at the Tour de France by Picnic PostNL on stage 10 to celebrate Bastille Day (14th July) as the best time to unveil the nod to the 80th birthday of the French bike brand. To learn more about the limited edition Xelius, visit Lapierre’s website.