Cervelo or Velovie

jamlhess said:

I'm in the market for a new frame and have narrowed it down to either a Cervelo R3 or a Velovie 300SE. Fortunately I will be able to get a very good deal on either one. However, even with the deals the Velovie frame would be $1000 cheaper. So, this brings up two questions. One, is there a significant performance between the two frames? Two, is the Velovie too stiff for long rides. I've read that the frame simply does not flex and I don't want to feel beat up after I go on a 4 hr ride.

First off, every frame flexes. If they didn't they'd quickly break. Neither will make you perform better than the other. So long as the bike fits well, all's good. As for it being stiff, read this review. Madcow is first a real person, not a paid magazine shill, and he's well respected among the manufacturers. He's ridden just about any modern bike frame you can think of. That includes road bikes, mountain bikes, trials bikes, cross bikes........basically he's pedaled an obscene number of bikes. He also arranges extensive testing on different bike components for his and interested peoples' benefit. He doesn't do it at a manufacturer's request. If you search the site I just linked you to, you'll find an exhaustive test of a bunch of cranksets. Re: his comment in the review about stiffness, you need to know he's about the size of Ashley Olsen but maybe more skinny. I think he weighs in at 125 pounds, if I dismember correctly.

A few magazines have done reviews of Velovie frames, and said reviews are available in the internet tubes. You're not going to see anything in the R3 that is any better than the Velovie. Sure the R3's lighter, but that's by an amount that really doesn't matter. The R3 is more expensive by a good bit, and all that expensive buys you is the name "Cervelo" on the frame.

$1000 dollars cheaper is really hard to ignore, given the two bikes in question. That thousand can buy a lot o' stuff with which you can build up the Velovie.

Iffin' it were me, I'd buy the Velovie in a heartbeat.

Yeah I remember before Cervelo became famous the prices of their high-end bikes were actually a lot lower than the respective models of comparable brands like Trek. So, you can blame Tyler Hamilton and CSC for Cervelo's high prices!

jamlhess said:

I'm in the market for a new frame and have narrowed it down to either a Cervelo R3 or a Velovie 300SE. Fortunately I will be able to get a very good deal on either one. However, even with the deals the Velovie frame would be $1000 cheaper. So, this brings up two questions. One, is there a significant performance between the two frames? Two, is the Velovie too stiff for long rides. I've read that the frame simply does not flex and I don't want to feel beat up after I go on a 4 hr ride.

I don't have any experience with a Velovie but I have a Cervelo R3 SL and absolutely love it. My winter bike is a Specialized Roubaix Expert and I notice a difference when the good weather comes and I get the R3 out. It's light, fast and climbs great. But the biggest surprise to me when I got it was that it was incredibly comfortable...more so than the Roubaix which is supposed to be build for comfort.