August 23, 2005

Light as a Feather

Pro Cycling magazine December 2004

A busy schedule at the 2004 world championships in Italy couldn’t stop Marcel Wust from putting another bike through its paces for us.  In between his spots on German television, Wust took the Scott CR1 Team Issue—the bike used by the Saunier Duval-Prodir team—for a ride through the streets of Verona.

The Saunier Duval-Prodir cycling team that rides this Scott bike has proven the real surprise team this year.  Manager Mauro Gianetti did a great job choosing his riders and staff, and the results achieved throughout the year have been better than expected. Choosing equipment is always a critical point when it comes to negotiating the partners of a pro team, but here, Gianetti was fortunate.  The CR1 is not only good looking but is a very nice bike to ride.

Before I could ride the bike, it had to travel a fair way.  First from England in a box until FedEx delivered it to my house, then I took it all the way down to Italy in my car, where I was due to work for German TV as a cycling expert during the 2004 World Championships.

The position was set up perfectly in my little workshop while still at home, but honestly, with the poor weather we had during this period in late September, I did not feel like going for a ride in Germany at all.

In the tight schedules photographer Tim and myself had for the Worlds, we spotted the Thursday morning of the championship week to take the bike out.  No races were scheduled, and I really enjoyed leaving the hotel early to take the super-light bike for an easy ride.  The previous day, I went all the way to Lake Garda, just outside Verona, up and down some small hills.

The first impression I get of a bike is always the one which last the longest, and with the CR1 it was the feeling of lightness the bike gave.  Don’t get me wrong – most of the bikes I test are just over seven kilograms, some even under the UCI limit of 6.8kg.  But for this bike, there was no better description – it just felt light, even with seatpost, stem and bars being high performance aluminum, not carbon.  So where exactly did the lightness come from?  It must have been the frame, somehow, but I was still not sure how it was so light.

The acceleration was very good, but I suppose that’s logical when I am used to lumbering my trekking bike to kindergarten in races with my son, Alexander.  The wheels, together with the frame, provided a pleasant match, especially going uphill.  The smooth Italian roads felt great under the Continental tyres, but the little greasy look these roads always seem to have put me off going at full speed.  The yellow colour of the tyres matched the bike when I got it out for the first time, and while taking the photos, they still looked all right.  A couple of hundred kilometers later and they didn’t look quite so good.

However, after a good wash with warm, soapy water they looked as good as new once more, although I am not one for washing tyres after every ride.  It’s probably a prejudice from my time as a pro.  I don’t trust coloured tyres as much as the black ones, even if the manufacturers keep telling me there is no difference in grip.  There are many pros in the bun right now who feel exactly the same- and black tyres would have matched the set-up just as well.

Considering the wheels were super-light, they provided great lateral stiffness for their proposed use – climbing, accelerating, and with the more classical, as opposed to the aerodynamic, rim shape, they were a pleasure to handle going downhill as well.  The braking was always controlled, and the set-up forgave most minor steering and braking mistakes.  I had the feeling that the aerodynamically shaped full carbon fork was responsible for that as well.  The braking was always controlled, and the set-up forgave most minor steering and braking mistakes.  I had the feeling that the aerodynamically shaped full carbon fork was responsible for that as well.  It was stiff, but had that little bit of comfortable flex you really don’t want to miss.

On some of the rougher patches of road, the Scott was pretty smooth on not returning the bumps into my lower back, and the full carbon frame with the Mavic wheels was one of the most comfortable high-end racing frames I’ve tested so far.

As I knew that riding around the World Championship circuit would not be easy.  I left very early to head into the mountains before it was time for the pictures.  Here I got the motivation to push myself and the equipment to the limit.  The Dura-Ace group failed to work perfectly, but there was a reason for that.  The first time I took the bike for a ride the previous day, it didn’t feel as smooth as it should have, but as I was on a long – but not too difficult – ride, it didn’t really bother me.  Then, in the morning in the mountains, shifting became more complicated.  The chain started to jump and even fell off the front chainring.  I knew something was wrong, and when I stopped and checked, I saw the chain was about to snap.  It must have been put together badly in the first place, and when I took a good look at the bike afterwards, I noticed that one of the brakepads in the front was not straight and only touching a bit of the brake surface of the rim.  This was disappointing from such a great bike, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt and put it down to a one-off, and hope that it won’t be repeated in the future.

The crankset, with its new massive look, is something you either like or you don’t.  Or if you are a bit like me, you don’t really mind, because when you are sitting on the bike, you don’t see much of it anyway.

What I saw sitting on the Scott was the fat, almost square looking top tube.  Manufacturers always invent new things, and then tell us what they re good for, although there was nothing on their website to explain this innovation.  I’m quite sure that this was not responsible for that light feeling, but it looked new and flash – so why not change the shape of the tubing a little to innovate, without re-inventing things?

Something I wasn’t so fond of was the vast amount of yellow writing all over the rear stays.  Sure, this is a race bike used by a professional team, and the partners and sponsors want their publicity too, which is fair enough, but perhaps maybe for the everyday customers, Scott could use a ‘purist frame’ where they put their own branding on the main tubes only.  Then again, who knows how deep the links are with the suppliers of bars, tyres and so on…?

Body contact points on the bike were satisfying, with the shape of the bars modern, but that means that down on the drops, there was a straight bit.  This design is not my favoured choice, but when I did get down on them, they felt OK.  The relaxed riding posotion, with the hands on the top of the bars, provided a comfortable and secure grip.  Sprinting was almost possible in the extreme forward sprinting position, as the forearms only just touched the top of the bars and the stiffness was good.

Before I changed to something a bit more comfortable on my personal bike, I used to ride exactly the same 134-gram light SLR saddle which was mounted on the Scott.  If you have quality cycling shorts with a good chamois in it, this will be as comfortable as it gets for the featherweight.  But don’t ride it with your jeans on for more than a mile!

CONCLUSION
Never before have I ridden a frame that felt so light between my pedals and hands when getting out of the saddle.  The fact is, it is very light – and the full carbon frame with the wheels and components is not only a high-end race frame, but also provides more comfort than you would expect from a high-end racing machine.  But the lack of ‘love’ put in by the person who put it together spoiled my ride a little, especially when I think what could have happened if the chain had snapped in the middle of nowhere.  Apart from that, it is a great bike for a pro team, and for you.