Cervelo Soloist 105 Race Bike

The Cervélo Soloist 105 Race Bike carries a name that meant something specific in early-2000s World Tour racing. The original Soloist was the machine top contenders on the CSC squad and the Cervélo Test Team reached for when a race came down to a decisive solo move — built for the rider who wins by riding away from the field, not by waiting for a sprint. Cervélo has brought the name back not as nostalgia, but as a precise statement about what a modern all-purpose race bike should be: one machine that can absorb a week of hard training and still perform at the front of a field on race day.

The Soloist's position in Cervélo's road lineup is deliberate. It comes in lighter than the S5 — Cervélo's dedicated aero road platform — but is significantly more aerodynamic than the R5, the brand's pure climbing race bike. That balance means you're not making a major sacrifice in either direction. The geometry was taken directly from the R5, a frame trusted by professionals for its composure and precision, particularly on fast descents. Trail holds at 57.3mm across all six frame sizes, chainstay length stays fixed at 410mm throughout, and the combination delivers consistent, predictable steering regardless of where on the size range you land. Head tube angles step from 71 degrees on the 48cm to 73 degrees from the 54cm upward — a measured progression that keeps the front end responsive without introducing nervous steering in smaller sizes.

The frame runs a BBright T47 threaded bottom bracket, the same standard Cervélo uses on the R5-CX. That's a specific and meaningful choice: threaded interfaces resist creak and maintain preload over time in a way that press-fit standards often don't, and the wider shell diameter of BBright provides a stiffer platform on the drive side compared to a standard 68mm shell. Internal cable and hydraulic line routing runs clean through both the frame and fork, with nothing interrupting the exterior tube profiles. The carbon fork carries the same internal routing approach and terminates in Flat Mount disc brake tabs, paired with Shimano 105 R7170 hydraulic disc calipers and Shimano CL700 Centerlock rotors front and rear.

What separates the 105 Race build from Cervélo's entry-level 105 configuration matters considerably. The wheels step up to Reserve 40|44 carbon — a front-rear matched set developed through Reserve's Turbulent Aero program, which uses real-world race-condition wind data rather than idealized tunnel conditions to shape the rim profiles. The result is a wheelset tuned for handling crosswinds, technical roads, and the varied conditions a road racer encounters across a real season. The handlebar is Cervélo's HB13 in carbon rather than alloy, and the drivetrain includes a power meter alongside the Shimano 105 R7100 12-speed mechanical groupset. A 52/36T crankset runs against an 11-34T cassette, covering enough range for sustained climbing without losing a usable top-end ratio for fast flat riding. Tires are Vittoria Corsa N.EXT TLR G2.0 in 700x29 — a premium tubeless-ready road race tire that suits the Reserve rims well.

Available in six sizes from 48 to 61cm, the Soloist 105 Race covers a broad range of riders. Stack runs from 491mm to 615mm across the range, reach from 363mm to 410mm, with matched stem lengths and bar widths fitted at the factory for each size. The Cervélo SP27 carbon seatpost rounds out the build. At $5,350.00, this is a carbon road bike on Reserve carbon wheels with a power meter already in the spec — a combination that typically costs considerably more when sourced independently.