Cervelo RS Frameset 2008

The Cervelo RS is not a 'comfort road bike', like some other upright and short reach road bikes. It is a serious road bike, it has been specifically designed to better suit those riders demanding a race level frame with a higher front end, without losing any of that race sharpness. These riders include some of CSC's riders who are also heavily involved in the development of the frame.

To better describe this unique frame we will list the following differences between the R3 and RS, the RS has the same reach as the R3, but is 2cm higher to ease the pressure on your back and upper body. The other differences are that the RS has a 27.2mm seat post (instead of a 30.4mm), it has 10mm longer chainstays, it also features slightly curved seatstays which improve comfort levels further and a taller head tube, which is around 2cm but does vary with size. The reason the chainstays are longer is to accommodate the higher front end, this is because you will be seated further back and this extra 10mm allows for the optimum weight distribution and retains the precise handling of the R3, it also allows the fitting of wider tyres. The RS also features geometry to minimise toe overlap, which is often found on smaller sized frames, these have a shallower head tube and each one has a custom fork, reducing the chance of toe overlap.

Several CSC team riders have used the RS to great effect in 2008 proving it is a race worthy frameset with the added benefit of offering you an upright position if needed.

Squoval (square, yet oval tubing) downtube & chainstays have been optimised for the highest possible stiffness-to-weight ratio (STW), the downtube and chainstays have a Squoval shape. The top tube on the other hand is a lot more complex, hence it is Squoval near the headtube and seat tube and oval in the centre section.

The increased volume of the bottom bracket area provides great STW. The smooth contours of the BB volume help both for this BB stiffness and also for its strength as the fibres have a much more continuous path to transfer the loads better. The stiffening plies (Lay-up optimisation) are added to the sides of the tubes where they have the greatest effect in bending. They are feathered to distribute the loads into the structure. Cervelo also added more plies on the bottom of the down tube, the head tube and the top tube to distribute the loads from a potential head tube impact. Finally, Kevlar was added to that same area and down tube to prevent catastrophic failure.

The RS Seatstays are based on the revolutionary R3 seatstay design, the RS seatstays offer even more vertical compliance thanks to their built-in deflection mode.