Upgraded from a Scott Speedster 30 alloy frame road bike to a Scott Solace 10 full carbon frame road bike.
I would like to thank:My friend and cycling enthusiast Arjun Balu who rides the Scott Solace (from the very first batch off the factory) for his inputs on the bike and its performance.
My friend and cycling enthusiast Deepak Samuel who provided lots of inputs on CR1 vs. Solace selection
My daughter who helped me with the photo shoot
Likes:
Be it the beautiful matte finish paint or the carefully concealed routing of all the cables, everything about this bike oozes quality
Extremely compliant ride. Absorbs all the irregularities in the road as if it has shock absorbers
Ultegra groupset
Relaxed riding position
Well spread gearing from the 50/32 crankset and 11 speed 11-32 cassette
Concealed cabling
Dislikes:
Rear brake is 105. I don't understand how much cost saving this achieves
A little unstable in heavy crosswinds
Choosing the Bike:
It has been 3 years since I started serious cycling with a road bike, a Scott Speedster 30. Did a couple of 200 brevets, about ten 100k rides and many hill climbs in Valparai and Kotagiri, a sprint triathlon and a duathlon. I had written a brief review about the Scott Speedster in the below post.
Scott Speedster 30
I have done about 5500 kilometers in the past three years (very low running compared to some serious cyclists who would put this mileage in under a year). But the low mileage is mainly because I have to balance between cycling, running and swimming. Since the beginning of this year, the itch to upgrade started, and I wanted to upgrade to a full carbon bike. Decided to take the plunge a month back with a budget of 2 Lakhs with a stretch of 2.25 Lakhs.
As I have got a very good experience with the Scott Speedster with absolutely no breakdowns, and an excellent service support (for the regular service and spares like chains, tires etc) from the MVS Enterprises who are the Scott dealers in Coimbatore, I decided to stick to a Scott bike. I should also mention that the owner Mr. Sanjay is an extremely knowledgeable person and provides excellent support right from selecting the right bike through the ownership process.
Full Disclosure: Mr. Sanjay has become a very good friend over the past years of my Speedster ownership, but my comments about him are without any bias and from my experience.
Now that I decided to stick with Scott, I had two options:
1. The Scott CR1
2. The Scott Solace
The CR1 is an older model which was introduced in 2005. It has a good balance between an aggressive sports bike and a relaxed endurance bike. It is the entry level carbon frame bike in the Scott lineup followed by Solace, Addict, Foil and Plasma. The Solace on the other hand is a recent entry to the line-up introduced in 2014.
I read many reviews and comparisions for the CR1 and Solace. One of the main features that was mentioned in the reviews is that the Solace is 42% more comfortable than CR1, but at the same time does not sacrifice power transfer. Scott had achieved this with a dual zone frame - the comfort zone and power zone.
The power zone comprises of the head tube, down tube, bottom bracket and chainstays which have been made stiff for optimum power delivery. The bottom bracket also has been made thicker. The fork, top tube, seat tube and the seat stays are tuned for comfort.
The geometry is also comfort based with shorter top tube a taller head tube. This provides a more upright riding position which results in comfort over long rides. The CR1 on the other hand has a more aggressive position which would be good for shorter fast rides, but may become a little uncomfortable for longer rides.
The video below shows how Solace is used by a pro cyclist to compete in the Paris Roubaix to ride in the cobbles.
Another first time with the Solace is that the rear brakes have been moved from the regular position between the seat stays to the bottom bracket. The seat stays are usually made stiff to arrest flexing while braking. This reduces the shock absorption of the seat stays. With the brakes moved to the stiff bottom bracket, the seat stays are now more flexible and can absorb more shock. In fact the seat stays in the Solace can be squeezed with the hands and easily flex about 10mm. This results in significant improvement in compliance.
Considering all the above, I chose the Solace. The Solace also comes with disc brakes. As I felt the hydraulic disc brakes are a little difficult to maintain or repair than the caliper brakes, decided to stick with caliper brakes.
The Specs:
Following are some of the important specs of the bike
Frame: Solace HMF Carbon
Fork: Solace HMF Carbon
Headset: Syncros integrated
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Ultegra 6800 11 speed
Front Derailleur: Shimano Ultegra 6800
Shifters - Shimano Ultegra
Front Brakes - Shimano Ultegra
Rear Brakes - Shimano 105
Seat/Seatpost - Syncros seat with carbon post
Crankset - Ultegra 50/34
Cassette: Shimano 105, 11 speed, 11-32
Tires: Continental Grand Sport Race 700x25C
Weight: 7.7Kilos
Except for the rear brake which is a Shimano 105, the complete groupset is Ultegra, which is a fantastic groupset. Coming from the Tiagra groupset in my Speedster, I find the gear shifts to be very smooth and the brakes to be very good with minimum effort. Also, the cassette in the Speedster was a 10 speed 12-30, whereas the Solace comes with a 11 speed 11-32. This gives a wider spread at both the higher and lower ends for both flat terrain and climbs.
Delivery:
As the 2018 models have been announced, I got a good deal on the 2017 model which was about to go out of stock. Got it for 2.25 Lakhs. With the 2018 models and revised duty and GST, the price could go up to 2.8 Lakhs. I placed the order in the first week of July and was told it would take 3 to 4 weeks for the bike to arrive from Belgium. Got a call from Mr. Sanjay on 24th July that the bike has arrived and is getting assembled, and I could take delivery on the 26th. He also sent me a picture of the bike getting assembled.
On 27th I went to collect the bike. The bike assembled and ready.
After a quick quality check and transferring all the accessories like bottle cage, GPS holder and speed cadence sensor, loaded the bike on the Jetta for the ride home.
The Bike:
And now for a few pictures of the bike.
The bike looks stunning in that fluorescent orange. The speedster with it's blue, white and black color theme was more subtle, whereas this one screams for attention!
The crankset is 50/34 Ultegra
Ultegra front derailleur
Ultegra rear derailleur and 105 11 speed 11-32 cassette. In my Speedster, during the hill rides in very steep slopes, I always felt the need for an additional lower gear to go at a slightly higher cadence. This cassette will solve the problem. Of-course, I have to increase my power as well!
The chunky handle bar. This has a flatter and thicker and more cushy top position for better comfort. The hood is wide at the base and narrows down at the neck which provides a comfortable grip.
Ultegra front brake. Compared to the Tiagra brake in my Speedster, this brake requires much less force for the same stopping power. This should prove very useful during those downhill rides where frequent braking is required to keep the speed in check.
The rear brakes are 105. This is the only complaint I have with this bike. They could have given an Ultegra in the rear as well. Also note how the brake is now fitted to the bottom bracket below the chain stays.
As the brake has now moved to the bottom bracket, the seat stays are more flexible. In fact, when squeezed with one hand, I could feel the seat stays flex by almost 10mm. This is a major contributor to that 42% increase in comfort compared to the CR1. Sorry about the quality of this picture. I had forgotten to take a better picture during the main photo shoot and had to later take it indoors.
The SPD clip-less pedals. In my Speedster, I had SPD clip-less pedals with clip on one side and platform on the other side. These pedals also had a chrome finish which went well with the chrome finished Tiagra crankset. However, these pedals became an eyesore on the matte grey Ultegra crankset. Also, as I never use the platform side of the pedals, I changed the pedals to these. They now blend perfectly with the crankset.
The thick bottom bracket for the power delivery. And it works!
Syncros seat with carbon seat post. The carbon seat post adds to the compliance of the bike and saves the butt from those shocks.
Concealed cables. The cables for the front and rear derailleurs and the rear brake are routed internally and come out of the frame very close to the components. This has two advantages. The first is the reduced drag (of course at my level, this may not be significant). As the cables are internal, they are free of dust and will have smoother operation for a long time with no need for cleaning or lubrication.
Continental Grandsport Race tires.
The tapered head set. Another aerodynamic design element?
Overall, a well put together bike.
The Ride Experience:
I have done only a couple of rides so far with the bike. So this is just my first impression.
The comfort level on the bike is in one word - AWESOME! Compared to the alloy frame of the Speedster that transferred every irregularity on the road to my bottom and hands, this bike just absorbs all these shocks except for those deeper potholes or the joints in bridges. In the Siruvani road that I ride regularly, I would say the bike absorbs almost 80% of the road irregularities. The bike feels as if it has a multi link suspension just like my Jetta has
I can definitely feel that I am going much faster on rough roads than I used to on my Speedster. Though the bike has such fantastic compliance, I did not feel it to be any slower. In fact, I was doing 30+ speeds against some heavy headwinds.
One issue I found in the ride and handling was the bike feels a little unstable in heavy crosswinds. Whereas the Speedster used to be very stable under crosswinds, the Solace needs that extra bit of effort to keep it under control.
So, the first impression on the bike has turned out to be very positive, and I hope this bike, like the Speedster, also turns out to be a reliable bike. Now it's time to step up the training and increase that FTP (Functional Threshold Power)!
A few pictures from a ride through scenic and green village roads near Thondamuthur and Siruvani road.
Upcoming Upgrades:
Garmin Edge 520 bike computer, "Garmin Varia Radar" bike radar and "Garmin Varia Vision" Heads up Display. Will share details of these when I have them on hand.