I'm looking at buying a new bike and I've narrowed it down to two models, Cervelo's Soloist Team, and Kestrel's Talon. I've been leaning toward the soloist because its aluminum, and its a little cheaper. I'm not a big fan of carbon, but the price of the Kestrel is appealing. Please help me with my choice. Also, if you know of any other bikes with an aero road frame under 3 grand let me know.

soloist all the way

Go with the solo. I test road the Felt T23, Kesteral Talon, and the Soloist (the three main road/Tri mix frames I know of) and the Soloist felt the most........well, everything. I would have loved to give a Leader a ride, but that wasnt possible and I wont buy a bike without riding it first.

I have a soloist and love it. Built with Campy Record and Mavic SL's. Stiff, comfortable and climbs like crazy. With an easy swivel of the seat you can ride TT's in a nice position. Personally I think the looks of the cervelo are miles ahead of the Kestrel.

I am a Kestrel fan through and through... but even for me that is a tough one.

Kestrel does have great customer service, and I beleive their products have a much stronger track record, unlike cervelo's consistent "recalls"--- but, those are differences between companies, and you are asking about individual bikes.

I do like carbon though... :D

I only know of one recall from Cervelo for the 2.5. Could you please provide an example of others?

I only know of one recall from Cervelo for the 2.5. Could you please provide an example of others?

the next that comes to mind is the Wolf Carbon fork... try google, it is good at this kind of stuff.

The carbon 2.5 was recalled, 650 bikes or so, and a few of the first run Wolf carbon forks were recalled.

Cervélo’s internal testing has shown that some of its Wolf carbon road forks have a potential for cracking in the crown area. Although the Wolf carbon road fork passes the standard industry fork tests, a different test revealed a problem not uncovered by the standard fork tests. Cervélo has since made changes to its production process to prevent this problem from occurring, and the currently produced Wolf carbon road fork passes the new test as well as the standard industry fork tests.

Cervélo has decided to voluntarily recall the first batch of Wolf forks, which can be recognized by the 17cm “Cervélo” logo on both fork legs. Later Wolf forks, which do not display this problem and are not part of the recall, can be recognized through the “Wolf” logo on the fork legs.

The affected Wolf carbon road fork was used on the 2003-model-year Soloist Team and Super Prodigy bicycles/framesets.

what do you want it for ? how are you built and why don't you like carbon?
answer thiose questions and i thiink youll have your answer

I'm gonna be using it for some light racing, mainly tri's or TT's with aerobars on it all the time. I'm about 155 so its not like id be hard on the bike. and i dont really like carbon because of maintenance issues and i just really like the ride of aluminum.

Matt

I'm gonna be using it for some light racing, mainly tri's or TT's with aerobars on it all the time. I'm about 155 so its not like id be hard on the bike. and i dont really like carbon because of maintenance issues and i just really like the ride of aluminum.

Matt

if you're looking for a pure TT/tri bike, then you should look
for bikes with the angles more appropriate, like Quintana Roo,
Scott, or if you have to have a cervelo, then a p2c or p2sl.
of the cervelos, i'd prolly choose the p2sl, since you can get
to a 78 degree STA and it's the Aluminum you're after.
the p2c is a lot more expensive, but the ride is likely to be
a bit smoother and less jarring and painful over longer length
tris and TTs.

the kestrel talon is an old-school design with a 73 degree STA
and even with the seat in the forward position you're still a couple
degrees away from optimal(theoretically speaking)

the soloist team with the seat post in the 76 degree position will
work, but the femur/torso angle is still a bit acute for triathlon work.

i ride a kestrel 200ems with a cobbled-together tri setup at the
moment(profile cowhorns, airstryke bars, flite TT jammed as far
forward as i can on a zero setback post...) and it's not a great
position. once i'm all 'in', the overall balance of the bike is a bit
wonky as there is a lot more weight on the front wheel which
makes it a bit squirrelly.

i'm saving up for a QRoo Kilo(~$1800) for next year when i go
headlong into the TT/tri world. my first tri relay(bike leg) will be
this years Nautica Malibu Tri. the Kilo is an 80 degree STA which
helps ease the transition to the run due to the much more 'open'
femur/torso angle.

remember that in addition to the lower(flat back) position, the front
center of the bike has to be a lot larger to give back the stability
you lose when going from a slack STA(72-74) to the TT/Tri STA(76-80)

Kestrel... because it's not a Cervelo like everyone else has :wink: