Custom Cervelo Solist carbon frame (early build pics added)

andylav
andylav Posts: 308
edited April 2010 in Your road bikes
Hi guys,

I bought this frame at the start of the year;

soloistcarbon.th.jpg

It weighed 1208 grammes - so not especially light - but it was in very good condition and I was very happy with the price for something I wanted to build up as a second bike with some parts I already had.

I'm not a big fan of red bikes generally though so I thought I'd set about a refurbishment project with the aim of producing something factory looking but which Cervelo owners and fans would recognise as being a non-standard finish.

12 hours of hand sanding and it looked like this;

soloiststripped2.th.jpg

Had initially thought of doing a design scheme based on the bare carbon finish - like the SLC-SL - but the carbon lay up round the bottom bracket and top tube and down tube junctions was pretty unsightly so I decided to go for a full paint finish, similar to the 2009/10 S2s and S3s.

Brought up to white base coat with masking decals applied, it looked like this;

whitesoloist.th.jpg

I almost called it quits at this stage - as I thought it looked pretty good at this point - but as I already have a white R3, I decided to stick with the original plan.

This is how it came out;

soloistfinishedtoptube.th.jpg

soloistfinisheddowntube.th.jpg

soloistfinished.th.jpg

Extremely happy with the end result. The finish is like glass, it weights 1172 grammes (so a 40'ish gramme saving over the stock paint) and it's better in the flesh than I had imagined it could be.

Hoping to build it up over the next week or so with Record 10 speed, Fulcrum racing 1's, Negative Gravity's and a mix of FSA, Ritchey and Fizik finishing pieces

Will post pics of the finished build in due course

Cheers

Andy

Comments

  • That looks great, when my S1 starts to look tired i think i may take inspiration from you... I think it looks amazing in white.
    Looking forward to seeing the pics when its all built up.
  • JamieW
    JamieW Posts: 114
    thats real nice..... have to admit i'm not a fan of red bikes either
  • amck111
    amck111 Posts: 189
    12 hours of sanding :shock:

    Looks like all that hard work has paid off! Tho think the white paintwork looks the best out of the 3, looks awesome in the black too.

    Did you spray it yourself? Very tidy job!
  • Beatmaker
    Beatmaker Posts: 1,092
    That looks ace, a really good job.
  • andylav
    andylav Posts: 308
    Hello again guys.

    Got my date sorted for next surgery and have managed to get the build up to this state.

    soloistcarbonbuildpic1.th.jpg

    soloistcarbonbuildpic2.th.jpg

    Very pleased with how it's coming together.

    Final pics to come once I'm back on my feet in a few weeks time.

    Cheers for now

    Andy