Cinelli Best Of v Cervelo R3

giffsa

Hi all

I'm looking for a replacement for my cracked Merckx frameset, and am tossing up between the Cinelli Best Of and the Cervelo R3. There's mountains of reviews etc of the R3 online, but almost nothing on the Cinelli. Does anyone own one or has anyone ridden one who can give feedback on it?

I appreciate they're both quite different framesets. I don't race or anything, I'm just looking for something nice and fast. I'm tall and skinny (186cm and 74kg), for what it's worth. I love the look of the Cinelli, but appreciate that the R3 gets awesome reviews. All things being equal I'd probably go for the Cinelli because I love the look of it - but would think twice if anyone has any bad reviews....

Thanks for your help.

Cheers
Sam

dennisn

Buy the one that YOU like the looks of. Why would you buy anything else and then have
to regret it? They are both nice and they are both fast(if you can pedal them hard enough to consider yourself as going fast,whatever speed that is). In other words neither will go faster, or slower, than the other, so buy the nice looking one.

giffsa

Appreciate your point - and I basically agree - but it must be that they ride differently. One is a compact geometry, the other has these swooping curvy top bar and seat stays.... The Cinelli appears to have quite a small BB too. In my experience, these things affect the ride quality, responsiveness, handling etc.

I'm just interested in the experiences of anyone who's ridden the Best Of. As you say, you've got to go with whatever floats your boat, but only so far.

peter101cycle

Not ridden one and have no experience of either of them but if it were my money, I would take a look at the Cinelli......you don't see many around and for the money, it does not seem bad value. They have a good history in the sport as well....

giant_man

Come on man, it's a Cervelo, and it's an R3, nuff said .....

rolf_f

Try to ride them - when I was buying, I tested a Look and a Scott CR1. Very similar geometries and both lovely bikes but the Look was the one that grabbed me. I still don't know why........(probably because it was a lot more expensive......)

giant_man

Rolf F wrote:

Try to ride them - when I was buying, I tested a Look and a Scott CR1. Very similar geometries and both lovely bikes but the Look was the one that grabbed me. I still don't know why........(probably because it was a lot more expensive......)

+1 - yes absolutely test them both to be sure, but you will prefer the Cervelo, honest ...

fleshtuxedo

Test ride a Cinelli Best Of? Where can the OP do that?

FWIW I'd get the Cinelli - beautiful and different. Cervelos leave me cold (just got rid of a Soloist carbon).

You sound like your heart's set on the Cinelli, but your head's saying the Cervelo because lots of people have them and rate them. I say follow your heart and get the bike that stands out from the crowd.

giffsa

Yep, no chance of testing out the Cinelli I'm afraid - I'm in Australia and I don't think anyone is even importing them here at the moment.

Interestingly, I noted this comment in one review:

"Cinelli has chosen to use Columbus tubes wrapped at the tube junctions for stiffness and light weight."

I take it from this that it's not a true monocoque frame? Seems odd to me, I assumed that more or less all top end carbon frames were (with the exception of the lugged ones, ala Look etc). Do ppl think this is an issue that I should be concerned about?

mellowmiles

So...
what did you end up with??
I'm on the look out for a best of at the moment and can't seem to find any. paint job looks nice but ? chips easily is the impression i'm given...

sloppyschleckonds

mellowmiles wrote:

paint job looks nice but ? chips easily is the impression i'm given...

Wutt?