My Pryde & Joy

airwise

Sorry for the iPhone pic.

Neil Pryde Diablo. Replaces an S Works SL3 which replaced an R3SL. The Pryde is the best of the lot in my opinion. Stiff, light but not dead and it descends like it's on rails. Not as twitchy as a Cervelo. All in all a great bike. And refreshingly not plastered with branding decals.

unixnerd

Wow! What weight is it?

Those wheels look amazing, what are they?

airwise

I haven't weighed it as yet but my guess would be around 6.5kg complete with the Quarq power meter.

The wheels are de stickered Mavic Cosmic Carbone Ultimates - they will soon be replaced by some Lightweight Standard C's purely for practicality reasons.

markshaw77

That is a seriously sweet looking ride - I love it
Awesome!!

Poulsy

Stealthy looking bike and pretty unique. Very nice. If being hyper critical, I would change the seapost, the silver doesn't look right

airwise

There's a Dorico Ltd on the way from Primera

I'm amazed there's not more discussion relating to the Neil Pryde bikes. I always like something different but I was genuinely and pleasantly surprised by just how good the Diablo was compared to the SL3 that I had before.

The claims for aero benefits seem to hold true as I'm finding it surprisingly easy to hold speeds of 40kph at times. As for climbing, I went up Alpe d'Huez on Wednesday and took just 53 mins 49 secs - nearly 5 mins quicker than I managed it on my R3SL and 6 quicker than I achieved on the S Works. So I'm pretty chuffed with it at the moment.

emx

airwise wrote:

As for climbing, I went up Alpe d'Huez on Wednesday and took just 53 mins 49 secs - nearly 5 mins quicker than I managed it on my R3SL and 6 quicker than I achieved on the S Works.

to be fair, there's lots of reasons why that might be the case - and none of them may be specific to the new bike...

airwise

Too true. I only mention it to show that it certainly isn't holding me back compared with so called references.

All I can say with certainty (and from my POV and experience of course) is it descends more confidently than an R3SL and has more bravado and zip than the SL3. Given the price disparity with the Cervelo I'm pretty impressed.

Anonymous

There's not more discussion of Neil Pryde bikes on here after a car crash of a thread that started similar to this and it turned out they were given the bike to promote it for a year and they were doing it very badly and very obviously.

I'm surprised you find such a marked difference between this and the Cervelo R3SL and SL3, maybe you had them set up wrong? It looks nice but 5 minutes quicker up Alpe d'Huez is not just due to the bike I assure you.

petemadoc

Makes great reading

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopi ... sc&start=0

So airwise . . . Did you pay for your bike? do you work for Neil Pryde?

airwise

Ah I see..

Sure as hell paid for mine. Bought the complete bike and changed a few bits. Sorry I'm no stoog - just someone who enjoys riding and doesn't like following the herd.

I can assure you if I were shilling I would put a lot more effort into the write up and pictures.

airwise

NapoleonD wrote:

I'm surprised you find such a marked difference between this and the Cervelo R3SL and SL3, maybe you had them set up wrong? .

There I can assure you I didn't. I had a BG fit on the R3SL at Sigma and again on the SL3. The fit of both mirrored that of my Seven which I've done around 30,000km on so the differences were not down to fit. Once again I'm not saying the bike is quicker, just that I prefer the ride and it certainly isn't seeming to slow me down.

Zachariah

It does look very nice. And from the readers ride report* it also goes well too. You can't ask for much more from a bike. Apart from it costing thruppence.

*THAT'S what this sub-forum should be called - Reader's Rides! Sadly it's been done. Several thousand times.

bristolpete

Lovely looking bike. Really sharp and no doubt it is making waves in the industry. (Geddit). Marcus of Pro Cycling gave it a great review, but then every bike he rides is amazing.

http://www.neilprydebikes.com/news/wp-c ... st_HD1.pdf

Intrigued by your SL3 comments as I have recently migrated to the said bike and I love it. To me it is a breath of fresh air, the more I give it the more it wants and it climbs superbly. Of course, its horses for courses and no two bike riders feel the same....

In the meantime, credit on a lovely build. It looks stunning

airwise

Many thanks for the comments. Pete I just didn't get on with the SL3. My best analogy is that the Cervelo R3SL felt like a carbon version of steel, the SL3, of unbutted aluminium. I preferred the fedback of the former. I've never ridden a Dogma (almost got one before plumping for the Diablo) but I'm led to believe it veers in a similar direction to the S Works only more so. If you get the chance, cock a leg over an R3 or somesuch and let me know what you think.

I'm not in the UK anymore, living on the road in Europe over the Summer. The Diablo is a great race bike but I would seriously question it's suitability for riding over the awful roads of South East England. Indeed I do wonder why anyone buys carbon bikes and rides in the North Downs but the Diablo probably gives too much feedback for little B roads in Surrey. The upshot of this is that it's fantastic on decent roads and Europe abounds with them - as of course do many less populated areas of the UK.


Thanks also for the link to the previous thread rather horrible I'd agree. I do so hate the pack mentality of many forum dwellers when it comes to subjects like that. A shame as it killed an interesting discussion dead - much better to remove the posts from the company reps and the offensive replies from others.

emx

airwise wrote:

much better to remove the posts from the company reps and the offensive replies from others.

nice idea, but unlikely - as that would involve some pro-active input from the moderators.....

nicensleazy

Well, had my first ride today on a Neilpryde Diablo. During the ride, my friend and I had a quick change over from the Colnago EPS to the Neilpryde Diablo. The first thing that struck me was just how comfortable this frame is, for an out and out race machine. I didn't take long to get into my stride and the bike felt very comfortable. It was light and very urgent on the climbes and the flat. It was kitted out with Mavic Cosmics which rolled really well. I must say, I was very impressed with the whole package. The Diablo was a sheer joy to ride. In fact, I stayed on it to the end of the ride. A lovely bike!

airwise

Glad to hear there's another fan. I'm loving the Diablo - I did just over 1200km on it last month and save for a couple of blow outs I've nothing but praise for it.

It's one of those rides that makes me get off with a huge grin on my face after a day in the Alps. That's worth a lot to me.

itboffin

Simply awesome, i'm loving these imported carbon frames, I have a serious urge to upgrade AGAIN

Neil Buckley

I rode the alize and diabalo the other day at a open day, found the alize better than the diabalo, found it stiff and did desend well but the ride quality was very very harsh over crap roads...

airwise

I did say earlier that I doubt the stock Ultegra Diablo would be suitable for crap roads in the SE of England. I find the Diablo perfect for what I ride across mainland Europe though. I had a go on the Alize before purchase and didn't feel it had the zip that made me get off the Diablo with a grin. Stupidly I was running different wheels so maybe I didn't give it a fair go.

I have a friend here in France with a Diablo who complains about poor roads but we ride the same routes so I can only assume it's contact points and tyre pressures. Mine has carbon post, stem and bars and I run 6 bar. His has the aluminium cockpit and post and he runs higher pressures yet weighs less. I'm no expert but surely things like pressures, wheels and bars make more of a difference to comfort than the frame?