Upgrades from R3

Lighter frame - The R3 may have been the lightest frame of the ProTour in 2006, the R3 SL is even lighter.

Wolf SL fork – The R3 SL comes standard with the Wolf SL fork, one of the lightest forks but more importantly, one of the strongest at any weight.

Features

Squoval™ tube shapes – With state-of-the-art Finite Element Analysis software and custom software tools, tube shapes and how they should change throughout the frame can be effectively evaluated. This research led to innovations such as Squoval™, and the multi-shaped toptube and asymmetrical seattube.

R3 Seatstays – Every last gram has been squeezed out of the R3 seatstays without sacrificing any strength. It passes the highest impact, fatigue and road vibration test levels in the industry as well as the “Cancellara-test” on the cobblestones of Paris-Roubaix.

Oversized bottom bracket area – The increased volume of the bottom bracket area provides a great STW. The smooth contours of the BB volume also help to transfer the loads better.

Front boomerang construction – Monocoque frames typically have a weight penalty, while frames with lugs can have lower impact strength, as each lug joint is a potential separation point. Cervélo’s patent pending boomerang design allows continuous fibers to run from toptube to headtube to downtube, greatly enhancing the frontal impact strength without encountering the lay-up control problems of a full monocoque design.

Further lay-up optimization – The R3 SL is the latest iteration of Cervelo's lay-up optimization, providing further increases to the STW.