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That's right, Cerv lo and Team CSC designed a bike originally focused on the demands of one specific race. After Cerv lo had finished project FM-28, the Soloist Carbon, there was one race left for which Team CSC really wanted something special - Paris-Roubaix. For the world's most grueling test of road bikes, Team CSC wanted a frame that was bulletproof, yet comfortable and light. So we started project FM-41.
By March 2006, Team CSC received the fruits of this project, the R3. By April, Fabian Cancellara had won Paris-Roubaix on it. Then 12 months later, Stuart O'Grady was the first across the finish in Roubaix on his R3. Two starts, two wins, not a bad testament to their ability to tailor a design to a specific race.
Multi-Shape Toptube - The toptube loading case is a lot more complex, hence it is Squoval near the headtube and seattube and oval in the center section. Oversized Bottom Bracket Area – The increased volume of the bottom bracket area provides great STW. The smooth contours of the BB assist in its stiffness and also its strength as the fibers have a much more continuous path to transfer load. Lay-up Optimization - Stiffening plies are added to the sides of the tubes where they have the greatest effect in bending. They are feathered to distribute the loads into the structure. We also add more plies on the bottom of the down tube, the headtube and the toptube to distribute the loads from a potential headtube impact. Finally, Cervelo adds Kevlar to that same area and downtube to prevent catastrophic failure. Seatstays - Cervelo has always believed that seatstays end up carrying very small loads, an effect that is even more dramatic in combination with their new Squoval chainstays. The seatstays in an R3 are almost unnecessary for the vertical loads, they only provide torsional stiffness.Therefore, Cervelo was able to design the R3 seatstays to act as leaf springs in the vertical plane while having a more standard dimension in the lateral plane for torsional rigidity. Thus it combines strength, comfort, torsional stiffness and minimal weight.
