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TECH NEWS

MTN-Qhubeka pro spotted testing Cervelo R3 Disc with Rotor Uno hydraulic groupset

Rotor's new hydraulic disc brake groupset spotted in the wild for the first time, on a Cervelo R3 Disc road bike

MTN-Qhubeka team rider Daniel Teklehaimanot has been spotted, thanks to an image helpfully shared by Rotor, test riding a Cervelo R3 Disc with Rotor’s new Uno hydraulic groupset, the first time we've seen the groupset actually on a bike. Admittedly we haven't got very close to this one, but it'll do for now.

This isn’t the first pro team we’ve seen on disc brakes. Team Sky has been at it and so has Trek. The WorldTour teams have been allowed to trial disc brake road bikes during selected roads in August and September, and some have been higher profile than others. We’re keeping our eyes peeled for them.

- Hands on: Rotor Uno groupset

Cervelo launched its new R3 Disc road bike at the recent Eurobike show. Speaking to the people at Cervelo, it’s clear the company has been looking at disc brakes for a number of years - it has been working on disc brakes since 2011 in fact - so it hasn’t been taken completely by surprise by the recent development of disc brakes and testing by WorldTour teams in races during recent months.

Something else that Cervelo let slip to us at Eurobike a year ago, is a new internal cable routing system that is future-proofed against any new groupset developments, including hydraulic systems. This was a year ago and nobody had any idea that a year later Rotor would do an unveil its all-new hydraulic groupset, Uno. So we can see Cervelo knew a hydraulic groupset was forthcoming and made sure its frame was compatible. 

Rotor’s Uno groupset was revealed to the world for the first time at Eurobike last month. It’s a complete groupset, with hydraulic shifting and braking, with a choice of rim or disc brakes. It has been developed with Magura, a company that has loads of experience with hydraulic brakes.

- Team Sky races with disc brakes for the first time

We haven’t ridden Uno yet, but we have had a play with it on a special stand that Rotor cobbled together at the show. You can read our in-depth hands-on report here. To recap, the biggest advantage of Uno over electronic groupsets is the lack of batteries - this thing will never run flat. It’s a completely sealed system as well, so the gears and brakes will be impervious to dirt, and there are obviously no gear cables to stretch.

- Cervelo R3 Disc spotted at Eurobike

Uno is a 22-speed drivetrain with a separate hydraulic system for the shifting and braking, each having a master cylinder in the lever hood. To use, the gear shifters work in a similar style to SRAM’s DoubleTap: a short push drops the rear mech down, a longer push shifts in the opposite direction.

- Trek trials disc brakes at the Vuelta - and reaction is positive from the pro riding them

That’s about all we know on the groupset front at the moment, there's no word on pricing or availability. We do have some more details on the Cervelo R3 Disc bike however. The new frame has identical geometry to the regular Cervelo R3, right down to the same chainstay length. The current issue with adding disc brakes to a road frame is the widening of the rear axle, which on a bike with short chainstays can lead to chainline issues. Most endurance bikes get around this by simply having longer chainstays.

A race bike is pretty much defined by the shortness of its chainstays however. Keeping them short is seen as an important thing. Specialized has gone to great lengths to solve this problem on its Tarmac Disc, developing a new hub with special dropouts and a mech hanger that places the cassette further inboard. Focus took the simpler approach and simply lengthened the chainstays for its new Izalco Max Disc.

Cervelo however has a different approach. It has worked with FSA to develop a modified chainset with the driveside crank pushed outboard by 5mm, which sorts the chainline issue and maintains the same chainstay length. That's quite clever and means you're not restricted to one set of wheels, as is the case with the Specialied Tarmac. Other interesting details are the asymmetrical seatstays, space for 28mm tyres and the use of12mm thru-axles front and rear.

That's all for now, more on disc brakes in the pro peloton soon, no doubt.

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

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13 comments

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rascal6000 | 9 years ago
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Some confusion here; the FSA chainset is a standard chainset, and is used by lots of brands right now (including Focus), it is stiffer and lighter than Ultegra equvelant, and just happens to be a little bit further out on the drive side (4mm approx.), which helps improve the chainline on any road disc bike running 135mm spacing instead of 130mm. Any shimano/Rotor/Campag/Sram chainset will do the same job but the rider needs to be aware of the effect on chainline and avoid the 11/12/13 whn in the small front ring.

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Timsen | 9 years ago
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I already have an R3 (& 2 other Cervelos) I'm happy to take one of these on a long term loan & write a brief report on the merits of the discs, shifters etc.......

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dannycarr2k | 9 years ago
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But they will no doubt have more relaxed geometry. I'm also not interested in a cross bike for geometry reasons.

Hopefully as bigger tires gather momentum more people will experience top end tires like the Compass ultralights. The ride quality is incredible and the weight is not much more than a 25c 320tpi high end race tire. I run 32c ultralight Barlow Pass on my cross bike; the thing is so much fun. You need to experience them first hand.

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dannycarr2k | 9 years ago
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FSA crank and only 28c clearance. Would be nice to run bigger tires like Compass Cycles 32c race tires on a race geometry frame.

I'll pass. I was waiting for this one and ready to purchase.

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Jamminatrix replied to dannycarr2k | 9 years ago
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dannycarr2k wrote:

Would be nice to run bigger tires like Compass Cycles 32c race tires on a race geometry frame.

Those already exist....They're called disc cyclocross race bikes.

They were fine until someone decided they wanted relaxed touring/sportive geometry and made the gravel bike category.

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Morat replied to Jamminatrix | 9 years ago
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Jamminatrix wrote:
dannycarr2k wrote:

Would be nice to run bigger tires like Compass Cycles 32c race tires on a race geometry frame.

Those already exist....They're called disc cyclocross race bikes.

They were fine until someone decided they wanted relaxed touring/sportive geometry and made the gravel bike category.

Yup, there are racy CX bikes that aren't for "Gnarmac Adventures" and there's a choice of BB height now too. I don't mind a relatively high BB having come from MTBs but it is, of course, a personal choice.

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JumboJuice replied to dannycarr2k | 9 years ago
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Maybe the new 2016 Cervelo C series (endurance) would fit bigger tires.

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Jamminatrix | 9 years ago
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Screw the discs, I am way more interested in the hydraulic drivetrain!

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joules1975 replied to Jamminatrix | 9 years ago
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Jamminatrix wrote:

Screw the discs, I am way more interested in the hydraulic drivetrain!

From a technical viewpoint or cause you're not fussed on discs?

Personally, I'm the other way around cause I know discs have a bigger impact on what I can do on a bike - indeed, how the mechs move really doesn't bother me at all, so long as they move!

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harman_mogul | 9 years ago
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Agree, dedicated FSA chainset is bad juju.

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theendinfrench | 9 years ago
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I've been waiting for the Cervelo to do a R3 disc for a while but the frame specific crank makes me nervous - there's no way i'm using a FSA c/set... If Rotor bring out a compatible crank then it'll be back to the top of the list, until then i'll hang on.

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rore replied to theendinfrench | 9 years ago
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theendinfrench wrote:

I've been waiting for the Cervelo to do a R3 disc for a while but the frame specific crank makes me nervous - there's no way i'm using a FSA c/set... If Rotor bring out a compatible crank then it'll be back to the top of the list, until then i'll hang on.

In the pics above, Mr Teklehaimanot is using a Rotor 3D chainset, might be one on the way...

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Thelma Viaduct | 9 years ago
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Oh no, traditionalist panic, better safer bikes, the world is coming to an end!!!!

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