US brand, Quintana Roo is best known for its triathlon bikes. Now it’s taken that know-how to its new SRseries aero road bikes. It’s aimed to prove its frame’s aero credentials with a head-to-head in the wind tunnel with some of its leading competitors.
But it says that the bike is not solely focused on aerodynamics at the expense of comfort, with the SRseries frame designed for compliance too, and accepting tyres up to 32mm wide.
The SRseries comprises the SRsix and SRfive, with builds starting at $3,095 for the SRfive with a Shimano 105 setup. Quintana Roo says that it’s aimed to produce fast bikes for fast riders, without breaking the bank, and that it offers the cheapest entry point into wind tunnel tested aero bikes.
According to Quintana Roo design engineer Brad DeVaney: “With the gain in watts through the frameset’s aerodynamics, we’re proud to be able to deliver complete a bike that has the performance of today’s top aero road bikes, with a level of value that the road market hasn’t seen.”
The frame is a mix of kammtail tube profiles with different depth ratios used throughout the frame, from 1.81:1 in the seat tube to 2.24:1 in the seatstays.
With the truncated profile, it says that these shapes behave like a 6.6:1 ratio aerofoil, while still producing a lightweight frame that’s UCI compliant.
Quintana Roo quotes a weight of 995g for a size medium frame and 1,420g for the frame and fork, which it says is lighter than a Trek Madone SL6 or a Specialized Venge Pro in the same size.
Like many new bikes, the SRseries is designed around disc brakes and thru-axles. Quinana Roo has also kitted the SRseries out with a T47 bottom bracket.
The latest in cycling’s stream of bottom bracket standards, it’s the same size as a PF30 but threaded so it should be less prone to creaks and more easily adjusted.
Tested against leading competitors
Quintana Roo says that it aero tested its frame in the A2 wind tunnel in North Carolina, facing it off against a non-aero compact road bike as a baseline.
With airflow coming from straight ahead, it says that the frame’s aero features offered a 20-watt saving, whereas the bike was 40 watts more energy efficient at a 20-degree wind yaw angle.
The frame is also designed to shield water bottles, and the wind tunnel tests showed that at zero wind yaw adding two bottles did not add drag.
The SRseries’s aerodynamics were also tested against the Cervélo S5, Canyon Aeroad CF SLX (it's not clear if this was the newest generation of this bike) and Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7.
For the testing, all the bikes (except the Cervélo S5 which has a proprietary bar design) were set up with the same bar stack and reach, and with Conti GP5000 25mm tyres, along with the same brand of bottles and cages fitted.
All were tested without saddles because Quintana Roo says that small differences in saddle angle can have a significant impact on drag.
For the tests, the tunnel wind speed was 30mph and drag was measured at yaw angles of +15 degrees, +5 degrees, zero, -5 degrees and -15 degrees.
Quintana Roo says that its testing showed consistently lower drag profiles for the SRseries when it fitted bottles to the bikes, with up to 20 watts saving across the board against the competition, only being out-performed at a single yaw angle by the Canyon Aeroad. Without the bottles, the SRseries came out in the middle of the pack.
The brand says that on a cost-per-watt-saved basis, the SRseries represents much better value than component upgrades like aero wheels, oversized jockey wheels or ceramic bearings.
It's worth noting Quintana Roo has not tested its bikes with a rider – the interaction between the rider and frame can make a significant difference to aero performance.
An increasing number of brands (Canyon and Giant to name two) now use a dummy to simulate someone riding the bike, so we may not be getting the full picture here.
That value proposition means that the SRsix starts at $5,649 with Shimano Ultegra and heads up to $10,949 with Dura-Ace Di2 and Zipp 404 NSW wheelset.
The SRsix and SRfive are sold directly by Quintana Roo, arriving boxed for self-assembly, although there’s also the option of delivery pre-assembled.
There’s a range of electronic and mechanical shift options and you can specify bar width and stem length, seatpost setback, upgrades such as better wheels or a power meter and other features at order, by talking to Quintana Roo’s staff or using web chat to fine-tune your spec to your needs. There’s a range of 40 different paint and graphics colours to choose from, too.
More details on Quintana Roo’s site.
Quintana Roo SRfive 105 specs
- Frame: Quintana Roo SRfive Carbon Aero
- Fork: Quintana Roo Carbon Aero
- Groupset: Shimano 105, 52/36t, 11-30t
- Wheels: Shimano RS370 Disc
- Brakes: 105 hydraulic disc
- Bar: Vision Trimax alloy ACR
- Stem: FSA ACR
- Seatpost: Quintana Roo carbon aero 20mm offset
- Saddle: Prologo Nago Evo
- Price: $3,095
Quintana Roo SRsix Ultegra specs
- Frame: Quintana Roo SRsix Carbon Aero
- Fork: Quintana Roo Carbon Aero
- Groupset: Shimano Ultegra, 52/36t, 11-30t
- Wheels: DT Swiss E1800
- Brakes: Ultegra hydraulic disc
- Bar/stem: Vision Metron 5D integrated carbon ACR
- Seatpost: Quintana Roo carbon aero 20mm offset
- Saddle: Prologo Scratch 2 PAS
- Price: $5,649
