Originally Posted by
Seattle Forrest
From the posts I've read of yours, you seem to know a great deal about bikes, and about how they work. Let me ask about this in more detail. I had thought the handling ( turning, mostly ) came from the fork and headset angle, and the wheel base. I think the R3 is set up to be faster than the S2 in both of these ways.
I think the S2 geometry is actually more sharp/twitchy than the R3, by a very slight margin assuming you compare two frames of the same size (ex: 58cm S2 vs 58cm R3) The S2 appears to have a slightly shorter wheelbase than the R3 and a slightly steeper head tube angle. The shorter head tube of the S2 will put more weight on the front wheel, which may tend to emphasize these handling traits. Unfortunately, Cervelo doesn't publish the rake or trail numbers for the forks.
A 61cm S2 has a wheelbase that's almost identical to a 58cm RS. If you're looking for something that turns better than an RS, a larger size S2 probably isn't it...