Riding a prototype in the alps last year

Phil and Ben Serotta 'testing' in alps

Mrs Cavell now forbids this

BIKE OF THE MONTH FEB '08

SEROTTA MEIVICI GS (CUSTOM CARBON)
I confess I thought the MeiVici was unnecessary because the Ottrott was astounding in every role that was ever demanded of it - we have designed one stiff enough for Marcel Wust but also one pampering enough for my own (and clients) poorly back.
But Ben Serotta is constantly restless for progress and hates luddites like me as much as he hates inertia or stasis. So it was on our annual summer sojourn in the Alps last year he asked me to ride a MeiVici prototype for four days to rid me of my prejudice. You can read about the custom MML technology, rider-specific tuning and Torsion Core tubing/lugs elsewhere on this site or at Serotta's own spec pages..more I want to talk about how the MeiVici will feels down the backside of the Col d'Izoard in a cross-wind. Rarely have I progressed downhill as fast and as in control as I have on that MV GS. And the crasher/racer instinct still runs very strong in me even if the flesh is very weak. My gemini-split bike/motorbike genome still makes me run harder into corners than either Mrs Cavell or our joint health policy are entirely comfortable with. The MV GS is quite simply the most aggressive bike that I have ever ridden. But most important it is precise and controlled aggression - in the sense that it is taut and direct without being jarring or clattering like aluminium. But neither is the GS even remotely springy in the same way as titanium or steel are. Least of all the MeiVici feels quite unlike like any carbon bike I have ever ridden to date. In a wholly good way. And in truth I have never a fan of the cultish black weave - I have tended to find carbon bikes remote, dead and uninvolving. The promise of lightweight has always come at the too high price of detachment for me. Warrick warned me that that his HSG defied belief in its connectedness to the road and it was precisely this quality that facilitated his anti-physics bike-handling. To be sure Mr Spence can handle a bike and that helps but I now know what he means about Serotta carbon. After leaving the MeiVici Inventor on the upper slopes of the Col d'Izoard to work on his Davis Phinney 'hip-swerve' cornering technique I alternately explored Michelin Pro-Race's, my own and the MeiVici's limits on the way down that mountain. I rode faster and I would maintain more safely because of the impeccably precise feedback and road-manners of the bike I was on. Mrs Cavell may have cause to disagree but I never slackened off for the entire week (downhill that is) and never had one moment of crisis. If I had to be hyper-critical I would say that blindfold I would never have been able to tell the bike I was on was made of carbon. And that makes it a hard-core bike for when you are in the mood and on the move. Make no mistake this is no Specialized Roubaix for the masses. This is the cutting edge of what fine made-to-measure rider tuned carbon can achieve. And that is very fine indeed.
My only wish is that I was fifteen years younger and twenty pounds lighter to do it some justice.
Phil Cavell

Thanks to Jonathon Lewis for Alps images