Scott Sports launches new Foil
Scott Sports invited media to the launch of the new Scott Foil just outside of Salzburg Austria and while initially this appeared to be an odd location choice, it all soon made sense. We got to see this new aero bike from Scott at Hangar 7 and 8 of Red Bull, two superb architectural buildings at the Salzburg airport stuffed with an amazing selection of beautiful flying machines, racing cars and motorbikes. And in that environment of speed and design the brand new Scott Foil looked well placed.
Scott first introduced the Foil in 2011 and when that bike is now compared to the current crop of popular aero road bikes – it looks dated. But the folks at Scott Sports have not been basking in past glory, over the last 2+ years the team has been working hard on a new version of that Foil and first impressions were favorable. Engineer Paul Remy passionately spoke about the goals Scott Sports had set for this new aero road bike and how they went about to achieve it, with the motto No Shortcuts.
Aerodynamics, lightweight, power and comfort are the 4 pillars the new Foil is built on, and according to data from Scott Sports they tickled 6 watts of drag saving out of the frame through various changes such as a new aero headtube, a dropped downtube and lowered integrated seatstays. They also shed 70 grams of weight from the frame (945 grams) and fork (335 grams) and that according to Scott helps it to be one the lightest offerings in the world of aero bikes. Layup changes added around 13% stiffness to the head tube and bottom bracket of the Foil, plus 6% lateral stiffness to the fork. The changes in compliance or comfort are the biggest though and bring the Foil numbers now closer to those of the Scott Addict, a bike that has been favored by Pro Tour riders during the Spring Classics and other rough surfaced courses. With the brakes now below the chainstays, the seatstays of the Foil got thinner and lower and that is part of the new comfort story. A reduced seattube, flat toptube and layup changes were also credited for the 89% more compliant numbers.
Scott also showed the new Syncros RR0.1 Aero Cockpit, a combo stem aero road bar that one will come stock on the top 2 models of the Foil line. It will be available in 9 different bar/stem combinations and features a compartment on the underside of the bar for the Di2 junction box and that is also where a new integrated Garmin mount will be attached.
I personally had a chance to ride the new Scott Foil Premium with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 components through stunning terrain outside of Salzburg and also on the famed Salzburgring racetrack, and first impressions were very favorable. It was as stiff as promised and as I could possibly want, it felt fast and agile and I certainly did not feel beat up after the ride, and it is a sharp looking bike. I also enjoyed the feel of the new integrated carbon Syncros Aero Cockpit. Plus taking an aero road bike on such a track was an unbelievable thrill.
There are 5 models planned for this new bike starting with the top of the line Foil Premium model (featured above) with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 components and Zipp 404 Firecrest wheels. Next in line is a Foil Team Issue with Dura-Ace mechanical components and Zipp 60 wheels, and both these models feature the more advanced HMX frame and the Syncros RR0.1 Aero Carbon Cockpit. The Scott Foil 10 sits in the middle of the bunch with Shimano Ultegra Di2 components and the neon yellow and black paint scheme we have come to love on the Plasma 5. The Foil 20 is next with Shimano Ultegra mechanical components and the entry level bike is the Foil 10 with Shimano 105 components. These 3 bikes are built around the HMF frame and have an allow version of that integrated stem, but here bar and stem are separated. Pricing has not yet been announced as the Euro is fluctuating heavily right now.
The Scott Foil Premium sits outside Salzburg, Austria in a beautiful surrounding and perfect weather.
A closer look at the Syncros RR0.1 Carbon Aero Cockpit on the new Foil.
The view from above gives a better perspective of the one piece aero handlebar setup.
The show bike here is set up without any spacers, but it comes with a package of different height aero spacers. Three 2mm, one 5mm, two 10mm and one 20mm spacer.
My test bike had a few of these spacers in place and as you can see, it integrates nicely with the bars.
The new Foil features a dropped downtube and some new carbon layup in this area of the frame to help with headtube stiffness. Spacing for tires is designed around 25mm ones but will accept up to 28mm tires.
The headtube tapers from 1 1/4 at the top to 1 1/2 at the bottom and the fork steerer is 1 1/4. The brakes are Shimano direct mount.
The seatube is slighly narrower and now features seatstays that enter the frame at a much lower point.
The new seatpost features a bigger setback in the larger sizes. 20mm for XL and L, and 5mm for those sizes below.
The view from below shows the F01 airfoil shape of the downtube.
The same downtube with the trailing edge of the aero shape.
This Foil Premium is equipped with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 components and all 5 models of the Foil lines are Shimano equipped.
Continental Grand Prix 4000 S II tires on Zipp 404 Firecrest wheels.
Australian champion Heinrich Haussler joined the media folks during the adventures around Salzburg and he was a very good sport and impressive guy to watch.
Here is what the entry level Scott Foil 30 looks like. With some deep wheels, this is quite a showstopper and the paint scheme looks like the one ridden by the IAM Pro Tour squad.
This angle shows the alloy version of the Syncros integrated stem setup that comes with the package of the lower 3 Foils.
During the Foil presentation Scott shared this drag distribution chart that shows drag on frame and fork compared to front wheel and back wheel.
The next chart then showed the drag numbers of various frame elements.
Plus here is the drag data of the old Foil co pared to the new one.
All images except for the first 2 and the final 3 (Scott Sports) are © Herbert Krabel / slowtwitch.com
