It seems apparent that this is the year of the aero road bike; heavyweights Scott and Specialized are jumping into the market that Felt and Cervelo helped pave the way for over the past few years. In the endless pursuit to create the fastest bike, frame builders are steadily progressing down the road of aerodynamics. As frame weight comes down and stiffness goes up, road bike design evolution is co-opting the technology that’s already being applied to time-trial bikes.

We first saw early prototypes of the Scott Foil at the 2010 Tour de France when it showed up underneath Mark Cavendish and the HTC-Columbia squad. In the year since, the bike has been polished and refined to the production version tested here.

It was just about four years ago that Scott “changed the game” with the introduction of the sub-800-gram Addict frame. No big-brand bike company had ever released a production bike that light before. Scott’s game plan with the Foil was to take the stiffness and low weight of their Addict race bike and combine it with the aerodynamics of their Plasma time-trial bike. Scott’s FO1 technology is the foundation of the Foil’s design and is based around the idea that at low speeds (in comparison to an aircraft), a partial airfoil shape still gives a similar aerodynamic benefit as a larger airfoil. The Foil’s tubes do not have a trailing edge like you would find on the Plasma, which helps keep frame weight to a minimum. During wind tunnel testing, the Foil showed 20 percent less drag than its round tube sibling, the Addict, while still coming in at (a claimed) 840 grams for the frame.

Each of the Foil’s HMX carbon tubes—a new carbon made for Scott that is 20 percent stiffer than their previous carbon, allowing less material to be used—are developed in relation to the wind’s first points of contact: the downtube and head tube. The chainstays and seat stays are shaped to route air from the front triangle around the rear triangle, minimizing the turbulence created. Similar to the new BH Ultralight frame, the Foil’s triangular downtube flares out where it meets the 86mmwide bottom bracket shell. But, the most dramatic part of the bike’s styling is at the seat stay, seat tube and top tube junction. The tubes blend seamlessly together, not giving the wind any edges to catch, including the recessed seat clamp that is integrated into the top tube. As has become fashionably necessary this year, both the derailleur and rear brake cables are internally routed.

The Foil is available in three different builds with an HMX carbon frame, ranging from the $13,000 Di2-equipped model to the Dura-Ace 7900 model for $8500. Our Foil Team Issue came equipped with SRAM Red derailleurs, shifters and standard 53/39 cranks. Rather than skimping on the wheelset, the Foil Team Issue comes with a pair of Zipp 404 carbon clinchers with an alloy brake track. The 58mm-deep Zipp rims help the Foil fly on the flats without a weight penalty on the climbs. Long-time component supplier Ritchey is called upon to provide a proprietary aero seatpost along with their WCS carbon stem and Logic Curve carbon handlebars.

The majority of the time we spent on the Foil Team Issue was on the exact same routes the pros were racing during the Amgen Tour of California. We logged nearly 600 miles over the course of a week on terrain ranging from the snowy roads of Tahoe to the technical switchback descent of Mount Hamilton, over the leg-busting ascent up Sierra Grade and all the rough California farm roads in between.

Out of the gate, the Foil is responsive under acceleration; bottom bracket stiffness and power transfer are impressive. In tests Scott conducted, the Foil outperformed the Addict in torsional bottom bracket stiffness, which was indeed felt when we launched it into a sprint. Since the Foil borrows the Addict’s road racing geometry with a 73-degree head tube and 73.3-degree seat tube with a 99.5cm wheelbase, it’s no surprise that it feels like a race bike. Flying down a switchback descent on the Foil makes you want to push harder and harder to see what the limiter is, you or the bike— turns out it’s us. From the head tube all the way to the rear dropouts, the frame felt connected, without any disjointed feeling when being pressed through a turn.

On the flats where we expected the Foil to be at its best, we were extra conscious of our own aerodynamics. Since most of your power goes to pushing your body through the wind, we tried to minimize our frontal area by getting low in a time-trial position. Between the decrease in the frame’s drag over a round-tube bike and our position on it, the difference in speed versus effort is noticeable. Although the difference in aerodynamics of the bike alone aren’t enough to make a new rider out of you, it is enough to give you an edge during breakaway efforts or, if you want, to throw a pair of clip-on bars on it for the weekend time trial.

When you start going uphill and speeds dip below 15 mph, aerodynamics become less of a concern while weight becomes paramount. At 14.8 pounds, the Foil isn’t breathtakingly light, yet when the rest of the frame’s attributes are considered, it’s hard to complain about it. But, one of the things we can complain about is the Foil’s vibration damping—or lack thereof. Between the large seat stays and oval seatpost, we could definitely feel the road. While many racers don’t mind road feedback—and it usually comes with the territory of most race bikes—it’s something that should be noted.

THE VERDICT

The Foil Team Issue is a jack-of-all trades bike. It’s light enough to be ridden in the mountains, stiff enough to be a criterium bike and aero enough to be a dual-purpose road/time-trial bike. However, the Team Issue’s aerodynamic benefits don’t necessarily have to come at such a high price, since Scott does offer a $3700 version of the Foil called the R2, which comes with Shimano Ultegra and a compact crank option. The R2’s frame uses a lower-grade HMF carbon, which adds 100 grams to the frame, rather than the HMX of the Team Issue.

• Add a pair of clip-on aero bars and you have a time-trial bike too

• Aerodynamic advantages with minimal weight gain

• New technology comes with a steep price tag

Price: $8999

Weight: 14.8 pounds

Sizes: XXS/47, XS/49, S/52, M/54, L/56

(tested), XL/58, XXL/61 cm