The first 2018 Scott Foil Disc has arrived!
The Scott Foil Disc looks to be one of the hottest road bikes for 2018 with its combination of aerodynamics, performance, features, and price. It is racking up the awards by publications along with being the fastest road bike currently tested by Cycling Weekly; and it just won the Design & Innovation Award for a best of 2018 (Premium model).
This first Foil received at the Velo Studio is a 58cm Foil 10 Disc featuring Shimano Ultegra Di2 components. Previously, Shimano Di2 electronic groups with hydraulic disc brakes used non-series shifters and calipers shared across different models. The Scott Foil 10 has the all new 8070 Ultegra groupset with re-designed shifters/hydraulic levers, new derailleurs, and new Ultegra branded hydraulic calipers + new RT800 rotors. I’ll go into some of these great new features below. You’ll find the corresponding pictures below the descriptions and click on the images for larger size.
Shown below are the main components of the new Shimano Ultegra 8070 Di2 Hydraulic Groupset. Disc road bike sales have now over-taken traditional calipers, and Shimano is having a hard time getting parts to manufacturers. These parts alone look to be elusive in 2018. The Ultegra crank has a similar look to the previous 6800 generation with the same matt+glossy gray finish. If you have a Stages 6800 left arm power meter it would bolt right on with only the keen eye noticing. The front derailleur mount is a molded carbon fiber piece integral to the frame with no rivets to fail. Scott is one of the first manufacturers to utilize the direct-mount option of the new Shimano Shadow design road derailleurs which eliminates the B-knuckle adapter providing a more secure connection. The bike is also supplied with a standard derailleur hanger to mount any brand or model derailleur, so make sure you get this from your dealer.
Check out these new shift levers! The nicely textured rubber hoods are well secured and smooth to the lever bodies. If you are familiar with the previous generation of RS685 and RS785 hydraulic levers, the rubber was overly thick and tended to pop out of place. A new feature is the addition of an extra function button under the top peak of the hoods previously found in Dura-Ace. This button can be programmed to shift either derailleur in any direction, or to scroll through your cycling computer screens. The standard shift buttons on the side are slightly bigger and easier to differentiate than past versions. Much more on the shifting in another post.
Take a look at the size and shape of these new levers. Below is a picture of the new 8070 hydraulic Di2 levers against a mechanical caliper brake 6870 Di2 lever. Your eyes don’t deceive you – the hydraulic version is smaller!
Below are some views of the new Ultegra hydraulic brake calipers which are flat-mount design with 160mm front & rear rotors. There is a mounting block under the rear caliper indicating a smaller 140mm rotor is possible. The RT800 Icetech rotor is a piece of art with a highly sculpted aluminum base for improved cooling sandwiched between the stainless steel outer braking layer. The appearance of these will likely be loved or hated versus a more minimalist disc design.
The bike uses 100×12 thru-axle front and 142×12 thru-axle rear which is now considered the axle standard for disc road bikes. The Foil 10 and 20 use DT’s rock solid and simple to operate RWS skewer. The Foil Premium model uses a flush thru-axle requiring a hex key to operate, which you could add to any Foil Disk.
The Foil 10 Disc uses the new RS910 internal handlebar plug junction box connected to the Y-shaped E-Tube wire harness. Just like Shimano’s under-stem junction box, the RS910 has 2 lights for status functions showing battery level, adjustment mode, and changing shift modes. The charging port is also under a small cover, but unfortunately, Shimano continues to require a proprietary cable connection and separate charger. I think everyone would rather see a ubiquitous micro-USB or USB-C port here. The Foil 10 and mechanical shifting Foil 20 models use round aluminum handlebars with a specially designed stem to integrate the aerodynamics. The bar has a small hole near the end for the wire to emerge from the RS910 box and then runs externally under the bar tape. The E-Tube harness connects via a 2-port inline junction (JC200) near the headtube to the wire that continues into the frame. The battery is mounted inside the seatpost.
Scott does not include the WU111 inline Bluetooth module standard with the bike. This can be added very easily in the place of the inline junction or hidden in the frame/under bar tape with the many different methods of clean E-Tube routing.
Moving on to the stem, headset and seatpost, the Foil isn’t a fast bike without using some aerodynamic trickery. The seatpost is aerodynamically shaped and uses an internal removal cam mechanism to secure, with a final cover plate to conceal the cam and look clean. I found the cam easy to use and access. If you somehow mess up the cam unit, you can drop in a new one.
The Foil uses common internal headset bearings with a combination of unique shaped plastic spacers under the stem instead of normal round ones. Each Foil is shipped with a variety of different height spacers, so make sure you get the extras from your dealer. A special finishing piece is placed over the spacers and behind the stem to complete the profile, with two stem bolt access holes. The top cap of the stem is also shaped to fit into the recess of the Syncros stem completing the wind slippery profile. It must also be noted that the stem can only be mounted in the negative angle since it will not fit the spacers flipped around. Any stem will technically work on the Foil but without the aerodynamic spacers.
The Foil stem (model name is RR1.5 Aero) comes in 10 mm increments from 80 to 130 mm. It is also very well priced at around $45 retail from your Scott dealer. There are many proprietary bits from lots of bike manufacturers that worry me for their function and availability 5-10-15 years down the road. I’m not worried about the Foil’s shaped plastic spacers. These are not stressed or active parts that should have problems even in a crash and Scott should have replacements available for years to come. But in the end, they could easily be 3D printed.
The Foil 10 and 20 models come with Syncros branded wheels, undoubtedly made by DT Swiss but this is not confirmed. The Foil Premium arrives with Zipp 303 wheels. These Syncros aluminum rims have a 23mm outer width, are tubeless-ready, and come with the tubeless tape pre-installed. Stock rubber is the Continental GrandSport 28mm which has an actual width measurement at 80 psi of 29.5mm. The Continentals are tires but they can not be set up tubeless (shhh…Conti is working on it).
Scott says the Foil Disc will fit 30mm rubber and by my eye this looks correct with 32mm likely being too large. I’ll be putting this to the test in the future fitting different tires, and myself plan to use Schwalbe G-One 30mm tubeless tires over New England dirt roads.
Finally – here is the overall bike. This is a 58cm with the saddle height set to my personal 77.5 cm for reference. As mentioned the stem can’t be flipped to the positive angle and I’m no longer tolerant of huge saddle to bar drops on my bikes. But without too many spacers I’m able to achieve a very modest few centimeter drop right in my comfort zone. The key is buying the correct sized Foil to meet your reach and drop needs, and then you can have everything from even-level saddle and bar to massive slammed drops.
This 58cm Foil is available right now at the Velo Studio. Not only will you get one of the first in the US, but you’ll get one period. Scott will likely sell out of the disc versions before Spring riding even gets going. STBG has 3 Foil 20 Disc models arriving in late March but can reserve any model and size while Scott’s supplies last.
STBG is giving up to $300 worth of bonuses free with the purchase of a Scott Foil. This could include the Di2 Bluetooth module, pedals, tubeless tires, bottle cages, or Gamin computers. In addition, you’ll have a 30-day time-frame to purchase other extras at very special discounts such as deep aero wheels from HED, ENVE, Mavic, Zipp or Industry Nine.
In-Store sale only for this bike.
