Built on the lessons learned at Project California! This bike is based on the ultralight and super stiff R3 carbon race frame which was victorious in Paris-Roubaix three times although being the lightest frame in that race. The R2 shares the frame with the R3. The only difference is the fork and the lower-cost equipment. Therefore it comes with Shimano 15 components for a perfect price-value-ratio. The R2 has a tapered headtube, a new tube shape for higher torsional stiffness and the BBright system (an oversized bottom bracket). The BB shell is 79 mm wide with internal press-in bearings. This increases bottom bracket stiffness. Cervelo in-house testings revealed advantages with a tapered front end but the commonly accepted 1-1/8" to 1 1/2" standard was actually too rigid. Cervelo ultimately settled on a 'sweet spot' of 1 3/8", using a new lower headset standard. The matching all-carbon fork is still light but noticeably stiffer with more precise handling. In addition, the lower bearing seat is molded directly into the fork crown, thus eliminating a redundant part and also lending a straighter path for the carbon fibers in that area. Squoval down tube and chain stays - optimized for the highest possible stiffness-to-weight ratio (STW), the down tube and chain stays have a "squoval" shape. Lay-up optimization - the stiffening plies are added to the sides of the tubes where they have the greatest effect in bending. They are feathered to distribute the loads into the structure. Cervelo also added more plies on the bottom of the down tube, the head tube and the top tube to distribute the loads from a potential head tube impact. Finally, Cervelo added Kevlar to that same area and down tube to prevent catastrophic failure. Razor-thin seatstays - the original Cervelo R3 was the first frame ever to incorporate ultra-thin seatstays. The R series frames feature even smaller seatstay cross sections than before, further increasing the already legendary compliance for the rear wheel. The seat stays are almost unnecessary for the vertical loads, they only provide torsional stiffness. Therefore, Cervelo was able to design the R3/R2 seat stays to act as leaf springs in the vertical plane while having a more standard dimension in the lateral plane for torsional rigidity. Thus it combines strength, comfort, torsional stiffness and minimal weight.