The Scott Foil RC Pro has undergone the most significant revision the platform has seen since 2016 in its latest iteration, and the result is an aero bike that is back at the forefront of the category.
Fairly extreme changes to the frameset’s tube profiles with the help of aerodynamicist Simon Smart has helped Scott eke out extra speed while changes in the frame construction has resulted in no weight penalty, though this guise of the Foil cedes a couple of hundred grams to the lightest in the category.
Novel proprietary finishing components help take the edge off the inherently firm ride of the Foil frameset but the seatpost design does seem a little more complex than is perhaps necessary.
On the road the Foil impresses with an ability to react to extra effort at high speed that should make it a favourite among sprinters. That said, the Foil’s design and build is well-rounded enough for it to be used not only in races.
Scott Foil RC Pro development
The Scott Foil has a good claim as the forebear of the well-rounded aero bikes on the market today. Well, the second generation does – riding the first was like operating a jack hammer – but Scott’s engineers introduced enough forgiveness in its successor that in 2016 Mat Hayman was able to win Paris-Roubaix on one. The Foil’s reputation of being able to blend speed with comfort was cemented and many competitors were playing catch up for the next few years.
Minor subsequent revisions, such as the inclusion of disc brakes and the integration of cables, means the Foil remains a popular example of the aero road category. However, the update to the Foil RC is the first true overhaul this bike has received since that cobble-crushing design from 2016.
Fittingly given the amplitude of the redesign, Scott has launched with a comprehensive range, and although prices are typically high across the board, on paper they do compete well with competitors at respective tiers.
The Pro sits below the top-tier Ultimate. It gets Scott’s slightly less fancy HMX carbon composite blend as opposed to its HMX SL blend, which the brand says has a marginally better strength-to-weight ratio, but in terms of frame shape and ride quality the Pro should be essentially the same, just 200g or so heavier.
In the looks department the Pro even has the edge, as its sparkly blue lacquer is a lot more emotionally engaging than the Ultimate’s matt black paintjob, and it’s a staggering £5,400 cheaper too.
Scott Foil RC Pro frameset
Regardless of frameset tier, the shape of the Foil has been drastically changed. The previous Foil was a more elegant affair, as its sculpted tube profiles attempted to balance stiffness, light weight and comfort with aerodynamics in an equal fashion.
Scott has changed tack in the new Foil: developed with input from aerodynamicist Simon Smart, the frameset’s tubes are narrower, much deeper and more aggressively angled.
‘To do this we kept the same F01 technology – a library of truncated aerofoil tube profiles, named after Scott’s first aero bike, Project F01 – but made the tubes narrower and deeper to reduce drag,’ says Paul Remy, bike engineer at Scott.
With its extended head tube and down tube, dramatically dropped seatstays and seat tube that follows the curve of the rear wheel, visually it has moved closer to Scott’s Plasma TT bike than its Addict RC road bike, and it’s the same in performance terms: the new Foil is reportedly 16 watts faster at 40kmh.
Remy says performance was gained by working in more subtle ways too. For example, Smart helped angle the profile of the seatstays so they better channel the air across the wheels while they spin, which apparently reduces drag.
The front end has also been redrawn, with the fork legs deeper in cross section and a high fork crown cleaning up airflow around the front wheel.
‘Alongside refined tube shapes, we improved the fabrication techniques in constructing the frame,’ says Remy. ‘This meant we could reduce the number of pieces in the frame from six to four,’ reducing the number of joints by 30%. Fewer parts means less overlapping material is required, improving the stiffness-to-weight ratio’
Scott Foil RC Pro proprietary finishing kit
As bikes continue to be thought of more as complete systems as opposed to different parts being optimised in isolation, both the Foil’s new Creston iC SL Aero integrated cockpit and Syncros Duncan SL Aero CFT seatpost play crucial roles in the performance of the bike.
6 watts of the new Foil’s advantage over the old is said to come from the new cockpit, which is inspired by the Scott Addict RC’s Creston IC design and guides cables neatly down into an impressively narrow head tube. Scott uses a thin one-inch steerer to create space for cables too without widening the area.
The integrated bar/stem and proprietary steerer has the makings of doing more harm than good in aerodynamics terms, as it may impinge on the rider’s ability to achieve an efficient fit. However, Scott does offer the Creston cockpit in 19 different size combinations and even makes a non-integrated stem if a particular bar design is desired over everything else offered.
‘The initial intention was to improve aerodynamics with the cockpit, but when refining its carbon layup, we noticed that one combination allowed the bar to flex more under a light load but still reach the same stiffness level at higher load, like when sprinting,’ says Remy. ‘While unintentional, it was a good surprise and was then included in the final product, allowing us to improve comfort alongside performance.’
The seatpost is equally noteworthy. Its deep but segmented appearance broadly explains its design, which is made up of a thin forward-facing structural shaft, backed by a lower tessellating support block give the post provide air-smoothing depth without excess rigidity. It isn’t unlike the design used on the Canyon Aeroad.
The component forms the basis of Scott’s claim that the new bike is 10% comfier than the last Foil. The upper rear block is removable and in a triumph for utility, the space its removal creates can house a proprietary rear light Scott offers. It isn’t included with the bike as standard, which is a shame, but it’s nice to have the option even if it is extra.
Scott Foil RC Pro groupset, wheels and tyres
The parts bolted on to the frame that aren’t of a novel proprietary design are just as well considered.
A Shimano Dura-Ace R9270 groupset is on board, and provides its customary class-leading front shifting. The 52/36 chainset paired with an 11-30t cassette is well matched to the remit of the frameset design, offering plenty of top-end gearing options for the racers that will use this bike.
Given the small gear steps 12-speed now provides, I’d perhaps be inclined to switch in an 11-34 cassette, which would provide more low-end gearing too without much disruption to the gear ratios. When it comes to performance, the groupset in the guise specced on the Foil is fundamentally hard to fault, though the inclusion of the power meter-equipped Dura-Ace crankset would have been the icing on the cake.
The Shimano Dura-Ace homogeneity continues through to the Foil’s wheels, which use the C50 variant. In terms of rim dimensions (21mm internal, 28mm external), the design is somewhat conservative, but as a whole the wheelset has all the hallmarks of an excellent-performing but practical design.
They are lightweight at a claimed 1,532g, the spokes are easy to adjust and replace, the hubs are well sealed and use Shimano’s well-regarded cup-and-cone bearing design.
Scott has gone a little off-piste in its tyre choice, which I think is a successful move for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the tyres are Vittoria’s Corsa Control TLR model, which in my opinion are ideal for almost all applications, being supple and grippy enough for fast riding without being fragile.
Secondly, Scott has specced 25mm front and 28mm rear tyres as standard. Canyon has used the strategy on its Aeroad to similarly good effect before. Scott says was informed by the results of real-world and wind-tunnel testing. The smaller front tyre narrows the bike’s frontal area, while the wider rear can hide in the lee of the frame to provide extra comfort with no aero penalty.
To me, given that they operate in different circumstances and have differing performance priorities, it is logical to take this approach with tyres. Wheel brands such as Enve in its SES wheels, Roval in its Rapide CLX IIs and Reserve now do it with differential rim shapes, so to have the concept extended into tyres is something I’d like to see more of and is something for which Scott deserves credit.
Scott Foil RC Pro geometry
Scott has carried the geometry of new Foil RC platform over from its Addict RC lightweight race bike. Only changes in the cockpit shape (the Foil’s Creston IC SL Aero versus the Addict’s Creston IC) result in 10mm less total reach on the Foil compared to the Addict.
In terms of the frameset specifically though, as with many established designs from big brands such as the Specialized Tarmac, Cannondale SuperSix Evo and Giant Propel, their fit and handling geometry is so well refined these days, that little changes from iteration to iteration and no angles or lengths are particularly unconventional, even though the frameset looks extreme visually.
The head tube and seat tube angles hover around 73 degrees in a size 56cm/Large as a case in point, and the stack and reach figures for a given size are normal too (at 568mm and 394.5mm respectively).
The 412mm seatstays are a touch longer than could be expected given how tucked the rear wheel is under the seat tube, and the wheelbase is correspondingly towards the longer side of regular too at just under a metre in the 56cm/large size. It gives the Foil just a touch more stability at very high speeds, despite the bike still handling reactively through corners.
Riding the Scott Foil RC Pro
While notable in design terms, both cockpit and seatpost are influential in performance terms too. The effect of the bar/stem’s construction that Remy explained, where it allows flex under light load but still provided stiffness at higher loads, is evident while riding. The cockpit definitely filters out a decent chunk of the vibration coming up through the bulky front end, but doesn’t feel sloppy or vague when wrenched about in a sprint.
The seatpost also adds more than its fair share of compliance, even if the design is a little more compromised. The interface between its front and rear portions needs to be lubricated with grease in order for them to slide against each other without creaking.
Scott recommends the part is serviced every 1,000km but I experienced a good bit of noise during my test period, which was frustrating, and the grease tended to migrate out from between the parts too, which made the otherwise beautiful bike a bit messy in that area.
It’s a good design in theory, but in reality is too complicated when compared to a normal post. With the Foil’s 30mm tyre clearance, a move to a bigger rear tyre could have a similar effect on compliance without the extra hassle.
Scott does offer a one-piece alternative seatpost so the rider could opt for that instead, but that’s an optional upgrade that comes at not-insignificant extra cost.
While the Foil’s auxiliary parts are certain worthy of discussion, the performance of the frameset at the bike’s core still holds its own. At 7.4kg, the extra couple of hundred grams the Foil RC Pro carries over the lightest in the category saps a little zing out of the bike’s acceleration from a standing start, but its aero design and the stiffness created by those chunky tubes and compact rear triangle definitely feel like they work together to give the bike an extra gear when most of its competitors would be out of revs.
Scott Foil RC Pro verdict
The Scott Foil RC Pro feels notably receptive to a further kick of effort at high speeds, suggesting its significant aero-focussed redesign has been an effective one. Together with a feeling of efficiency no doubt created by features such as its slab-like bottom bracket junction, the new Foil undoubtedly remains a bike for the sprinters.
That said, its smart extra design features showcase why more Team DSM riders than ever have chosen it for Paris-Roubaix this year. The new bike is an excellent revision that shows why the Foil should still be considered as a benchmark in the category.
Scott Foil RC Pro spec
| Price | £10,499 |
| Brand | Scott |
| Frame | Foil RC Disc HMX |
| Fork | Foil Disc HMX |
| Weight | 7.4kg (56cm) |
| Sizes available | 47, 49, 52, 54, 56, 58, 61 |
| Headset | Acros AIF-1138 |
| Levers | Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 R9270 |
| Brakes | Shimano Dura-Ace R9270 |
| Rear derailleur | Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 R9250 |
| Front derailleur | Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 R9250 |
| Crankset | Shimano Dura-Ace R9200, 52/36t |
| Bottom bracket | Shimano PF86 |
| Cassette | Shimano Dura-Ace R9200, 11-30t |
| Chain | Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 |
| Wheels | Shimano WH-R9270-C50-TL |
| Tyres | Vittoria Corsa Control TLR (25mm front, 28mm rear) |
| Cockpit | Syncros Creston iC SL Aero |
| Seatpost | Syncros Duncan SL Aero CFT |
| Saddle | Syncros Belcarra V-Concept 1.0 |
