‘The mantra with designing the new bike was “simplify and enhance”,’ says Cervélo’s director of product management, Maria Benson. ‘So there are no revolutionary steps here; more this is a refined design.’
By way of evidence for the performance of the new, enhanced S5, Cervélo reminds us that Wout van Aert used it last year to rack up the highest ever sprint points in a modern-era Tour de France, some 480*. Van Aert is quite good, of course, but I have every reason to believe the S5 helped, because this thing is quick.
New for old
Refinement really is the word here, because to the casual onlooker the S5 looks very much like the bike it replaces, which debuted in 2018.
I tested that old S5 back in issue 86 and I remember it being tremendously fast, but it wasn’t the smoothest nor the best-handling, nor the easiest to work on or travel with. The S5 debuted Cervélo’s V Stem, a two-piece bar with a two-pronged stem through which cables were routed. An array of bolts and toppers and spacers held this front end together, and let’s just say you were glad you weren’t the team mechanic. Still, Cervélo pronounced the S5 fast, hence why it has stuck with the overall frame shape, albeit with some deeper tubes here and there after the UCI relaxed its rules on tube dimensions. Cervélo has also kept the V Stem, but there are some useful tweaks.
Crucially, the fork is now one-piece carbon, whereas before the section under the stem was a separate alloy topper. Without diagrams it’s a devil to explain how the new fork, stem and headset all goes together, but trust me, it is simpler and it’s also more adjustable – the bars attach to each stem prong with one bolt, not two, so they can be more accurately tilted. And trust Cervélo, the new fork design lightens the load by 53g compared to the old S5.
That’s not huge and it certainly isn’t enough to get the S5 anywhere close to that hallowed 6.8kg, but I can’t begrudge it the grams because it’s these grams that buy it the speed.
Clearance and tyres
The whole aero vs weight debate will rumble on forever, but most of the experts I’ve ever spoken to agree that aero trumps weight in most real-world circumstances save for hill climbing time-trials. As such, an 8kg bike is perfectly fine for most things if it’s slippery enough, and the S5 clearly is that.
From a standing start I don’t think I’ve ever ridden a faster bike than the gull-winged Specialized Venge ViAS (quickly discontinued for its limitations in other areas), but off the mark the S5 reminds me of that bike. It’s really hard to quantify, and I’m just describing a ‘feeling’, but every which way I rode – climbs, long flats, sprints – that same feeling cropped up. The new S5 just feels easier to pedal.
Cervélo puts the figure of 8.3W at 48kmh as the difference between the last-generation S5 and this one, and places much of that saving on a deeper head tube and bottom bracket plus revised wheels from sister brand Reserve.
The Reserves follow the Enve model of differing rim depths, but also add differing widths to the equation too, so the rear is 62mm deep and 24mm wide internally, while the front is 53mm deep and 25mm wide. This is said to aid stability at the front end because a blunter, shallower wheel behaves better in crosswinds. I dare say it works, but I reckon the S5 would be as quick with any set of decent deep sections.
S5 or S5
With such subtle tweaks it’s hard to separate this new S5 from the old one, but there is one crucial reason beyond that cleared-up front end and a few saved grams to choose the new bike: tyre clearance. The old bike had room for 30mm tyres whereas the new S5 can cope with up to 34mm. Now 34mm is probably overkill, but it does mean there is comfortable clearance for wide wheel/
tyre combos, and it allows the Vittorias specced here to fit. They’re technically 28mm but they measure over 30mm on the Reserve wheels.
All this extra volume means more surface area and lower pressures, which brings more cornering grip, greater comfort and increased smoothness, and smoothness equals speed (I refer you to the brilliant article last month, ‘Is wider faster?’, not sure who wrote it). And what all that does is help make amends in areas where bikes this aero – such as that Venge ViAS and to a lesser degree the old S5 – are so often lacking: handling and comfort. Bundle that with a front end that’s slightly easier to live with and a little more aero styling, and Cervélo has managed raise the game of an already brilliant bike.
*Pub fact: the all-time highest sprint classification score was André Darrigade with 613 points in the 1959 Tour. Beat that, Wout.
Cervélo S5 alternatives
Cervélo Soloist
The Soloist (from £3,500) borrows a pinch of S5 and mixes it with a dollop of R5 (Cervélo’s climber’s bike) to create an aero-esque all-rounder at a significantly cheaper price.
Cervélo S5 Red AXS
Top dog If you’re keen to shave the weight and can bear the cost, the S5’s Sram Red AXS build sees a 56cm come in at just under 8kg. It will set you back £12,500 for the privilege though.
Pick of the kit
Giro Aries Spherical helmet, £289.99, giro.co.uk
According to independent test lab Virginia Tech, this is safest bicycle helmet it has ever tested, and that includes open-face mountain bike helmets. The crux is the two dual-density EPS hemispheres – a shell within a shell – where each can move independently of the other in a crash, thereby maximising rotational-impact protection over regular Mips (Spherical is ‘by’ Mips, you see).
Nearly £300 is huge money for a helmet of course, but you can’t put a price on a good human head, plus the fit and styling are superb.
