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Cervelo launches new S5, Vingegaard’s Tour de France-winning aero road bike

Jumbo-Visma's Tour de France weapon of choice is lighter and more aero than previously, says Cervelo

Cervelo has finally launched the new version of its S5, the aero road bike that Jonas Vingegaard rode to Tour de France victory, and that his Jumbo-Visma teammate Wout van Aert piloted to the points classification win. Cervelo says that the new S5 is “simpler, faster, and easier to live with than before,” with deeper profiled frame tubes, a new fork, and increased tyre clearance.

2023 Cervelo S5 Red - 1.jpeg

Cervelo says, “Altogether, we reduced drag by 65 grams and increased surface area while still reducing the bike’s weight.”

That drag reduction is at 48km/h (30mph). Cervelo likes to give drag – a force – in grams (a unit of mass) but most of the cycling world has become familiar with it expressed in watts (which is a unit of power; it's all mixed up!).

We’ve shown you the new Cervelo S5 in some depth already, having been hands-on with it at the Dauphine. Vingegaard rode the S5 for most of the Tour de France although he switched to the existing Cervelo R5 for mountainous days, including Stage 18 which is the one that he won.

Check out our video of Jumbo-Visma’s Cervelo S5 

Cervelo says it has taken advantage of recent changes in UCI equipment rules to reduce drag.

2023 Cervelo S5 details - 3.jpeg

“The UCI’s new regulations on aerodynamic design allowed us some additional room to deepen our aero proles and squeeze a little more performance out of what is already the fastest aero bike on the market,” it says.

“You’ll notice a deeper head tube and bottom bracket area, and more aggressive shaping on the trailing edges of the tubes.

2023 Cervelo S5 details - 5.jpeg

“Since the new S5 is only compatible with electronic shifting, we were able to tidy the dropout a bit, and update the shaping all over the bike.”

2023 Cervelo S3 Jonas Vingegaard Dauphine 2022 - 16.jpeg

For example, there’s a new “aerodynamic nose” at the front of the fork crown.

2021 Cervelo S5  - 1

Each of the changes is relatively subtle but if you compare pictures of the old S5 (directly above) and the new version you’ll notice the differences.

Check out the bikes ridden to every 2022 Tour de France stage victory, including Vingegaard's race-winning bike & Van Aert's green machine

Cervelo has also made it much simpler to adjust your riding position, which was a bugbear of many who rode the previous model.

2023 Cervelo S3 Jonas Vingegaard Dauphine 2022 - 19.jpeg

“On the new one, it’s as easy as installing the new stem,” says Cervelo. “All the necessary spacers come with the bike, and there’s only one bolt length, instead of the previous stack-specific bolt spec. The handlebars attach more simply and have a 5-degree rotation to dial in your fit. Reducing all that complexity made the system 53g lighter, too.”

Well, it wouldn’t be a real road bike revamp without dropping the weight, would it?

2023 Cervelo S3 Jonas Vingegaard Dauphine 2022 - 14.jpeg

Cervelo says that it has improved the comfort of the handlebar, and altered the shape slightly “to get a perfectly flat bar-to-hood transition”. Looking at Jonas Vingegaard's Tour de France bike, that has been successful.

“In place of the shims on the previous S5 handlebar, we’ve used a two-bolt interface that allows…tilt adjustments between 0 and 5 degrees,” Cervelo says.

2023 Cervelo S5 details - 2.jpeg

Cervelo has changed the seatpost too, moving from a 25mm offset (the distance the centre of the clamp sits behind the centre of the post) as standard to 15mm on most sizes. That said, Cervelo will still stock a 400mm-long, 25mm offset post for those who want it.

There’s now space to fit 34mm (measured) tyres – up from 30mm – although Cervelo says that the new S5 is optimised for use with the new, wider Reserve 52/63 wheelset with 28mm tyres fitted. These are said to contribute massively to the overall reduction in drag.

2022 Reserve 52-63 wheels  - 1

The 52mm-deep front wheel has an internal width that's a whopping 25.4mm and an external width of 35mm, while the 63mm-deep rear is 24.4mm internally and 34mm externally.

Cervelo says that these wheels were developed under “turbulent aero” protocols. If you want to know about this, check out the video…

In short, the idea is that it takes account of the fact that we ride in real-world conditions rather than in smooth airflow.

Cervélo says that it worked with Reserve to develop a rim shape “that stalls less dramatically at greater yaw angles”. Yaw results from the direction and speed of the wind and the rider/bike.

“In riding terms [the wheelset is] more stable, more planted, and more comfortable,” says Cervelo. “It requires less input and attention from the rider and contributes to rider confidence. It makes you go faster because you feel more comfortable going faster.

"The Reserve 52/63 is 50g faster in laminar (traditional) flow, and 54g faster in turbulent flow than the outgoing Reserve 50/65 combo.”

2023 Cervelo S5 Dura Ace - 1.jpeg

The new Cervelo is available in four high-end builds:

Cervelo S5 Dura-Ace Di2, £12,500
Groupset Shimano Dura-Ace Di2
Wheels Reserve 52/63

Cervelo S5 Red eTap AXS, £12,999
Groupset SRAM Red eTap AXS (including power meter)
Wheels Reserve 52/63

Cervelo S5 Ultegra Di2, £9,199
Groupset Shimano Ultegra Di2
Wheels Reserve 52/63

Cervelo S5 Force eTap AXS, £9,599
Groupset SRAM Force eTap AXS (including power meter)
Wheels Reserve 52/63

2023 Cervelo S5 action - 3.jpeg

Those prices are broadly similar to those of the new Trek Madone SLR in comparable builds, the exception being that Cervelo's S5 SRAM Red eTap AXS is £800 cheaper than the Trek equivalent.

The Cervelo S5 is also available as a frameset (£5,499), including the frame, fork, headset, thru-axles, handlebar, stem, seatpost, and computer mount.

www.cervelo.com

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15 comments

Avatar
matthewn5 | 1 year ago
0 likes

What sort of bottom bracket does it have?

Avatar
Stan yik replied to matthewn5 | 1 year ago
0 likes

matthewn5 wrote:

What sort of bottom bracket does it have?

BBRight

My LBS used this for my S5

Avatar
Reggie Perrin | 1 year ago
0 likes

Would be very useful if we could be told whether these latest bikes are electronic shifting only. Seems to be the trend. I know that Factor bikes are, apparently due to 'customer demand' which i don't believe.
Seems those of us who can't afford a whole new bike at silly prices, who chose a frameset to give us options can no longer simply transfer an older groupset onto the frame until we can afford to upgrade unless we already had an electronic groupset to swap over.
I know this is how things will end up eventually if we want to own the TDF level bikes but at least allow bikes to accept mechanical gears as well as electronic. Can't be that difficult surely.

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to Reggie Perrin | 1 year ago
1 like

Reggie Perrin wrote:

Would be very useful if we could be told whether these latest bikes are electronic shifting only.

In the article: "the new S5 is only compatible with electronic shifting"

Avatar
Reggie Perrin replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
0 likes

Apologies, my bad. I must have missed that. Thanks for pointing that out

Avatar
Stan yik replied to Reggie Perrin | 1 year ago
0 likes

The previous model allows for mechnical groupset. I believe the handle bar design was intended to allow for the mechincal shift cables to run concealed so it was fully integrated like the electronic versions up front. If you want to port over your mechanical groupset, will need to get the earlier version.

I like how cervelo made improvements to the S5 without overhauling the whole design. It sends out the message that what they did with the 2018 model was optimal within prevailing UCI rules. Tweaking it to take advantage of newer rules makes alot of sense. Retaining all its major design features make even more sense.

Like how the 911 is. It still retains its own distinctive shape but with improvements for every new version. I believe it will help build the brand and help sell its bikes.

Pinarello utilises this design ethos very successfully as well.

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Steve K | 1 year ago
0 likes
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Toffee | 1 year ago
0 likes

You know what? They've taken a very fast bike with some complaints about usability and longevity and...made it more usable and more robust. They deserve some praise for that, even if it is insanely expensive.

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peted76 | 1 year ago
0 likes

Well there's no denying that's the fastest bike at this years tour and it's a looker.

A purer 'race' bike I don't think we've seen for some time with those retro wheel cutouts in the frame.. looks hella stiff though, I'd be surprised if that'd suit the UK pothole race scene, or the NCN Crit series.

 

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henryb | 1 year ago
0 likes

What does specifying drag in grams actually mean? Can anything be specified in grams? ("Sorry I was 37g late for our meeting")

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quiff replied to henryb | 1 year ago
1 like
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pockstone replied to henryb | 1 year ago
4 likes

I've been five pints late for work, but 37g is pushing the party ethic somewhat.

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Daddy Feebs replied to pockstone | 1 year ago
5 likes

As long as it's for personal use, you're probably fine

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IanGlasgow replied to henryb | 1 year ago
1 like

The most common unit of force is Newtons.
Most bikes are only ever used on Earth where one Newton = 100g (or 98g if you're pedantic).
37g is 0.37N on this planet.

Maybe Cervello plan to enter the Tour of Mars where 1N=37g

Avatar
henryb replied to IanGlasgow | 1 year ago
3 likes

IanGlasgow wrote:

Most bikes are only ever used on Earth *

 

 

* [citation needed]

 

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