Cervelo Road Bikes
With a passion for detail, impeccable execution, and informed engineering prowess, Cervelo has built some of the best road bikes pro cyclists have had the pleasure to ride. Whether it has been true aero forms and sleek integration, a forgiving ride on the cobbles, or the pure pleasure of dancing on the pedals of a lightweight climbing bike, Cervelo has delivered the bikes pro's require. While aero shapes have evolved, and improved lay-up techniques made bikes lighter, for the top cyclists the choice between an R5 or S5 may well be dictated by the route of the day. Both premium designs offer impressive performance and advantages.
In developing the "modern road bike", Cervelo's engineers borrowed from their proven designs, but created a new frameset that could dominate the allroad world with efficiency, power transfer, and stability- all while allowing for 700x34mm tires and carrying real world speed. Embracing one road bike for all occasions may feel like a compromise, but with the Caledonia-series you know are getting a bike built on consensus. It does so many things well, you just trust it to deliver what you ask of it. This resonates on every ride, on pavement or a dirt country road, whether you are alone or racing a fondo.
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Road Performance Bikes > Key Models
R5: The Race Bike You Want to Ride Every Day
Few bike concepts have been as well received in World Tour racing and with serious cycling enthusiasts as the R5, and an intimate connection between the R5 and its riders is foundational to racers considerable success. Through successive generations of the frameset Cervelo had worked to make the bike stiffer and faster. The first Squoval.Max tubeset had given the design more torsional resistance and a firm ride. While it still held great appeal to many riders, the R5 had slightly lost it's way and the success of the more compliant R3 was a message the engineers had to respect and engage with.
Dynamic, light weight, and compliant, the updated R5 tubeset's carbon lay-up has been optimized for overall performance balance. By using incredibly sensitive, detailed topology studies of the frameset, the performance driven, highly experienced engineers at Cervelo definitively identified how, where, and which carbon choices could be applied in the lay-up process to optimize weight and ride quality without sacrificing stiffness or overall efficiency, defining the principles and desired build for a markedly improved frameset that would not compromise the synergistic aspects cyclists connect with most.
S5: When Speed, Efficiency, and Winning Matter More
Think of the updated S5 frameset as a pure result of iterative design and a drive to explore the limits of bicycle aerodynamics. The previous generation was fast, but the 2023 model is faster, a bit lighter, more comfortable to ride- with a lively, responsive feel. Speed is attained through impressively improved aerodynamics of the frameset, as well as how the frameset and an advanced aero wheel design interact with each other for more efficiency. This S5 design has reduced drag and increased the frame’s surface area while still reducing overall weight.
The complete S5 bikes roll on the ground-breaking 52|63 wheel design concept that has been co-developed with Reserve to increase stability and reduce drag in turbulent aero conditions. The partners found an innovative way of engineering and testing wheels to perform optimally in turbulent aerodynamic conditions. The experts within Cervelo helped Reserve develop rim profiles that stall less dramatically at greater yaw angles. Properly engineered wider wheels and sized tires can be truly faster aerodynamically, and more forgiving to ride. The frameset is co-optimized to complement the wider Reserve 52|63 turbulent aero wheels. This is milieu of the true S5 rider.
Caledonia and Caledonia-5: When One Bike Is Right For You
The modern road bike requires capability for larger tires and more stability- but with the proper blend of moderately fast handling and power transfer efficiency expected of a race bike. Cervelo's Caledonia platform delivers all of this. This modern road bike shrugs at notorious urban roads, cobbles, chip seal, and floats over the smoothest pavement. the engineers increased the rear center, lowered the BB, and increased the trail while adding tire volume space and better rough surface deflection. Relatively speaking the handling is still fast enough to be corner and descent-friendly but with added rougher surface stability.
That is the beauty of the Caledonia. Plus, Cervelo offers it in two verisons, the standard model, and the more performance-oriented Caledonia-5. The geometry is shared, but the Caledonia-5 offers step up in carbon grade, the fully integrated cockpit, headtube, and fork steerer of the "5" labeled Cervelo bikes. The standard model is a bit more forgiving, cost-effective, and lacks the sleeker design features. Still, both bikes offer 34mm tire clearance and versatility few bikes can match. It all comes down to preference- yours.
