Joining the pre-Tour de France new bike launch frenzy, Cervelo has just released their new S5 aero road bike.
Building on the S3 and the insights gained from their P4 TT/Triathlon bikes, the 2012 Cervelo S5 brings it together for an aerodynamic road bike to compete with rigs like the Specialized Venge and Scott F01l, among others.
“If there’s one thing that’s at the core of Cervélo’s DNA, it’s pushing the envelope in an effort to make the most aerodynamically efficient bikes possible,” says Cervélo co-?founder and CEO Phil White. “With the S5, we’ve created the fastest road bike available, but we’ve also worked incredibly hard to engineer incredible stiffness and ride quality into the frame.”
With that in mind, jump past the break for more pics and details…
By looks alone, there’s no doubt the new S5 is streamlined. Unless they pulled some photoshop magic, the frame barely registers beyond the tire’s frontal profile. No word on whether this bike takes advantage of their collaboration with Mavic on aerodynamic frame/wheel designs, which means that project’s probably still in the works. So, here’s what’s real:
The BBright bottom bracket shell keeps the shift cable loops hidden from the air. The design has 12% greater stiffness than the S3. The seatstays were designed to partially shield the rear brake from the airflow, too.
Out back, they incorporated the curved seat tube with tucked rear wheel from their TT bikes, but the fit and geometry mirrors the S3’s, meaning it’s designed for normal racing and riding. Up front, which is better seen from the side profile pic at the top of the post, the downtube starts really low, which lessens the gap between the fork and front wheel, which Cervelo says keeps air running smoothly from one surface to the next. From there, the downtube was shaped to maximize aerodynamics even with a standard water bottle and cage attached…particularly when mounted to the lower of the two available positions. The seat tube also has cage mounts.
Up top, the seatpost gets a two-position aero seatpost.
So, what does all this aero-techno-goodness get you? A frame that chops 36.8 seconds of the 40k time of the world championship winning S3. They accomplished this by trimming 92g (9.2 watts) of drag from the frame.
“We’ve been shown all the test data on the S5, but I don’t need that, I can feel that it’s the fastest and most agile road bike I’ve been on,” said Garmin-Cervélo’s Thor Hushovd, who sprinted to a win at the 2010 World Championships aboard a Cervélo S3. “In the Tour de France, we’ll be racing about 100 hours over three weeks and, thanks to the S5’s aerodynamics, I’ll be saving energy. That will give me an advantage when it comes down the sprints.”
What it doesn’t do is add much weight. Even with all the aerodynamic properties, the frame weighs in at a claimed 990g. Complete frame with uncut fork is about 1,330g.
The S5 goes on sale July 1 worldwide. Pricing is:
- Shimano Dura-Ace Di2: $9,000
- SRAM Red: $7,500
- Ultegra Di2: $6,000
- Ultegra 6700: $4,800
- Frameset: $3,800
Video belos is a “making of” the S5 bike:
Check out Cervelo’s mini-site for the S5 here.
