Review: The New Cervélo S5 Is Lighter, Faster, and Buys in on 1x

The Cervélo S5 is a bike that often comes up in meetings with other brands. Things like benchmarked against an unnamed Canadian brand aren’t uncommon to hear. Now there’s a new version and it looks nearly identical to the old version that we included in our bike reviews back in 2022. I spent time riding it to see if that was a good thing or not. It’s a bike I expected to love as soon as I first read about it. After a few hundred miles, I still appreciate it and I’m impressed with the attention to detail. I don’t love everything though.

Quick hits: 8 standout details of the Cervélo S5

• Cervélo actually does a good job with the seatmount design and there’s a GoPro mount built into the saddle mount system
• Steering limiters make sure you don’t crack the carbon when the bars flop to the side.
• The handlebar system is now a single piece unit
• The new Cervélo S5 is 124 grams lighter and 6.3 watts faster than the outgoing model
• The builds aren’t cheap but you get the same Reserve 57|64 Turbulent Aero wheels and handlebar throughout the range.
• 1x seems to have officially arrived as an aero option as it’s the top build spec for the new Cervélo S5
• The Di2 battery mounts in the downtube above the bottom bracket and the BB is press fit Cervélo specific BBright
• Cervélo looked into an aero bottle but wanted to keep a round bottle for livability and didn’t see gains
• For more information visit the Cervélo website

Quick takeaway: Aero is nearly impossible to compare but expect the Cervélo S5 to continue as one of the fastest bikes in the pro peloton. This is a bike that feels thoroughly thought through and nearly everything feels like a designer touched it. Nothing feels unfinished but it’s also very stiff at the bars and bottom bracket. It lacks snap at slower speeds and really requires some input to come alive. Make sure that you are looking for the kind of ride a Cervélo S5 provides and you’ll be happy.

frame details | build details | geometry | ride experience | usability | conclusion

Cervélo S5 frame details

This section is normally a place to share what a brand shares about a new bike. It allows a manufacturer to set a tone for the concept behind a bike then I’ll follow up with impressions that expand on what’s not shared and also let you know if something doesn’t match what’s promised. In this case, there’s almost nothing shared.

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Don’t get me wrong, I’ll share what there is in a moment but this sets a different kind of tone. Cervélo isn’t trying to overwhelm with a list of changes for a new bike but instead seems to say look at Wout van Aert and Simon Yates, that’s all we need to say. It’s bold but I like it.

There are some actual changes though. The basic silhouette is the same but the new Cervélo S5 is claimed to be “over 6 Watts faster” and 124 grams lighter. Cervélo then goes on to say that “the biggest changes are at the front of the bike, where the most significant aerodynamic performance comes from. The fork legs and head tube got quite a bit deeper, and the all-new, one-piece handlebar/stem builds on the original V-stem concept—and gets even faster.” Covering the weight, Cervélo claims that “While the increase in fork and head tube depth added weight, we optimized the layup and hardware to make the system lighter.”

Another interesting detail about this release is that Cervélo goes on to talk about the wheels included in the builds in a way that’s a bit different. At every build level, the wheels are Reserve 57|64 Turbulent Aero wheels, which are also new, and also part of the PON holdings alongside Cervélo. That’s important because Cervélo claims “The new Reserve 57|64 wheelset was co-developed by Reserve and Cervélo, and designed for use in the new S5. The rear wheel’s asymmetry matches the seat tube, ensuring air flows smoothly over both. The new wheelset is 3 watts faster than the 52|63 wheels, and weighs the same.”

That’s an interesting tidbit because as wheel and frame designs mature, aero gains are tough to find. The Cervélo S5 is already a radical shape and a 57|64 is about as deep, or as deep if you are the UCI, as you can go for a road bike. Getting aero gains at this point requires thinking of the system as a unit.

Cervélo S5 build details

The build I spent time with is the top spec build available however the differences between the various options are minimal. Choosing the SRAM RED AXS XPLR build, as shown below, the SRAM RED AXS, or the Shimano Dura Ace Di2 build have the same DT Swiss 180 hubs and carbon railed version of the saddle. Step down to Force or Ultegra and the only change is DT Swiss 240 hubs and a Ti railed version of the same saddle. The only thing missing here is a SRAM Force XPLR build for those that like 1×13 but not RED pricing.

Cervélo S5 geometry

*5 cm in front of BB

Ride experience

As I write this we’ve just finished the Velo All-Road Field Test and during that test we also included the Specialized S-Works Aethos as an outlier. The point was to have a bike that’s not an all-road bike and use it as a point of comparison. Except I picked the Aethos in our final round table discussion. All-road bikes are great but I do a century, or more, every weekend and I generally do it on an aero race bike. Normally I’d tailor my ride experience of something like the Cervélo S5 to reflect the point of it. This time I’m leaning into making a race bike your everything bike.

I started out by taking the Cervélo S5 on a 113 mile ride with 6,383 ft of elevation. That was 7-hours of moving time to get to know the bike and I was a fan.

As I said, from beginning to end of that ride I was a fan of the Cervélo S5 but in reality my love affair started before I rode the bike. Perhaps an odd statement but seeing an all-out aero bike choosing a 1×13 setup brings a bit of joy to my heart.

In practice it held up. One by has always made sense to me in gravel situations because it simplifies decision making. You never have to consider if you need to shift at the front when you’ve got other things to think about. Turns out I appreciate it for the same reasons on the road.

Practically speaking the 10-46 cassette paired with a 50-tooth chainring feels like a semi-compact setup using a 52/36 with an 11-34 cassette. You actually get a bit more top-end with the 1×13 and almost the same easy gear. You do miss out on one extra 1-tooth jump with the 2x and there are times that’s noticeable. Personally I don’t mind it but that’s the trade off. There’s also 2x builds available.

If I stick to being myopic the first thing I noticed with the ride was a combination of good tires and plenty of air volume and the handlebars. This bike is stiff, and I’ll talk about that more in a moment, but the tires are Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR G2.0 700x29c and the wheels are wide on the inside. The combination softens the ride so it’s not brutal like you’d expect.

Then there’s the handlebars. As you’ll notice in the video, I was convinced these are riser bars on the first ride and I was wrong. Cervélo shares that they are comparable to a normal -7 degree stem. Visually they look like they come up but there’s no steerer tube (side note that means there’s none to cut and you can always add/remove height with spacers) and the reality is not what you see.

I later measured the Cervélo handlebar a number of times. There’s no rise compared to other bikes. Optical illusions aside though, the triangulation of the carbon makes for a bar that’s stiffer than any other I can think of.

Now let’s zoom out a bit. Riding the Cervélo S5 at an endurance pace is not where it shines. You can do it just fine and if this was your bike there’s no reason to be afraid of using it on the big days. That’s my point in the video but there’s another side to it.

On that first ride the friend I was riding with kept attacking for the fun of it. Mile 75 there’s a 600 watt power spike, five more times between 78 and 80, and again at 87 plus a few more at 93. Just having fun playing with aero vs round tubes but in those moments the S5 feels right. At a leisurely pace you wonder how good this bike is, then you sprint and that’s a distant memory.

The flip side of that is all the stiffness, both at the bottom bracket and the front end, sucks away the pop of a playful bike. The Cervélo S5 isn’t a playful bike, it’s a seriously fast bike. Put your biggest numbers into the frame and it feels incredibly rewarding.

Usability

My comments in this section, when reviewing modern high-end road bikes, are almost always something along the lines of it’s a pain and it is what it is. The Cervélo S5 is actually surprising here.

One of the big changes from the previous bike to the new bike is the bar moved from two pieces to one. It’s a modern bike, expect that. The unusual bars actually help with this though. The wide tops give more room at the first corner the brake hose navigates. Then the second corner, where it would enter a stem, isn’t there. It’s just a bit easier than normal.

Then, as I mentioned above, there’s no steerer tube to cut. I ran the bike with no spacers as I normally do but if I change my mind I could also add spacers and move the bars up. No problem.

Unfortunately not everything is that easy. As is the case more and more there’s no room for a Di2 battery in the seat post. In the Colnago V5Rs that’s tempered slightly with a BSA bottom bracket. Cervélo instead uses a press fit bottom bracket, unique to the brand, and getting to that battery is that much more difficult.

Swinging the pendulum the other way though, the seat post and saddle attachment design is quite good. Like Cannondale it’s a two sided saddle attachment design but Cervélo makes it a breeze to reach, and adjust, the side that hand tightens. I also love that there’s an integrated GoPro mount as part of the rear saddle mount. The one on my bike came incorrectly installed but it’s still a great quality of life design that makes mounting a rear light easier and keeps it looking better.

Because there’s not anywhere else it makes sense, I’ll say I think the bottle cages could use some attention. In terms of usability it’s an A+ as it’s a standard cage. I chose Silca Titanium. In terms of looks though this should be some kind of clever aero design. I’m told it’s not because there weren’t aero gains without moving away from a round bottle. Looks demand something slimmer though.

Conclusion

I tend to like a snappy bike that feels like it wants to play. The Cervélo S5 isn’t that bike. Instead this is a bike that you clock in on and go to work. Put your head down and start pushing watts into the wind and it’s rewarding. I list that as a negative but it’s really not. That note in my cons above is more of a warning.

At this point this bike has a reputation. You know what you are getting when you choose a Cervélo S5. The new model delivers on that same promise and it does it in a way that feels passionately considered.

I could also critique the price here as $6500 US for the frameset makes this an expensive bike. The problem with that is it’s probably the fastest too. The Scott Foil RC and the Factor Ostro VAM are both quite close for less money but the Colnago Y1Rs is likely the real competition and it’s priced similarly.

That leaves my one remaining complaint as a usability issue. I imagine the Cervélo specific press fit BB is an engineering decision but it’s also a hassle. You probably want to ease your pain a little by at least choosing a SRAM build without an internal battery.

Oh and don’t forget that paint. It’s hot and looks fantastic in person.

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