2023 Cervelo S5 Frameset

UNDISPUTEDLY THE FASTEST BIKE OF THE MODERN ERA

The S5 has one job—get to the line before everyone else. Under the likes of Wout van Aert, Marianne Vos, and Christophe LaPorte, the new model has already proven itself as a tool without equal. In the 2022 Tour de France, this bike propelled Wout to the highest ever Points Classification score of the modern era. At 480, Wout was some 194 points ahead of his nearest rival—tangible proof that Cervélo keeps delivering aerodynamic gains to our World Tour athletes.

The new S5 has reduced drag by 65 grams, and increased the frame’s surface area while still reducing overall weight. The deeper frame sections maximize the shapes allowed by the UCI. Meanwhile the iconic V-stem has been further refined and a new fork designed to simplify the entire front end.

What’s more, a ground-breaking new wheel design concept has been co-developed with Reserve to increase stability and reduce drag in turbulent aero conditions.

V IS FOR VELOCITY

In pursuit of speed, everyone wants to try different positions to find their most aggressive fit. The S5's iconic V-stem not only inspires confident handling at high speeds, it's now also remarkably simple to dial in your perfect set-up. All the necessary spacers come with the bike, and there’s now only one bolt length, reducing complexity and making the system 53g lighter in the process.

FRAME ENHANCEMENTS

The UCI’s new regulations on aerodynamic design allowed us some additional room to deepen our aero profiles and squeeze 65 more grams of drag performance out of what is already the fastest aero bike on the market. You’ll notice a deeper head tube and BB area, and more aggressive shaping on the trailing edges of the tubes. 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.

TURBULENT AERODYNAMICS

Reserve and Cervélo put our heads together to develop a completely innovative way of engineering and testing wheels to perform optimally in turbulent aerodynamic conditions. Wind tunnels usually measure performance in ideal "laminar" flow situations. But such conditions are unrealistic in the real world. So we helped Reserve develop rim profiles that stall less dramatically at greater yaw angles; in riding terms it’s more stable, more planted, and thus more confidence inspriring. 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.

TIRE CLEARANCE

Wider wheels and tires are faster aerodynamically, and more comfortable to boot. S5 comes specced with 28mm tires but has clearance for up to a 34mm (measured) tire. The frame is optimized to complement the wider Reserve 52/63 turbulent aero wheels. In addition to the handling benefits, this saves over 5 watts compared to the previous Reserve wheelset.

HANDLEBAR REFINEMENT

We’ve improved the comfort of the handlebar, and tweaked the shape to get a perfectly flat bar-to-hood transition. We now use a two-bolt interface that allows for infinite tilt adjustments between 0 and 5 degrees.

KEEPING IT SIMPLE

Bike fitters at every level are moving away from longer-offset seat posts, and the new S5 comes stock with a 15mm offset post on most sizes (vs 25mm offset on outgoing S5). The old seat posts are forward-compatible, and we’ll keep the 400mm-long, 25mm offset post in stock for those looking for a more extreme fit.

SORRY CAMPY FANS

The 2022 S5 Disc frameset is designed to accommodate electronic shifting groupsets that use connectors up to 6mm in diameter, therefore Campagnolo EPS is not compatible with this frameset. Mechanical shifting groupsets are also not compatible with this frameset.