It seems like all the news out of Eurobike is aero road. Everyone’s refining or introducing their aero road bikes for 2015 — a very interesting trend. For 2015, Cervelo has re-designed their S5 to make it faster and more aero while maintaining serviceability with no weight gain.
As the engineer-driven company went back to the wind tunnel to improve on the S5, they ended up with more than a few tweaks to the design. Some of those changes include: wider fork, reduced stack height, wider seat tube and elimination of internal guide tubes. As a side note, the seatpost found on the new S5 will also be interchangeable with the one found on the S3 — a bit of simplification should reduce complexity (something we always like to see).
Compared to the outgoing S5 VWD, the new S5 is 35% stiffer torsionally and 6% stiffer at the bottom bracket. With the attention the revised S3 got, our guess is that the S5 will handle and perform even better.
The aero refinements have been quantified by Cervelo to yield an increase of 21.3 watts over the previous S5. That’s why they are the enginerds of carbon. Wow.
Key features of the 2015 S5:
- Compatible with mechanical or electronic drivetrains
- Shorter stack for improved aerodynamics
- Tire clearance is 25mm
- 35% increase in lateral stiffness (now as stiff as R-series)
- Saves 21.3 watts at 40kmh
- Includes new aero drop bars
- Sizes: 48, 51, 54, 56, 58 and 61cm
- Weight: 1065 g (frame only)
New Aero Drop Bars
One of the radical new pieces of hardware on the S5 is the carbon aero drop bars (80mm reach / 128mm drop). The tops actually surround the stem and provide a huge platform as they pierce through the wind. Cervelo believes that these bars are the most aerodynamic on the market and as an added bonus, they make the bike look like a hammerhead shark (always a nice touch). All kidding aside, the bars will be available aftermarket for $400 and will come standard on all three production S5 models.