Cervelo S5

by Paul Horta-Hopkins · 13/10/2012

Video

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Cervelo S5 development video

Posted 13th October 2012

This somewhat long Cervelo S5 development video is well worth a look. Cervelo have constantly broken new ground since the company virtually invented the aero-road bike category, initiating an obsession with aerodynamics in road racing that previously had only ever reared its head when there was an important time-trial stage on the horizon.

We’ve been looking at the ‘comfort’ or endurance road bike category, which we consider to be a great frame choice for everyday riders, but at CycleTechReview.com we acknowledge that if you are a serious, hardcore racer who likes to attack a lot and win alone, aero-road bikes make a lot of sense to you; but do they make sense to everyone?

In this video Cervelo try to convince us that they do as we look at the research that went into the development of the Cervelo S5. After watching this video you can’t help but buy into the benefits of aero frames:

– 70 to 80% of your power is absorbed in trying to overcome aerodynamic drag

– a saving of 30 watts pedaling an S5 over a standard road bike, which as they point out, you would be pretty chuffed with if you managed to increase your power by that during a season.

Cervelo engineers aim to make you ride faster with less effort as saving a watt here and there will leave you with more power at the end of the race, when it matters, which is good news for everyone.

However, Cervelo’s way of making a frame aero is slightly different to that used in Trek’s new Madone, for example, with its Kamm Tail tubes that we tested earlier this year here.

Cervelo’s frames look much more aero, with narrow tubes almost like a time-trial bike, that are dwarfed by those of Trek and other manufacturers, such as Scott and Pinarello, who retain much more of the traditional tube shape whilst still claiming an aero benefit.

The Cervelo S5 certainly looks a superb frame. It is the road bike that really merits that over used phrase, ‘looks fast stood still’ with the faired in rear wheel adding to this effect.

With a price tag of a penny short of £4,000 just for the frame you really will have to fully buy into this research first of all, so we suggest watching this video a few times…