Cervelo officially unveils lightened R5 road bike

Cervelo has officially unveiled the fourth iteration of its R5 road bike that Team Jumbo-Visma riders have been racing on over the past few months. The new frame is said to be 16% lighter than previously with the bike as a whole slightly more aerodynamically efficient and more comfortable, particularly at the front end, Cervelo admitting that the previous model could feel harsh over longer distances.

“The new R5 frame is 130g lighter than the previous model – a 16% reduction from an already-light frame,” says Cervelo. “The new frame is 703g, and the new fork is 329g, bringing the frameset to just a hair over the kilogram mark.”

Cervelo has also dropped weight from some of the components. The handlebar and stem are each said to be 12g lighter than before and the seatpost is a claimed 20g lighter.

“You won’t have any trouble building a bike that meets the 6.8kg UCI minimum,” according to Cervelo.

The cables were previously external between the end of the bar tape and the frame, but they’re now fully internal, bringing the R5 into line with most other high-end road bikes.

“While aerodynamics weren’t a focus with this frame the way they would be on an S5 or P5, bringing the cables inside reduced drag by 25g too,” says Cervelo.

As we pointed out in our review back in 2018, the previous version of the Cervelo R5 had a firm ride with the front end bordering on harsh. Cervelo acknowledges this and says that it has dealt with the issue this time around.

“If the previous-generation R5 had one knock, it was the stiffness—its goat-like climbing abilities came at the expense of a bit of bone-jarring,” says Cervelo.

“While this wasn’t much of a problem for most riders, our World Tour teams felt the bikes got more uncomfortable as the weeks of a Grand Tour wore on. So reduce stiffness? In a climbing bike? It seemed crazy, but we dove in. 

“We worked on a couple of different layups, tested them ourselves, and also sent them over to Team Jumbo-Visma for testing. Tom Dumoulin, having previously ridden and loved an R5 at Sunweb, was the prime candidate for early testing. The verdict? Unreservedly positive. Dumoulin felt he could climb just as efficiently on the bike, and that the added compliance would result in less fatigue and more effective recovery.

Jumbo-Visma verified this, and we were off to the races.”

You could always add wider tyres if you feel that you need more comfort. There is now enough space to go up to a 34mm width.

Head engineer Scott Roy says, “In 2019, we started working on the bike. I wanted to reduce the weight of the frame because we were at the limit with the team. It was a struggle to hit 6.8 kg on that bike, for the team stuff, and we needed to take some weight out of the bike.

“FM117 R5 [the previous generation] was like a classic road bike - it would do everything. With [the new version] we wanted to refine it to be a lightweight climber, and we needed to pull some weight out of the frame to get there. That was something we could tackle. 

“There was a complaint from the teams, consistently, that the front end was too harsh and too stiff, which is, thankfully, a relatively easy thing to fix. We dialled back some head tube stiffness and refined the fork. We approached the FM117 fork the same way we approached the frame, where we wanted to maximise stiffness, and it was too stiff. So, the new fork, we kept lateral stiffness where it was, but we dialled back some longitudinal stiffness, that was the only thing from pro team/consumer feedback that we needed to address. 

“So we needed to reduce the surface area of the frame, which is exactly the opposite of what we wanted to do for FM117; the larger the cross-sections [of carbon] in those down tubes, the more torsional stiffness they have—or bottom bracket stiffness. It’s all related, because as the tubes get larger, you have to add more material, and the weight goes up. We kept the bottom bracket septum from FM117, so it’s still stiff, but that’s kind of it. 

“We adjusted the trail slightly to compensate for a larger tyre. It’s 0.5mm, it’s marginal, I don’t know if it’s even noticeable. We kept the geometry and the fit the same—it had to be a race bike. 

“Dumoulin has spent the most time on it, he loves it. He was one of the vocal ones that had the front end complaints [about FM117], and he was like ‘this is fantastic now'.” 

Here's the frame geometry:

The new Cervelo R5 is available in four different builds:

• R5 Red eTap AXS £11,699
Fork Cervélo All-Carbon, Tapered R5 
Headset FSA IS2 1-1/4 x 1-1/2 
Thru Axles Cervelo Aero Thru-Axles, 12x100/142, Removable Handle 
Wheels New Reserve 34/37mm DT240 XDR, 20h (F), 24h (R), 22.6mm IW (F), 21.6mm IW (R), Center-Lock, Tubeless Ready 
Tyres Vittoria Corsa TLR G2.0 25mm
Crankset SRAM Red AXS 48/35 with Power Meter 
Bottom Bracket Ceramic Speed Dub
Chain SRAM RED 12 spd
Front Derailleur SRAM RED eTap AXS
Rear Derailleur SRAM RED eTap AXS
Cassette SRAM RED 12s XG1290, 10-28
Shifters SRAM RED eTap AXS HRD 12 spd Cervélo HB13 Carbon
Handlebar Cervélo HB13 Carbon
Stem Cervélo ST31 Carbon
Brake Callipers SRAM Red HRD
Brake Rotors SRAM CenterLine XR 160mm
Saddle Prologo Scratch M5 NACK
Seatpost Cervélo SP24 Carbon Aero Post
Accessories Cervelo Faceplate Front Computer/Accessory Mount, Cervelo Rear Accessory Mount

• R5 Force eTap AXS £8,799
Fork Cervélo All-Carbon, Tapered R5 Fork
Headset FSA IS2 1-1/4 x 1-1/2
Thru Axles Cervelo Aero Thru-Axles, 12x100/142, Removable Handle
Wheels New Reserve 34/37mm DT370 XDR, 20h (F), 24h (R), 22.6mm IW (F), 21.6mm IW (R),Center-Lock, Tubeless Ready
Tyres Vittoria Corsa TLR G2.0 25c
Crankset SRAM Force AXS 48/35 with Power Meter
Bottom Bracket SRAM Dub
Chain SRAM Force, 12 spd
Front Derailleur SRAM Force eTap AXS 12 spd Rear Derailleur SRAM Force eTap AXS 12 spd 
Cassette SRAM Force 12s XG1270, 10-33
Shifters SRAM Force eTap AXS HRD 12 spd
Handlebar Cervélo HB13 Carbon
Stem Cervélo ST31 Carbon 
Brake Callipers SRAM Force HRD 
Brake Rotors SRAM Paceline 160mm
Saddle Prologo Scratch M5 PAS TiRox
Seatpost Cervélo SP24 Carbon Aero Post
Accessories Cervelo Faceplate Front Computer/Accessory Mount, Cervelo Rear Accessory Mount

• R5 Dura-Ace Di2 £11,699
Fork Cervélo All-Carbon, Tapered R5 Fork
Headset FSA IS2 1-1/4 x 1-1/2
Thru Axles Cervelo Aero Thru-Axles, 12x100/142, Removable Handle
Wheels New Reserve 34/37mm DT240, 20h (F), 24h (R), 22.6mm IW (F), 21.6mm IW (R), Center-Lock, Tubeless Ready
Tyres Vittoria Corsa TLR G2.0 25c
Crankset Shimano Dura-Ace 9200 52/36
Bottom Bracket Ceramic Speed 24
Chain Shimano CN-M9100, 12 spd
Front Derailleur Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9250, 12 spd
Rear Derailleur Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9250, 12 spd 
Cassette Shimano Dura-Ace CS-R9200, 12 spd, 11-30 
Shifters Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9270, 12 spd 
Handlebar Cervélo HB13 Carbon
Stem Cervélo ST31 Carbon
Brake Callipers Shimano Dura-Ace 9270 Hydraulic Disc
Brake Rotors Shimano RT-MT900, 160mm
Saddle Prologo Scratch M5 NACK
Seatpost Cervélo SP24 Carbon Aero Post
Accessories Cervelo Faceplate Front Computer/Accessory Mount, Cervelo Rear Accessory Mount

• R5 Ultegra Di2 £8,700
Fork Cervélo All-Carbon, Tapered R5 Fork
Headset FSA IS2 1-1/4 x 1-1/2
Thru Axles Cervelo Aero Thru-Axles, 12x100/142, Removable Handle
Wheels New Reserve 34/37mm DT370, 20h (F), 24h (R), 22.6mm IW (F), 21.6mm IW (R), Cen-ter-Lock, Tubeless Ready
Tyres Vittoria Corsa TLR G2.0 25c
Crankset Shimano Ultegra 8100 52/36
Bottom Bracket JY-BB 24
Chain Shimano CN-M8100, 12 spd
Front Derailleur Shimano Ultegra Di2 8150, 12 spd
Rear Derailleur Shimano Ultegra Di2 8150, 12 spd 
Cassette Shimano Ultegra CS-R8100, 12 spd, 11-30 
Shifters Shimano Ultegra Di2 8170, 12 spd
Handlebar Cervélo HB13 Carbon 
Stem Cervélo ST31 Carbon
Brake Callipers Shimano Ultegra 8170 Hydraulic Disc 
Brake Rotors Shimano RT-MT800, 160mm
Saddle Prologo Scratch M5 PAS TiRox 
Seatpost Cervélo SP24 Carbon Aero Post 
Accessories Cervelo Faceplate Front Computer/Accessory Mount, Cervelo Rear Accessory Mount Front Computer/Accessory Mount, Cervelo Rear Accessory Mount 

www.cervelo.com