1995: Cervélo cycles is born.
Founders Gérard Vroomen and Phil White meet at Montreal’s McGill University. Both are passionate about aerodynamics, and set an uncompromising design goal: Engineer a bicycle for Italian pro cyclist Gianni Bugno that’s unbeatable in the wind tunnel, yet sacrifices nothing in weight or stiffness. The result: A radical carbon monocoque dubbed the Barrachi. Bugno shows interest, but his sponsors won’t support the work. Triathletes, however, want only one thing — to go faster — and several encourage the entrepreneurs to keep going.
Read on to explore Cervélo Bikes by category.
ROAD BIKES
R5
R5 has one job—get to the top, fast. But for all the glory and fanfare that comes with a summit finish, they’re rarely the only climb of the day. And while a race isn’t usually won on a descent, they can certainly be lost. A climbing bike that can't carve a hairpin is a bit like a cup of decaf coffee. This is the fourth iteration of the R5, and while weight and stiffness have varied over the years, the handling, poise, and unmatched prowess on a descent have been consistent since day one.
S5
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.
SOLOIST
The Soloist. It’s a name from deep in our history, but immediately familiar to anyone with bike racing memories extending back to the early-2000s. It was the weapon of choice for top World Tour contenders on CSC and the Cervelo Test Team, and we’re bringing it back for a new generation. The new Soloist is designed for the week-in, week-out rider and racer who can only justify one high-performance bike. It balances light weight and aerodynamic advantages to deliver a bike that really is 'just right'. Soloist comes in a hair lighter than S5, but significantly more aerodynamic than R5, and borrows the threaded bottom bracket standard you find on the R5-CX. It’s a race bike that can accommodate mechanical and electronic shifting, can hammer out the training miles in all weather, and yet still has the chops to leap off the front at that decisive moment. That’s the Soloist.
CALEDONIA
CALEDONIA 5
Caledonia doesn’t fit in a box nicely, and we like it that way. It was conceived on our Thursday night rides—routes that often play fast and loose with ‘road ride.’ Modern road riders are looking for bikes to handle long-distance, high pace, no limits, and offer maximum fun—the Caledonia delivers performance, comfort, and speed. Oh, and you can fit a 34mm tire in there. Or 31mm with fenders.
OFF ROAD BIKES
R5-CX
Marianne Vos and Wout van Aert lit up courses from Namur to Zolder in the winter of 2021, culminating in Marianne’s dominant performance at World Championships in Fayettevile, USA. Vos and van Aert have a dozen World, European, and National titles between the two of them, and know a thing or three about cyclocross racing. We used their input to perfect every detail of the R5-CX—just ask the 2023 World Champ, Fem van Empel.
ASPERO
ASPERO 5
In 2019, Áspero took the gravel world by storm, heralding a “new era of speed in gravel.” Fun, but flat out. The new Áspero remains true to its original brief, but with some improvements: a threaded BB shell, neater cable routing, and a UDH-compatible derailleur hanger for those who want to use SRAM’s Transmission drivetrains. And it’s more aero, of course. In the case of Áspero, aerodynamic performance is less about pure speed as a result of drag reduction, and more about conservation of energy. After a big day in a headwind, the three watts saved over the previous Aspero might add up to one less energy gel your stomach has to digest—WORTH IT.
In addition to the drag reduction, we also dropped the seat stays to give a bit more compliance out back, and reduced front-end stiffness slightly to make the last hours of a long race less painful. Between those dropped seat stays, we added in a bit more clearance for mud, too, taking what we learned from R5-CX (and the Unbound mudfest in 2023). It’s a lot of seemingly small improvements, but they add up to a lot. The result is a bike that feels a lot like the original Áspero, but is faster, more comfortable, and more versatile.
ZHT-5
When Team Jumbo-Visma decided it was time to race XCO, they came to us for the answer. The ZHT-5 marks a new era for Cervélo and the team, as we go racing together. Our engineering expertise has already been proven in cyclocross (R5-CX) and gravel racing (Áspero), and now we’ve upped the ante and designed a mountain bike worthy of the Cervélo name.
ZHT-5 is a Cervélo through and through: fast, efficient, and fun to ride. The 69-degree head tube angle, modern reach, and short chainstays combine to make a bike that’s stable at speed and nimble enough for pack racing. There’s room to maneuver in the cockpit, whether you’re darting inside on an uphill hairpin, or hanging off the back to make time on the descent.
ZFS-5
Progressive but racy, ZFS-5 was built for today’s evolving XCO courses—it has to pedal well and handle quickly, but also take on the chunks, jumps, and drops littering the circuit. ZFS-5’s 67.8-degree head tube angle delivers the precision required for elbow-to-elbow hole shot sprints, and the confidence to let off the brakes when the track gets rough. And in 120mm-outfitting, the 66.6-degree head angle will give you the extra confidence to push harder, and ride faster, even when the trail gets a bit...hellish.
TIME TRIAL & TRIATHLON BIKES
P5
P5 is a contre la montre catalyst. It’s made for one thing—helping you go as fast as possible between Point A and Point B.
As at home on the Big Island as it is in a race-critical time trial at the Tour de France, the P5 enables exceptional performances. The past decade of elite road racing has shown the importance of being able to deliver a strong time trial late in a Grand Tour, and the P5 was a key part of Team Jumbo-Visma’s Giro d’Italia and Tour de France wins in 2023.
On the new bike, we focused on creating a fast platform that could be made faster with the latest wheels and cutting-edge fit adaptations. There’s room for a 34mm tire on wide wheels, which improve aerodynamics and reduce rolling resistance. The basebar is lower to reduce CdA but possible stack has increased, and the extensions can now be adjusted between 0 and 30 degrees in five-millimeter increments. For triathletes, we include a variety of storage options, because half the battle is taking in sufficient calories to deliver a strong marathon. Also new on this bike? A size 61 to help all of our tall friends achieve a better fit.
E-BIKES
ROUVIDA
From the hot blacktop in Kona to Alpine cols to your biggest, stupidest ride, there’s a Cervélo to help you put up a PR. More than just a means to an end, though, going fast happens to be SUPER fun. Rouvida gets you to fast, well, faster. Sleekly designed around the A New Frontier Fazua Ride60 motor, Rouvida delivers 60nM of torque paired to a 432wH battery, and assists you all the way up to 25km/h—pro peloton speeds on the road, and edge-of-control-two-wheel-drifts off road. That’s right, Rouvida comes in two configurations: road and gravel. We designed some clever interchangeable dropouts that significantly alter the geometry of the bike, so the road bike feels like a road bike, and the gravel bike feels like a gravel bike. No compromises, just speed.