the vwd version has much, much better fit+finish, much fewer waves on the seat tube/seat stay area, and is much, much lighter. ive never seen an s5team weigh 1050g, or anything under 1200g really. s5vwd in a 54 squeezed under a kilo. not insignificant.

^

While it's true that the VWD frames I've seen are generally finished way better- it brings up another problem with me. Cervelo has done a piss poor job with quality control on the base/Team S5 models from what I've seen. I've seen numerous ones with rough/lumpy areas where the seat stays joins the seat tube, waviness throughout and misaligned stripes where the graphics join on the down tube/top tube.

That's unacceptable IMO for a $3,000/$3,800 frame.

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Flickr
2012 Cannondale CAAD10

Agree. I inspected mine before I would take it out of the shop.

I am getting the frame as a crash replacement (35% discount off retail) so the difference in cost becomes $1,365.

A friend of mine bought the Team, which is much heavier than advertised. I'll bet he wishes he bought the VWD...

^ this, buy the VWD

What does ^ this, mean?

Its an arrow

"Logic left here a long time ago."

I agree with this statement 100%.

Go for the most expensive,too much bike/bikeframe for you. You go to weight weenies forum...you will get a weight weeny reply.

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"Light bike? Its still about the engine!".

If money's no object - then get the VWD. You'll sleep better at night if that's what you really want at heart. That's 200 or so grams you'll never get back.

It seems though that the only two members of this board who have VWD frames had problems with the rear brake mount stripping or breaking, and it appears to be a bad design. Strange that the problem has only been reported on VWD frames, but not Team/base frames.

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Flickr
2012 Cannondale CAAD10

ive had base model s5 with rear brake mount problems. a couple were just loose rivet nuts. one was a bit more than that. i personally havent had any vwd problems at all. i guess im lucky (or we did and nobody informed me)

every bike is going to have its floors... maybe there are more VWD models in this forum than the team?

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CARPE DIEM
Colnago C59 Italia GLBK
Up coming custom steel cyclocross

I don't know your frame size...But you can save money over them all with Scott Addict RC (about 790 grams), for 1700-1800$. Of course, older model.

What the hell, that's a totally different type of bike...

Aren't both racing machines? Though S5 have a TT look.