Cervelo R5ca, Mad Fiber, new pics

[reidarherre]

4x a FOIL? Ridiculous.

Hi. If you compare this bike to a normal bike, its clearly not good value for money.

If you compare a $2000 bike to a $1000 bike its not value for money either. Think most of the people that comments on this sort of forums never are close to have any use of their equipment. I would have more use of an 20kg, $200 bike with heavy wheels for the training. As long as we don´t make any money cycling, you can´t justify the price tags.

For me ( i´m not making money on cycling ) it´s about a fun hobby. it´s much less expensive than a boat, a ferrari or a gold rolex . The engineering of the bike and how light you can get it is also something that´s become a hobby. It´s just for fun

[cmh]

If you have the money and want/can afford it then by all means...I don't care about that at all. I just don't understand Cervelo's pricing...not a commentary on your purchase.

[konky]

I think the R5ca is possibly the best value bike available. It's hand made in the US and made in small numbers and has the exclusivity factor in droves. Compared to the Dogma 2* which is only about 20% less (if you include the cost of the included R5 chainset and BB) it's a bargain.

Whether it's cars, cloths or anything that is exlusive and hand made you would normally pay a much bigger premium than you do for the R5ca.



*I am not saying one frame is better than the other just better value.

[kgt]

I think the R5ca is possibly the best value bike available.

"R5ca" and "best value" ar the total opposite IMHO. Especially nowadays that we can have a few sub 800gr frames at normal prices.

[cmh]

Exactly.

[mjduct]

first off, quit pissing on other peoples threads

Ever heard of the law of diminishing returns? the pinnacle of current technology, craftsmanship, and materials is only incrementally better than the rest of everything at double the effort. And hence double (or more) the cost.

Fortunately companies can explore these new methods of pushing the current envelope through these products, and fortunately there are consumers willing and able to pay for this (unfortunately not me) so even though you can't justify the price tag today, I guarantee that in 5 years, some of the discoveries/lessons learned on the R5ca will be in every new production cervelo.

There wouldn't be a boat load of sub 800 gram frames today if nobody wanted to fork over the cash for them at their price point 5 years ago.

[cmh]

You seem to be doing a good job pissing in here too.

[justkeepedaling]

Um, no, you pissed in this thread because you said "I don't understand the price on this frame, ridiculous and 4x price of a Foil ridiculous and all that other bullshit." Just stop. It costs what it does because it is the tip of the spear, a technological masterpiece that is made by hand and with low volume production. It is all the better because it IS cost-is-no-object. No compromises. You've probably never ridden one.
You sound like a guy who dogs on a Ferrari F458 just because a GTR performs nearly as well and costs less. Totally different feel and ethos.

Cervelo didn't even have to sell these. This was R&D for the next generation of bikes. But people are willing to pay for the best, and Cervelo might as well recoup some of the development costs. You may not pay 10000 dollars for a frame now, but this tech will trickle down the next few years when you can buy a 700 gram frame or less for 3500 dollars.

Now quit whining about a bike you don't even own and probably never will buy. This is a beauty and it rides like a dream. To some that's damn near priceless

[SSB]

I feel a lot of jealousy in this thread. We could go on and on about how even paying anything more than $1000 for a road frame is ridiculous considering how returns diminish significantly per dollar once you're in the thousands. If the market can bear it, and shops are selling these, then there's no reason not to.

If we talk about value- then I don't buy your argument JKP, considering what independent frame manufacturers can churn out for less than half the R5ca's price. There's something to be said about the branding on the frame though and that's where value comes from in a lot of luxury goods. But let's just leave the discussion at that, because I for one, support people paying up for the R&D which will inevitably trickle down for customers like me.

But anyways, debadging the wheels and getting rid of the red hoods was a great idea. Again, if I ponied up for a frame like this, I'd go all the way for some more sexy carbon parts from the German brands.

[cmh]

Um, no, you pissed in this thread because you said "I don't understand the price on this frame, ridiculous and 4x price of a Foil ridiculous and all that other bullshit." Just stop. It costs what it does because it is the tip of the spear, a technological masterpiece that is made by hand and with low volume production. It is all the better because it IS cost-is-no-object. No compromises. You've probably never ridden one.
You sound like a guy who dogs on a Ferrari F458 just because a GTR performs nearly as well and costs less. Totally different feel and ethos.

Cervelo didn't even have to sell these. This was R&D for the next generation of bikes. But people are willing to pay for the best, and Cervelo might as well recoup some of the development costs. You may not pay 10000 dollars for a frame now, but this tech will trickle down the next few years when you can buy a 700 gram frame or less for 3500 dollars.

Now quit whining about a bike you don't even own and probably never will buy. This is a beauty and it rides like a dream. To some that's damn near priceless

Drive a lot of Ferraris & GTR's? What I think is this is an overpriced frame...period. Call it what you want. You enjoy it...he enjoys it...whatever, to each their own. Cervelo "quality" and $10k is simply funny to me.

[reidarherre]

I feel a lot of jealousy in this thread. We could go on and on about how even paying anything more than for a road frame is ridiculous considering how returns diminish significantly per dollar once you're in the thousands. If the market can bear it, and shops are selling these, then there's no reason not to.

If we talk about value- then I don't buy your argument JKP, considering what independent frame manufacturers can churn out for less than half the R5ca's price. There's something to be said about the branding on the frame though and that's where value comes from in a lot of luxury goods. But let's just leave the discussion at that, because I for one, support people paying up for the R&D which will inevitably trickle down for customers like me.

But anyways, debadging the wheels and getting rid of the red hoods was a great idea. Again, if I ponied up for a frame like this, I'd go all the way for some more sexy carbon parts from the German brands.

Thanks for the response. Liked the look of the wheels as well without the decals. Are waiting for some new 170g brakes that shaves 100g + of the bike and some new skewers that will take another 70g of it.

To response to all that is unsure how good this bike is. I also have an R5 with the same setup ( rolf élan wheels ). The R5ca are a lot stiffer and more confident. At +30mph speeds the normal R5 gets a bit unsteady compared to the r5ca. You feel you can really blast down the mountains, not sure if I have trusted a 670g frame to do the same thing

The R5 is still one of the best bikes I have had, but the r5ca is just in another league. The frame feels like a 1200g frame when it comes to stiffness and confidents.

The price is also a bit wrong in the tread. The bike except the wheels is less than $10000.

[justkeepedaling]

Drive a lot of Ferraris & GTR's? What I think is this is an overpriced frame...period. Call it what you want. You enjoy it...he enjoys it...whatever, to each their own. Cervelo "quality" and $10k is simply funny to me.

In fact I have, quite a few different ones actually. This is not any ordinary Cervelo frame, it's not made nor was it developed in the same place that the other ones are. You have not ridden it, so you either comment about what you think will improve the build or just be quiet. Anyways.

Dropping weight on the skewers and brakes is great. You will enjoy the C7 brakes. Have you thought about the crank a bit more? You will save a lot of weight and lose no stiffness by going with a different crankset

[reidarherre]

Drive a lot of Ferraris & GTR's? What I think is this is an overpriced frame...period. Call it what you want. You enjoy it...he enjoys it...whatever, to each their own. Cervelo "quality" and k is simply funny to me.

In fact I have, quite a few different ones actually. This is not any ordinary Cervelo frame, it's not made nor was it developed in the same place that the other ones are. You have not ridden it, so you either comment about what you think will improve the build or just be quiet. Anyways.

Dropping weight on the skewers and brakes is great. You will enjoy the C7 brakes. Have you thought about the crank a bit more? You will save a lot of weight and lose no stiffness by going with a different crankset

Have been thinking about it, the rotor is actually not that bad ( have previously had s-lk light, Dura Ace and Red ). Like the rotor as much as the s-lk. Problem with the lightweight ones is the look for my part, don´t like the skeleton look.

[Powerful Pete]

Let us keep this thread on topic... and that would be the awesome Cervelo. Want to talk about cost effectiveness (really? On WW?) please open a thread in chat. Thanks.

[reidarherre]

Washed the bike yesterday and found a crack in the fork

The crack is on the inside of the fork, maybe 5 cm long and vertical. I can feel the carbon flexing under pressure, so I guess it has to be replaced.
While I wait on a new fork, anyone know if I can epoxy the crack and not risking braking the entire fork ? The crack is going all the way thru the carbon and you can hear it while riding.

This was sort of a wake up call for me, starting to rethink which components I would like on my bike. Was about to order som AX lightness wheels, but are know considering Mad Fiber ( without decals of course ) because of the added security in toughness. Any ideas ?