About Cervelo S5 2023

[Jin0616]

I'm interested in Servello s5 or Scott Foil 2023, when can I buy it?

[FlatlandClimber]

Servello

[Gx3]

Update on my attempts to order a new frameset. I checked with both local shops and large national retailers in the US and, ultimately, it appears you can't place an order for a frameset through Cervelo. A national retailer indicated that they could take my order and try to push Cervelo to send them a frameset, but they can't guaranty anything on timing and the order would likely not be fulfilled until next year. Apparently, Cervelo is focusing on delivering fully built bikes first. Unfortunate news, but I'll just wait it out.

With that said, if anyone hear's something different, or knows of a dealer that can actually place an order for a frameset, please update this thread.

[Stendhal]

Update on my attempts to order a new frameset. I checked with both local shops and large national retailers in the US and, ultimately, it appears you can't place an order for a frameset through Cervelo. A national retailer indicated that they could take my order and try to push Cervelo to send them a frameset, but they can't guaranty anything on timing and the order would likely not be fulfilled until next year. Apparently, Cervelo is focusing on delivering fully built bikes first. Unfortunate news, but I'll just wait it out.

With that said, if anyone hear's something different, or knows of a dealer that can actually place an order for a frameset, please update this thread.

thank you for this information Gx3, I'm very interested in the frame set too.

[V3Rs]

Call Cervelo... talk with Jose in customer service.

[spdntrxi]

56cm 8.2kg AXS Force sans pedals & Cages.. talking 8.4-8.5 range, ready to ride. Ouch.

[wheelsONfire]

I guess this is kind of off topic, but, isn't the new Foil a direct competitor to the new S5?
I also came to wonder, once both these bikes have the fork cut, is there any room for adding another spacer?
Let's say you cut the fork for one 5mm spacer, is it impossible to insert a second spacers if needed later on?

[Stendhal]

56cm 8.2kg AXS Force sans pedals & Cages.. talking 8.4-8.5 range, ready to ride. Ouch.

I'm a fan of your work spdntrxi and have a corroborating data point for you and the other readers interested in this bike -- a personal ride review with a real life weight.

I’ve decided I’m going to ride one bike going forward rather than maintain two complementary bikes. Better to really like and devote resources to one bike than play off two against each as I have for 10 years. (It always ends up that I choose one as the better bike and that makes the other one less fun to ride.) It’ll be an aero or aero-ish bike because aero matters, because the slightly heavier frames usually devised to create thinner aero tubes lend a stiffness and stability I like, and because for various reasons including age I’m not into long climbs as much as I was 5 years ago. But if a bike is too heavy, it won’t work for me, what’s the point when there are so many options?? The one bike also will have electronic shifting. When I got off of that for a time I missed it and when I bought a new bike last year with SRAM AXS I was very happy. (Sorry, SRAM all the way … confirmed by what happened today, a test ride on a Shimano bike.)

I’m a long time Cervelo fan and intrigued by the V stem and aero qualities. So today I test-rode the new S5, size 58 Ultegra Di2 model at a leading local bike chain (Mike’s Bikes, highly recommended). I tried it on a few short climbs and suburban streets, maybe 15-20 minutes. I did not go on super-long flat straightaways to see if it holds speed well, and there was no wind. That being said, test rides of other bikes from the same store and in the same neighborhood (Los Gatos California) have been accurate in that when I bought a bike I had tested and rode it a lot more, the bike in use was the same as the bike in the test ride. Come to think of this I’ve never been misled by a test ride for a bike I purchased, and this has been since 1989, so I trust my test ride judgments.

Executive summary: the reviews are pretty much correct. (It’s possible my test ride assessment is shaped by reviews but I don’t think so, as that’s not always the case for bikes I have tried and as per above I trust my test ride judgments.) “Reviews are pretty much correct” means the S5 is not light and hence takes a bit to accelerate and climb, but it is stiff; and it means razor sharp handling, which in turn makes some demands on the rider. I wouldn’t call it twitchy, but it’s not a just pedal and enjoy the bliss ride.

So for example Bike Radar’s review three days ago, “Pros -- Fast; great handling; simpler to adjust than the outgoing S5; clearance for big tyres; simplified front end; excellent build spec. Cons -- Expensive; fairly heavy; wide-set saddle rail clamps limit fore/aft adjustability.” I can’t speak to adjustability but the others are correct. For another example Gran Fondo, which gets a lot of flak here, but which I’ve found to be accurate whenever I’ve tested the same bike it has tested. As some have said, the quoted weight in the review is way off. But when the review says, in coded language --

Once the small weaknesses in the acceleration are overcome, which the bike carries around due to its not particularly low weight, then it goes forward mercilessly. The S5 shines with outstanding efficiency and is almost playfully fast. There is nothing left to be desired in terms of speed. You benefit most from the bike’s outstanding aerodynamics when the topography allows for a lot of speed. It is therefore also really fast downhill. However, the steeper it goes uphill and the slower you get, the more the aerodynamics fall behind the weight. Here, it is important to weigh up exactly when to switch to a lighter climbing bike.

-- that’s pretty much accurate except for "playfully" (see below). So are the GF Tops (razor-sharp handling, highest efficiency at high speed, massive tire clearance, pleasant vibration damping [actually meh here] and Flops (no flyweight, steering stop due to construction). So is Cycling Tips’ “Yes, the S5’s weight remains on the high side.”

Now I don't mean to go too far on this -- it's not like a car that has noticeable turbo lag when you try to accelerate from a stop or slow speed. But it's also not the (subjective) instantaneous acceleration some bikes provide by a rare combination of stiffness and lightness. I owned a sub-14 pound with pedals Cervelo in the old rim bike days, that's an example of what I mean. But my first true road bike accelerated on command, and that was a 21 pound Cannondale aluminum rocket. At the S5's price I had hoped and expected for something extraordinary. I didn't see it.

Surely some of this is affected by comparison to the bike I rode to the shop. That’s a Chapter2 Rere, a different type of aero bike (aerofoil), which handles beautifully qua smoothly and is light enough for me. Also, size 58 is one size up from my usual 56 – stack and reach were fine, but the bars were wider than my norm. (NB, I usually ride on the hoods.) I think I controlled for that. Surely there’s no doubt that the S5 has a steering stop – I had never been on a bike with a stop and noticed it when I tried to turn the bike sharply to walk it out of the shop for the ride. Probably a bigger difference to my assessment is based on the fact that the S5 had size 26 tires and the Rere has size 30 (and my other bike has size 32). I think I can control for that, in that size 30 tires would make the S5 ride smoother (as the reviews had said) but not radically affect the handling. I would not rule out the S5 based on comfort.

Historical comparison. I had a Cervelo S2 for 2011-2012, a much older aero bike that I ruined with poor wheels. (I also rode R3, R5, and Aspero models from time to time.) In 2016, I test rode an aero S3 Ultegra Di2 model and was blown away; it accelerated much faster than one would expect for the weight and was just plain fun. I had hoped the S5 would be a better version of that feeling, but I was not as impressed this time. (Although the longer the uninterrupted-by-stop-signs road I could ride, the better the bike felt.) Instead, the frame felt very much like a R5 disc I test-rode in 2019, the carbon felt kind of hollow. I almost had expected a bike that was sub-optimal at low speeds and only alive at high speeds, something reviewers call a bike that demands to be ridden fast. I have not seen this phrase used in reviews for the new S5 and I did not perceive it in the ride today. That’s a mixture of good (who wants a bike limited to high speed?) and bad (basically, I did not feel “the sensation of being fast” cited by Cycling Tips). The Rere is playful, to use a for of word in the Gran Fondo review of the S5. (Another playful bike I owned: S-Works Tarmac SL6 rim.) The S5 is not playful, Wout van Aert does not need to play. It's direct and to the point.

Here’s the bad news in more objective data. Mike’s Bikes was kind enough to weigh the bike after I test-rode it. This was with pedals, my pedals, Assioma one-sided power meter pedals = 284 g actual. (I know pedal weights vary but assessing weight without pedals, which is how bike weights are most often quoted, makes no sense.) At size 58, the bike weighed 8.47 kg. If I buy it I will put my existing Light Bicycle low profile wheels on it (I am not into deep rims) and save perhaps 250g, and there’s some room to reduce the weight in the saddle, but Ultegra Di2 is almost as light as the Red AXS parts I’d put onto the bike (maybe 100g difference, or 150-170g if you account for the Shimano battery and cables). See https://ccache.cc/en-us/blogs/newsroom/ ... comparison. So the lightest I could get the S5 would be around 8 kg, even at a lower size 56. That does not account for the fact that the test ride model was matte black when if I bought a frame it’d be the gloss sapphire.

8 kg does not cut it, the Chapter2 Rere the S5 would replace is closer to 7.5 kg. I also like the Rere ride better. I’m more likely to upgrade the Chapter2 to the newer aero model (Koko) than replace it with the S5.

[Karvalo]

I guess this is kind of off topic, but, isn't the new Foil a direct competitor to the new S5?
I also came to wonder, once both these bikes have the fork cut, is there any room for adding another spacer?
Let's say you cut the fork for one 5mm spacer, is it impossible to insert a second spacers if needed later on?

There's nothing to cut on an S5. It literally doesn't have a steerer tube.

You can run it completely slammed, then change your mind and put all the spacers back in. No problem at all.

[TobinHatesYou]

Once you cut the steerer on the Foil, that’s it. Prior to cutting, you can try out lower positions by leaving the magnetic cap off and using regular spacers (should be supplied with the bike.)

[wheelsONfire]

^
Thanks, Karvalo and THY for sorting that out

[wheelsONfire]

56cm 8.2kg AXS Force sans pedals & Cages.. talking 8.4-8.5 range, ready to ride. Ouch.

I'm a fan of your work spdntrxi and have a corroborating data point for you and the other readers interested in this bike -- a personal ride review with a real life weight.

I’ve decided I’m going to ride one bike going forward rather than maintain two complementary bikes. Better to really like and devote resources to one bike than play off two against each as I have for 10 years. (It always ends up that I choose one as the better bike and that makes the other one less fun to ride.) It’ll be an aero or aero-ish bike because aero matters, because the slightly heavier frames usually devised to create thinner aero tubes lend a stiffness and stability I like, and because for various reasons including age I’m not into long climbs as much as I was 5 years ago. But if a bike is too heavy, it won’t work for me, what’s the point when there are so many options?? The one bike also will have electronic shifting. When I got off of that for a time I missed it and when I bought a new bike last year with SRAM AXS I was very happy. (Sorry, SRAM all the way … confirmed by what happened today, a test ride on a Shimano bike.)

I’m a long time Cervelo fan and intrigued by the V stem and aero qualities. So today I test-rode the new S5, size 58 Ultegra Di2 model at a leading local bike chain (Mike’s Bikes, highly recommended). I tried it on a few short climbs and suburban streets, maybe 15-20 minutes. I did not go on super-long flat straightaways to see if it holds speed well, and there was no wind. That being said, test rides of other bikes from the same store and in the same neighborhood (Los Gatos California) have been accurate in that when I bought a bike I had tested and rode it a lot more, the bike in use was the same as the bike in the test ride. Come to think of this I’ve never been misled by a test ride for a bike I purchased, and this has been since 1989, so I trust my test ride judgments.

Executive summary: the reviews are pretty much correct. (It’s possible my test ride assessment is shaped by reviews but I don’t think so, as that’s not always the case for bikes I have tried and as per above I trust my test ride judgments.) “Reviews are pretty much correct” means the S5 is not light and hence takes a bit to accelerate and climb, but it is stiff; and it means razor sharp handling, which in turn makes some demands on the rider. I wouldn’t call it twitchy, but it’s not a just pedal and enjoy the bliss ride.

So for example Bike Radar’s review three days ago, “Pros -- Fast; great handling; simpler to adjust than the outgoing S5; clearance for big tyres; simplified front end; excellent build spec. Cons -- Expensive; fairly heavy; wide-set saddle rail clamps limit fore/aft adjustability.” I can’t speak to adjustability but the others are correct. For another example Gran Fondo, which gets a lot of flak here, but which I’ve found to be accurate whenever I’ve tested the same bike it has tested. As some have said, the quoted weight in the review is way off. But when the review says, in coded language --

Once the small weaknesses in the acceleration are overcome, which the bike carries around due to its not particularly low weight, then it goes forward mercilessly. The S5 shines with outstanding efficiency and is almost playfully fast. There is nothing left to be desired in terms of speed. You benefit most from the bike’s outstanding aerodynamics when the topography allows for a lot of speed. It is therefore also really fast downhill. However, the steeper it goes uphill and the slower you get, the more the aerodynamics fall behind the weight. Here, it is important to weigh up exactly when to switch to a lighter climbing bike.

-- that’s pretty much accurate except for "playfully" (see below). So are the GF Tops (razor-sharp handling, highest efficiency at high speed, massive tire clearance, pleasant vibration damping [actually meh here] and Flops (no flyweight, steering stop due to construction). So is Cycling Tips’ “Yes, the S5’s weight remains on the high side.”

Now I don't mean to go too far on this -- it's not like a car that has noticeable turbo lag when you try to accelerate from a stop or slow speed. But it's also not the (subjective) instantaneous acceleration some bikes provide by a rare combination of stiffness and lightness. I owned a sub-14 pound with pedals Cervelo in the old rim bike days, that's an example of what I mean. But my first true road bike accelerated on command, and that was a 21 pound Cannondale aluminum rocket. At the S5's price I had hoped and expected for something extraordinary. I didn't see it.

Surely some of this is affected by comparison to the bike I rode to the shop. That’s a Chapter2 Rere, a different type of aero bike (aerofoil), which handles beautifully qua smoothly and is light enough for me. Also, size 58 is one size up from my usual 56 – stack and reach were fine, but the bars were wider than my norm. (NB, I usually ride on the hoods.) I think I controlled for that. Surely there’s no doubt that the S5 has a steering stop – I had never been on a bike with a stop and noticed it when I tried to turn the bike sharply to walk it out of the shop for the ride. Probably a bigger difference to my assessment is based on the fact that the S5 had size 26 tires and the Rere has size 30 (and my other bike has size 32). I think I can control for that, in that size 30 tires would make the S5 ride smoother (as the reviews had said) but not radically affect the handling. I would not rule out the S5 based on comfort.

Historical comparison. I had a Cervelo S2 for 2011-2012, a much older aero bike that I ruined with poor wheels. (I also rode R3, R5, and Aspero models from time to time.) In 2016, I test rode an aero S3 Ultegra Di2 model and was blown away; it accelerated much faster than one would expect for the weight and was just plain fun. I had hoped the S5 would be a better version of that feeling, but I was not as impressed this time. (Although the longer the uninterrupted-by-stop-signs road I could ride, the better the bike felt.) Instead, the frame felt very much like a R5 disc I test-rode in 2019, the carbon felt kind of hollow. I almost had expected a bike that was sub-optimal at low speeds and only alive at high speeds, something reviewers call a bike that demands to be ridden fast. I have not seen this phrase used in reviews for the new S5 and I did not perceive it in the ride today. That’s a mixture of good (who wants a bike limited to high speed?) and bad (basically, I did not feel “the sensation of being fast” cited by Cycling Tips). The Rere is playful, to use a for of word in the Gran Fondo review of the S5. (Another playful bike I owned: S-Works Tarmac SL6 rim.) The S5 is not playful, Wout van Aert does not need to play. It's direct and to the point.

Here’s the bad news in more objective data. Mike’s Bikes was kind enough to weigh the bike after I test-rode it. This was with pedals, my pedals, Assioma one-sided power meter pedals = 284 g actual. (I know pedal weights vary but assessing weight without pedals, which is how bike weights are most often quoted, makes no sense.) At size 58, the bike weighed 8.47 kg. If I buy it I will put my existing Light Bicycle low profile wheels on it (I am not into deep rims) and save perhaps 250g, and there’s some room to reduce the weight in the saddle, but Ultegra Di2 is almost as light as the Red AXS parts I’d put onto the bike (maybe 100g difference, or 150-170g if you account for the Shimano battery and cables). See https://ccache.cc/en-us/blogs/newsroom/ ... comparison. So the lightest I could get the S5 would be around 8 kg, even at a lower size 56. That does not account for the fact that the test ride model was matte black when if I bought a frame it’d be the gloss sapphire.

8 kg does not cut it, the Chapter2 Rere the S5 would replace is closer to 7.5 kg. I also like the Rere ride better. I’m more likely to upgrade the Chapter2 to the newer aero model (Koko) than replace it with the S5.

This raise many questions, to me atleast!

Heavy, but fast steering, slow up to speed. I think most who actually is or have been a weight weenie knows that light bikes are very lively and rapid from get go.
It doesn't sound like an easy trade off to do really. This bike might be a love/ hate story for those that doesn't just or even only chase top speed?

This makes me wonder if Scott Foil might not a be a real bang on contender? Maybe more so than i believed!
I remember THY wrote somewhere that his Madone was also like a battleship compared to a SL7 he test rode.
Is this the trade off we have to counterweight for all "true aero bikes" (call it full blown if you prefer)?

There are crappy days when i wonder, if there is a dude up in the clouds just shifting wind direction just to make things hellish when i bike.
I tend to look at flags swaying in the wind to get a sense of what's going on. But when i see they just don't give a crap of consistency from flag A to B, that is when i wonder, how the hell would a flat tubed aero bike with deeper wheels be these days?
To me it seems i might have more push and actually an even slower bike?

And last, why would you buy an S5 and ride it with shallow wheels
I wouldn't! I just wish the wheels included with the complete bike would have hooked rims!

[Nickldn]

56cm 8.2kg AXS Force sans pedals & Cages.. talking 8.4-8.5 range, ready to ride. Ouch.

I'm a fan of your work spdntrxi and have a corroborating data point for you and the other readers interested in this bike -- a personal ride review with a real life weight.

I’ve decided I’m going to ride one bike going forward rather than maintain two complementary bikes. Better to really like and devote resources to one bike than play off two against each as I have for 10 years. (It always ends up that I choose one as the better bike and that makes the other one less fun to ride.) It’ll be an aero or aero-ish bike because aero matters, because the slightly heavier frames usually devised to create thinner aero tubes lend a stiffness and stability I like, and because for various reasons including age I’m not into long climbs as much as I was 5 years ago. But if a bike is too heavy, it won’t work for me, what’s the point when there are so many options?? The one bike also will have electronic shifting. When I got off of that for a time I missed it and when I bought a new bike last year with SRAM AXS I was very happy. (Sorry, SRAM all the way … confirmed by what happened today, a test ride on a Shimano bike.)

I’m a long time Cervelo fan and intrigued by the V stem and aero qualities. So today I test-rode the new S5, size 58 Ultegra Di2 model at a leading local bike chain (Mike’s Bikes, highly recommended). I tried it on a few short climbs and suburban streets, maybe 15-20 minutes. I did not go on super-long flat straightaways to see if it holds speed well, and there was no wind. That being said, test rides of other bikes from the same store and in the same neighborhood (Los Gatos California) have been accurate in that when I bought a bike I had tested and rode it a lot more, the bike in use was the same as the bike in the test ride. Come to think of this I’ve never been misled by a test ride for a bike I purchased, and this has been since 1989, so I trust my test ride judgments.

Executive summary: the reviews are pretty much correct. (It’s possible my test ride assessment is shaped by reviews but I don’t think so, as that’s not always the case for bikes I have tried and as per above I trust my test ride judgments.) “Reviews are pretty much correct” means the S5 is not light and hence takes a bit to accelerate and climb, but it is stiff; and it means razor sharp handling, which in turn makes some demands on the rider. I wouldn’t call it twitchy, but it’s not a just pedal and enjoy the bliss ride.

So for example Bike Radar’s review three days ago, “Pros -- Fast; great handling; simpler to adjust than the outgoing S5; clearance for big tyres; simplified front end; excellent build spec. Cons -- Expensive; fairly heavy; wide-set saddle rail clamps limit fore/aft adjustability.” I can’t speak to adjustability but the others are correct. For another example Gran Fondo, which gets a lot of flak here, but which I’ve found to be accurate whenever I’ve tested the same bike it has tested. As some have said, the quoted weight in the review is way off. But when the review says, in coded language --

Once the small weaknesses in the acceleration are overcome, which the bike carries around due to its not particularly low weight, then it goes forward mercilessly. The S5 shines with outstanding efficiency and is almost playfully fast. There is nothing left to be desired in terms of speed. You benefit most from the bike’s outstanding aerodynamics when the topography allows for a lot of speed. It is therefore also really fast downhill. However, the steeper it goes uphill and the slower you get, the more the aerodynamics fall behind the weight. Here, it is important to weigh up exactly when to switch to a lighter climbing bike.

-- that’s pretty much accurate except for "playfully" (see below). So are the GF Tops (razor-sharp handling, highest efficiency at high speed, massive tire clearance, pleasant vibration damping [actually meh here] and Flops (no flyweight, steering stop due to construction). So is Cycling Tips’ “Yes, the S5’s weight remains on the high side.”

Now I don't mean to go too far on this -- it's not like a car that has noticeable turbo lag when you try to accelerate from a stop or slow speed. But it's also not the (subjective) instantaneous acceleration some bikes provide by a rare combination of stiffness and lightness. I owned a sub-14 pound with pedals Cervelo in the old rim bike days, that's an example of what I mean. But my first true road bike accelerated on command, and that was a 21 pound Cannondale aluminum rocket. At the S5's price I had hoped and expected for something extraordinary. I didn't see it.

Surely some of this is affected by comparison to the bike I rode to the shop. That’s a Chapter2 Rere, a different type of aero bike (aerofoil), which handles beautifully qua smoothly and is light enough for me. Also, size 58 is one size up from my usual 56 – stack and reach were fine, but the bars were wider than my norm. (NB, I usually ride on the hoods.) I think I controlled for that. Surely there’s no doubt that the S5 has a steering stop – I had never been on a bike with a stop and noticed it when I tried to turn the bike sharply to walk it out of the shop for the ride. Probably a bigger difference to my assessment is based on the fact that the S5 had size 26 tires and the Rere has size 30 (and my other bike has size 32). I think I can control for that, in that size 30 tires would make the S5 ride smoother (as the reviews had said) but not radically affect the handling. I would not rule out the S5 based on comfort.

Historical comparison. I had a Cervelo S2 for 2011-2012, a much older aero bike that I ruined with poor wheels. (I also rode R3, R5, and Aspero models from time to time.) In 2016, I test rode an aero S3 Ultegra Di2 model and was blown away; it accelerated much faster than one would expect for the weight and was just plain fun. I had hoped the S5 would be a better version of that feeling, but I was not as impressed this time. (Although the longer the uninterrupted-by-stop-signs road I could ride, the better the bike felt.) Instead, the frame felt very much like a R5 disc I test-rode in 2019, the carbon felt kind of hollow. I almost had expected a bike that was sub-optimal at low speeds and only alive at high speeds, something reviewers call a bike that demands to be ridden fast. I have not seen this phrase used in reviews for the new S5 and I did not perceive it in the ride today. That’s a mixture of good (who wants a bike limited to high speed?) and bad (basically, I did not feel “the sensation of being fast” cited by Cycling Tips). The Rere is playful, to use a for of word in the Gran Fondo review of the S5. (Another playful bike I owned: S-Works Tarmac SL6 rim.) The S5 is not playful, Wout van Aert does not need to play. It's direct and to the point.

Here’s the bad news in more objective data. Mike’s Bikes was kind enough to weigh the bike after I test-rode it. This was with pedals, my pedals, Assioma one-sided power meter pedals = 284 g actual. (I know pedal weights vary but assessing weight without pedals, which is how bike weights are most often quoted, makes no sense.) At size 58, the bike weighed 8.47 kg. If I buy it I will put my existing Light Bicycle low profile wheels on it (I am not into deep rims) and save perhaps 250g, and there’s some room to reduce the weight in the saddle, but Ultegra Di2 is almost as light as the Red AXS parts I’d put onto the bike (maybe 100g difference, or 150-170g if you account for the Shimano battery and cables). See https://ccache.cc/en-us/blogs/newsroom/ ... comparison. So the lightest I could get the S5 would be around 8 kg, even at a lower size 56. That does not account for the fact that the test ride model was matte black when if I bought a frame it’d be the gloss sapphire.

8 kg does not cut it, the Chapter2 Rere the S5 would replace is closer to 7.5 kg. I also like the Rere ride better. I’m more likely to upgrade the Chapter2 to the newer aero model (Koko) than replace it with the S5.

You're clearly a old school cyclist, who values responsiveness and agility in his bikes.

These traits are less available now with heavier bikes and wider tyres. To me recent bikes feel more numb, but have the benefits of more comfort and if you take aero into account, more speed on flat terrain.

I think that's where the industry has been heading for a while now and the S5 is a shining example. I'm sure many will love it and not care about the trade offs. For others it'll be a hard no.

I like what Specialized has done with the SL7 and hope others follow (new Propel), but these bikes are still a different world to bikes we had 12-15 years ago with round tubes and 22mm-23mm tyres in terms of responsiveness and road feel. To be honest I value the added comfort up to a point, 21mm tubs at 110psi were bone jarring.

Well there is the Aethos as well (another Specialized product), for a nostalgia trip.

[cajer]

So I went to two different shops trying to buy a s5 frameset. They both told me nothing until q1 next year...

[wheelsONfire]

So I went to two different shops trying to buy a s5 frameset. They both told me nothing until q1 next year...

What component plan do you have, as you don't wish to buy an off the shelf bike?