This Cervélo R5 Dura-Ace 9000 bike relies on the top-of-the-line Shimano group for just about every piece, including mechanical shifting. Mechanical offers many advantages over electronic: lighter weight, less complexity, greater tactile sensations, lower cost. You never lose a charge. But Cervélo knows that their crystal ball only looks so far into the future. So they built the R5 with Future Proof cable routing. This means that the housing stops can be plugged and the plugs covering the electronic ports can be removed and you can change the bike so you can run electronic shifting. Or if you want to run hydraulic braking, the stops for the brake cable housing can be pulled and the fittings for a hydraulic hose can be run.
Internal cable housing looks clean and can keep your bike's cables running smoothly for a long time. But there's a second reason to run cables inside the frame. Aerodynamics. The internal routing is part of the 7.4 watts of savings this frame nets you over the previous R5. A bigger part is the better sculpting of the various frame tubes leading edges. By putting the earlier R5 into the wind tunnel, they found its tubes fairly aero, and they went about figuring how to reduce drag without compromising ride quality. And that's what they did, by sculpting the leading edge and changing the corners of the trailing edge, they get the same ride with the wind seeing less tubing.
The ride balances compliance, with ultra-thin seat stays and a fork that's been designed to give more in the vertical plane, with stiffness. That stiffness can be found with laterally stiffer fork, an oversized tapered 1 3/8" lower steerer tube, a diameter to balance both rigidity and ride quality, and a head tube that's been built to work with it. This R5 is both stiffer at the bottom bracket and the head tube than its predecessor. More power to the pedals and less strength needed to get into a turn and hold the line.
Cervélo selected Hed Ardennes Plus LT for the wheels. It's an inspired choice as Hed is a similar outside-the-box company and these wheels reflect that thinking. The rims are 25mm wide for both better aerodynamics and lower rolling resistance. Cervélo paired them with 25mm wide 180tpi Continental Grand Prix tires for a comfortable, fast ride. And if you want to try out the tubeless revolution, these rims are ready.
Dura-Ace 9000 is where Shimano perfected their under-the-tape STI. With improved geometry at both the levers and the derailleurs, the shift action is great and the front derailleur trim is better than anything previous from Shimano. The 9000 brakes also have new pivot points, which work great with all widths of rims and give a light, progressive feel to braking.
Where the R5 departs from Shimano is at the crank. Cervélo strongly believes in their BBright standard and their partner Rotor makes the best BBright cranks on the market. The 3D+ BBright is light and indestructible. They equip it with 52/36 chain rings for plenty of space for low and high gears—when mated with Shimano's 11-25 eleven-speed cassette, twenty is plenty in between.
Always being able to find the right gear is important. It's no less important than being able to find the right frame size. Cervélo's design work extends to sizing. While the frame sizes loosely refer to top tube length, they really stand in for stack and reach measurements, which allow you to more precisely determine what size is the best for you. This way, a person who's more torso or more leg can see the differences and pull for the one that better reflects their fit needs.