Swift & stable

This is everything a modern, raceorientated road bike should be

£8599

Lightened, tightened and smoothed-out racer

’ve been lucky enough to be at every launch of Cervélo’s four R5 iterations, and this bike has remained pretty much undiluted from the original winning formula of 2011. It started as a lightweight, allround race bike with expertly manipulated carbon-fibre, then came the pro-ride stiffness with a smattering of aerodynamics thrown in, but the designers have kept it away from the limitations of an out-and-out aero-road bike, allowing the company’s S-Series bikes to cover that niche. All this means that you still have a traditional-looking frameset based around a two-triangle diamond. In fact, put this new R5 alongside the original and it’s a case of spot the difference rather than see the