Cervélo Caledonia-5
£6610 CERVÉLO CREATES A HIGH PERFORMANCE ENDUR ANCE BIKE
On the road the Caledonia feels just like a Cervélo, the rigid feel of the frame making it as responsive as an S-Series bike
Canada’s Cervélo is a company that has focused on racing and been committed to aerodynamics from its inception. Its S-Series designs defined aerodynamic race bikes and inspired the likes of both Trek’s Madone and Cannondale’s SystemSix. Cervélo’s R-Series bikes were built for Grand Tours and combined low weights with aerodynamic frame profiles, and even Cervélo’s Aspero gravel bike is an aerodynamic, lightweight race-focused machine. Which makes the Caledonia a big departure for the company.
The primary goal behind the Caledonia was to create a bike for a much wider cycling audience – an endurance machine designed to compete against the likes of Giant’s Defy, Cannondale’s Synapse, Trek’s Domane and Specialized’s Roubaix. Quite an ambition. But this being Cervélo, a brand with competitive cycling at its core, it also had to be a bike that would serve the world’s top professional riders – Team JumboVisma this year – competing in cycling’s toughest one-day races: the Spring Classics.
In order to create the Caledonia, Cervélo looked to its back catalogue for inspiration and found the R3 Mud. It was designed for the ‘Hell of the North’ Paris-Roubaix race, 250-plus kilometres, much of it over horrific cobbles. Johan Vansummeren won the 2011 event on an R3 and also the 2013 edition on the modified team-only R3 Mud, which had massive tyre clearance for the time – a now modest 30mm. The R3 Mud edition also added extra compliance for more comfort over the punishing pavé.
Cervélo carried forward this extra compliance to its Aspero, and the Caledonia takes it further still. The Caledonia has the same impressive bottom bracket and head-tube stiffness as the Aspero, which also matches that of the R-Series bikes, but Cervélo has built more compliance into the Caledonia’s seatstays and seat tube for a
smoother ride. It has also tweaked the geometry for greater stability than the sharp-reacting R-Series bikes offer.
The head angle has been relaxed slightly to 72 degrees and the fork offset increased by 5mm. This means with a 30mm tyre the Caledonia’s trail is 60mm, akin to that of an endurance bike’s figure. The 73-degree seat angle is the same as the R5’s, but more stability has been added by stretching the chainstays from 410mm to 415mm for a 1030.7mm wheelbase, helping to create a superbly composed ride, especially when defending.
The Caledonia is also a great-looking bike, with integrated cables and lines as clean as an aero bike’s. And on the road the Caledonia feels just like a Cervélo, the rigid feel of the frame under load making it as responsive as an S-Series bike. But it also has significant advantages over the S3 we tested and rated highly last year, for most of us non-competitive riders. The rear end is more compliant, aided by the D-shaped carbon seatpost, the quality carbon handlebar that helps to nullify road vibrations and the large-volume tyres that add plushness. The weight is good for an endurance machine too, the 56cm Caledonia-5 frame weighing 936g with paint and hardware, the fork adding 370g.
The Caledonia-5 handles like a race bike yet feels as comfortable as today’s class-leading endurance bikes – the likes of the Defy and Synapse – without the suspension technology used on the Trek Domane and Specialized Roubaix, though the Cervélo can’t quite match these two when the going gets really rough. The Caledonia’s slightly racier leanings are also evident in its pro-compact 52/36 chainset, but in sharp contrast to this the 11-34 cassette is much more endurance-friendly.
Cervélo has also built in some well-considered features to appeal to us real-world cyclists who ride all year in scuzzy conditions. The thru-axle end caps include threaded bosses for full-length mudguards, which are paired with a removable seatstay bridge at the rear and a drilled aero fork crown for the front fender. This neatness is also reflected in a rear light mount that replaces the bottom section of the saddle rail clamp.
We were enamoured by Cervélo’s Caledonia-5, which combines aesthetic appeal with a very accomplished ride. It may not be the bike that Cervélo fans will desire most, but with its less aggressive, more endurance-focused feel, I think it’s probably the Cervélo that most of us should be riding. And if you’re not already a Cervélo fan, then the Caledonia-5 might just be the bike that will change your mind…
THE VERDICT
A bike that brings big-ride comfort yet keeps Cervélo’s racing DNA intact ★★★★