Cervélo Reveals The New P5 Disc Bike

Seven years after the release of their P5, Cervélo has completely changed up the model with a hydraulic disc, and—wait for it—a design that conforms to the UCI’s rules. The new P5 can be ridden in two styles: the fastest, a “naked” TT-style rig with no food storage options; and a tri setup that includes a rear-hydration mount on the seatpost, two integrated bento boxes on the top tube, and a single water bottle between the aerobars. Both versions come with 500mL proprietary downtube water bottle.

A Long Time Coming

The new P5 seems to check all of the “improvement” boxes that seven years of waiting would imply. According to Cérvelo’s engineers, the new P5 provides 17g of drag savings over the old version (this is the “naked” TT setup), 22 percent increased stiffness on the head tube and 26 percent increased stiffness on the bottom bracket. This is important not necessarily because the old P5 had poor acceleration stiffness, but rather the increase in BB and HT stiffness creates a better-handling, more-balanced bike (for more on our ride impressions, check out our test ride coverage later this week). The new P5 is also 18 percent lighter, with a 350g savings on the frameset alone.

Big Changes

While numbers are great, the big story with the new Cervélo P5 is the redesigned frame and front end. The most obvious change over the old P5 is that this version is disc compatible—in fact, disc only. The second most striking feature is the much (much!) more aesthetically pleasing frameset (Disagree? Tell us why on social media!). In part because this frameset has to fall within the strict UCI boundaries, which it somehow does while actually getting faster than the old P5—which could only be made UCI-legal by removing the front brake cowling. Finally, the integrated aerobar setup is one of the cleanest (and easiest to work on) we’ve seen.

The Nitty Gritty

Boasting 95mm of fore-aft adjustment on the aerobars, 45mm of fore-aft adjustment on the pads, 30mm of pad width adjustment, and three flavors of extensions (s-bend, 30-degree bend, and 50-degree bend). The Cervélo P5’s setup also boasts a single front hydration mount for a cage and standard bottle, but because of the single-post aerobar, there’s no space for a larger downward-dropping hydration system. The proprietary bar/stem combo also provides a home to Di2 electronics, and the low 38mm basebar has new proprietary molded grips. While the included aerobars don’t have any rotational adjustment to raise or lower the aero hand position, there might be another front end released soon (teaser!) to satisfy that need.

The new Cervélo P5 also checks other little details like a lower standover height and increased 36mm tire clearance that allows even a 28mm (25c) tire to run with 4mm of clearance on either side. The included removable bento boxes house 400mL and 100mL of storage, respectively—think of a spot for roughly five to eight gels and a tiny trash can for used wrappers.

Cervélo P5 Pricing, Specs

The Cervélo P5 will come in two builds: An Ultegra Di2 version with DT Swiss P1800 training-level wheels for $7,500USD; a Di2 race-ready version, blinged-out with an Enve SES 5.6 Disc wheelset and CeramicSpeed oversized derailleur pulley, chain, and bottom bracket for $12,500USD (pictured above); and a frameset including bars, seatpost, downtube bottle, and bentos for $5,000. Expect super limited availability of the completes at Cervélo dealers at the end of March with a more widespread release in May.

More To Come!

Check back later this week for our early ride impressions of the Cervélo P5, as we spent a few days testing Cervélo’s new bike in the Arizona desert. Also be sure to check out our detailed coverage of the Canadian brand’s newest release, the triathlon-specific Cervélo P3x, as well as our video review of the P3x.