Cervélo Aspero-5 Red 1

£10,000 Rapid and reactive, but is it really a gravel bike?

- 

According to Cervélo, the Áspero-5 was designed to be the fastest gravel bike on the market. It's inspired by their pure road-race bike, the S5, with the geometry based on the brand's more practical but still super-speedy Soloist. It begs the question, though - can an aerodynamically optimised lightweight race design with 45mm tyre clearance really be fast on all kinds of gravel?

The short answer is no, but don't dismiss the Aspero-5 just yet - its incredible turn of speed across a wide variety of surfaces (bar the most technical) could well make this a dream gravel bike for lots of riders.

Blending aero with versatility

The frameset keeps the same stripped-down ideals as the first 2019 edition, with a fitting-and mount-free design. But that's where the similarities end. Aerodynamics is at this new model's core. Up front, the deeply bladed fork smoothly integrates into the head tube, which is deep with a tapered airfoil tail, taking advantage of the UCI's relaxation of the rules, much like we've seen on the latest aero road bikes.

Its rear end looks very much like the S5's, and also sports an airfoil profile, which is truncated where the seat tube curves and shields the rear wheel's leading edge. The 45mm tyre clearance is modest, at best - especially considering lots of pro riders are now opting to use 50mm+ tyres for racing.