When Every Gram Counts
Since 1995, Cervélo have played a pivotal part in shaping the look of modern road bikes through their all-revolving company mantra "make riders faster".
For their latest R5 and S5 models, we have helped the aerodynamic pioneers save important grams with a custom BB design.
“As an engineering-first brand, all of our decisions arise from a no-compromise approach in terms of performance.
This project started for us with the R5, where the ask to the design team was to
chase every gram where possible - and they certainly delivered with a system weight reduction of 326.3 grams compared to the previous R5.
From a product perspective, we were hell-bent on doing this with the 'spec' parts and achieved a reduction of 383.7 grams” - Terry Best, Road/TT/Tri Product Manager, Cervélo
Our BB ALPHA product range sets an unprecedented industry standard in terms of bottom bracket performance. The BB ALPHA is the result of a complete overhaul of our previous BB design, where each individual product element has been meticulously examined and optimised to create the best bottom bracket on the market.
One of the key improvements was a weight reduction, which a request from Cervélo helped bring to the table.
"From my background as a bikebuilder, I always weigh every component, and I saw the BB as one with room for potential improvement.
So, I sent a request to CeramicSpeed with a targeted weight. And then it
quickly evolved from there" - Terry Best, Road/TT/Tri Product Manager, Cervélo
Product testning played a pivotal part in achieving the weight reduction for our BB ALPHA range.
In the pursuit of ultimate performance, we iterate, test, validate, and repeat until our uncompromising quality standards are met.
With BB ALPHA, we've obsessed over every detail and gone to depths we've never been before - putting in well over 1 million kilometers of rigorous lab and field testing in all imaginable conditions.
"To reduce weight, we need to examine every component and reconsider its function and design to identify every possible gram that can be removed. However, removing material inherently makes the parts more fragile.
Therefore, weight reduction is a process of pushing the design to its limits, and sometimes beyond, and then refining it back to a point where performance, strength, and reliability are still maintained.
We achieved an overall weight reduction just shy of 20% through a re-engineered cup design, minimising material without sacrificing stiffness, and a single-piece spacer tube replacing the previous two-part sliding system for improved integration and reduced mass" - Morten Andersen, Development Engineer, CeramicSpeed
