Monthly Archives: August 2025

Go tubeless they said. It’ll be good they said.

28C Conti GP5000 TT’s.

UCI Illegal or bust.

I confirmed that the ENVE 5.6’s are clinchers so I ordered some 28C Conti GP5000 TT TR’s and 19g RideNow TPU tubes. I was determined not to make a mess with the conversion, but man, what a mess! Front wheel had a lot of sealant in it, and the rear wheel had hardly any, again confirming that you just don’t know how much sealant you have in there at any one time.

Surprisingly the GP5000 TT’s both came in at 239g. The ones on my SL8 weigh in at 248g and 247g so I took those off the SL8 and put them on the S5, and put these new lighter tyres on the SL8.

Whilst I had the rear ENVE off I took apart the rear hub to clean up some grease and I removed the dust cover too (I also did this on my ENVE 65 Foundation wheels on my Allez Sprint) and the hubs are now obnoxiously loud! I thought I’d weigh the wheels whilst I was at it too, and sadly they come in at a hefty 1590g.

The wheels specs on these ENVE 5.6’s is pretty weak; The front wheel is 54mm deep, rear is 63mm. External width is 28.75mm front and 28mm rear and internal width is 19mm.The 30C tyres that came on the bike blew out way past the rim (big time mushroom), and the 28C TT’s do too (but not by much), but hey they look awesome, and now they sound awesome too so I’m keeping them on, for now.

Now waiting on narrower 38cm bars, XMCS 155mm crankset, 1 by chainring, Direct mount hanger, Hylix seatpost (just restocked today TF for that!) and Ti bolt kit to replace all the bolts in and around the cockpit and headset.

Non-drive side, small chainring, cranks not horizontal… Epic fail.

Jordan who owns and runs UNO STUDIOS has started joining us for laps at the park and he brought out this lovely Cannondale roadie on his second ride, sadly he was having major issues with the gears skipping around everywhere, so naturally I pounced on the opportunity to put some love into it and at least get it going again.

Turns out his chain was WAY too long. I raided my parts bin and threw on a 9-Speed Dura-Ace cassette I had lying around and an 11-Speed super light gold chain too. Shifting is bang on now. Fuck I love working on older bikes!

Gong down.

ZTTO Gen 3 cassette.

OK a couple of rides in now and a couple more thoughts:

I’ve never felt any kind of knee pain when cycling, but I’m feeling my knees when I ride this bike, and post ride I feel my knees too. It’s not knee pain at all, but if I stay on these 170mm cranks it might develop into knee pain so I’m really looking forward to getting my XMCS cranks (Peter will be sending me out my order for 155 cranks + spider + 52T 1 by chainring next week).

With the hoods turned in I’m actually not finding the 40cm bars to be too much of an issue, that said I just bought some 38cm bars to replace them. I ran into a kid at the cafe who’s been looking for 38cm bars for his S5 for ages, so he’ll happily buy the 40cm bars off of me.

I felt soreness after riding on my new Berk Dila. I’m sure if I played with the saddle angle some more I’d be able to get comfy on it, but today I put the Berk Lupina Short back on and instantly felt more comfortable, if anything I want to push the saddle back a little (bike came with a 0 offset seatpost). Almost no point getting the fit dialed in until I get the shorter cranks though.

I raided my parts bin a little more thoroughly and replaced a few more parts:

Bar Ends: CarbonWorks (2g)
Brake Rotors: Galfer 140mm/140mm (79g/79g)
Brake Pads: Shimano K05TI-RX (12g/12g)
Cassette: ZTTO SLR Gen3 12 Speed ​​11-28 (117g)

WEIGHT: 7.38kg

The CarbonWorks bar end plugs were a free gift when I ordered a cage replacement (a mate broke the cage as it got caught on his pants when he was hopping off the bike :lol: ) so they went right on. I now have 140mm rotors both front and back instead of the 2 x 160mm rotors and I have the lightweight Ti backed pads on there too.

Surprisingly the ZTTO Gen 3 cassette is shifting well. Yes it was annoying to tune, but where I couldn’t get it to work without noise on some cogs on Gina’s Ultegra SL8, there’s no noise at all on the Dura-Ace S5. Upshifts are smooth in all cogs, downshifts are clunky but totally acceptable. Maybe it’s the waxed chain making a difference? Who knows.

All in all I’m really happy that the S5 feels completely different to the SL8. The S5 feels like a plank of wood (similar to the Dogma F in that way). It’s so planted and focused on doing nothing but going fast. My SL8 feels much more comfortable, nimble and playful and it’s just as happy cruising with mates as it is on solo efforts, but I’m thinking the S5 will be the bike I choose on days when my mates can’t join me.

Jesus.

Please don’t weight weenie me.

Lightweight KORE SPD-SL pedals from AliExpress to replace the Ultegra pedals the bike came with (246g).

First ride on the S5 today! We rode in the rain earlier this morning, and I cut that ride short to pick up the S5 at 11am. After yet another delay I was almost expecting this sale to fall through. No pressure, if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be, but today it all came good. Turns out the frameset was bought from Wheelhaus, and mechanic Victor at CCACHE built up the bike with a full Dura-Ace groupset (which was purchased at CCACHE). New Burgh (my face bartape!) is on and brand new 30C Conti GP5000 S TR tyres too (set up tubeless…). Bike is in mint condition and it turns out the seller is exactly the same height as me at 169cm.

The bike felt damn heavy in the hands, first thing I did when I got the bike home was put it on the scales (surprise surprise). I was guessing 8kgs, and on the scales it comes in at 7.94kg’s. Oooft.

My cousin Adam (who joined us on this morning’s wet ride) took a day off work, so he was keen to make the most of it. I suggested I pick up the S5, and meet him back at the park for some laps, so that we did!

It’s a fast bike and I’m confident that once I get my fit dialled in I’ll be faster on the S5 than the SL8 despite the weight. It feels nothing like the SL8 (which is a good thing), it just feels like it rolls faster, even up the slight inclines which took me by surprise. Maybe it’s the 170mm cranks (man I’ve not been on 170mm cranks in MANY years), it’s definitely not the 40cm bars though. The previous owner didn’t have the hoods turned in either. Felt like driving a bus!

Only spent an hour on it though, and you know the drill; First ride impressions can’t bear much weight. That said I’ve turned the hoods in for now (will have to get my hands on the 38cm bar ASAP). I took off the computer mount (47g!) and Ultegra pedals and got my AliExpress SPD-SL’s on (like the Dogma-F this bike will stay Shimano and SPD-SL unlike my SL8 which is SRAM and LOOK). Selle San Marco Shortfit saddle was really uncomfortable (and heavy at 314g) so I’ve replaced that with a Berk Dila. Put a water bottle cage on and bike now weighs 7.64kg’s.

I’ve got a bunch of crank lengths to try out (Rockbros 160mm and XMCS 155’s on order with a 52T 1 by chainring), but I might stick with the 170mm’s for at least a bit (I did feel my knee caps though after today’s short ride, they weren’t hurting at all, but I felt my knees). Also noticed the bike is running 160mm rotors front and back (I’d like to run 140/140 as I can’t run 140mm front rotors on the SL8 so it’s another point of difference).

The 30C tyres are crazy heavy, and they’re not blowing out at all either, so I assume these are the old/original ENVE 4.5’s? I’m not sure if they’re clincher or not, but they’re set up tubeless, and hey hey, there’s a waxed chain too (new to me). Hub sound isn’t obnoxiously loud, maybe I need a 100T upgrade.

SPECS:

Frame: Size 51 2023 Cervelo S5 Five Black
Bars/Stem: Cervélo HB14 400 x 90
Bar Tape: Burgh (60g)
Bar Ends: Burgh
Bottle Cage: Celoco + S-Works alloy bolts (9g)
Brake Rotors: Dura-Ace 160/160
Groupset: Dura-Ace 9270 12-Speed Di2
Cassette: Dura-Ace R9200 12-speed 11-34T (253g)
Crankset: Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 170mm 50/34
Pedals: KORE Carbon/Ti SPD-SL (185g)
Wheelset: ENVE SES 5.6 (1553g)
Tyres: Continental GP5000 S TR 30C (300g/300g)
Saddle: Berk Dila 140mm (105g)

WEIGHT: 7.64kg

NBD!

I’ve been a reaaaaallly good boy. Instead of buying more bikes I’ve been offloading some. I sold the Canyon Grizl and I gave away my Giant Reign and When I sold the Dogma F I tried not to go straight into another project bike, so I’ve been working on Gina’s bike (lol), but at the same time I’ve been eyeing all sorts of potential projects, everything from a fake SL8, Elves, a Canyon Aeroad, the upcoming new Aethos (but do I really need another weight weenie bike?!) to the new Cervelo S5.

The S5 just looks so damn fast sitting still and I love how the older S5 looks vs. the new one. The new one piece cockpit just doesn’t do it for me (that ‘bump’ in the middle of the bars looks so ugly) and the new bike’s deep headtube looks out of proportion, but good news is that the new frame can take the old bars (and hey that would be slightly rebellious!). All that said I’ve been hyper aware that I don’t make enough power to get the most out of a full on aero bike (but I think they look amaaaaazing).

I reached out to Jing from CCACHE to help me find a new S5 frameset (I really need to never buy a complete bike new ever again as I always end up changing every single part on it anyways!). Turns out they’re out of stock Aus. wide in size 51, and the soonest I could get one is October.

I almost put a deposit down on one, but thought I’d sit it out and see if an older size 51 pops up on Facebook Marketplace. A few months back there were plenty, but I missed that train, so since then I’ve been refreshing like a mad man.

And well, this morning I found one, in Sydney and in as new condition. What’s even better is that it’s in the colourway I like the most (gloss black fork, matte black frame). I’m Asian, and was brought up to haggle, so I low balled, and was met with a solid no, price is set, but with the twist of an arm and a little charm I managed to get half way and welp, the bike is now mine!

Not my photos (photos from the listing, seller takes a decent shot!). Sadly (for me) it’s got a full Dura-Ace setup (just like the Dogma F) but hey, even though I’m a SRAM fan it’ll be nice to have something different in the stable (and yay I get to buy another direct mount hanger!).

I’m assuming the ENVE wheels are hookless (might be wrong here), which would mean they’re set up tubeless. As hot as they look I’d prefer not to run hookless or tubeless so I might have to sell them (they’re worth a lot new so hopefully they’ll sell easily enough).

Whilst I’ll try my best to not go full weight weenie on an aero bike (challenge accepted?!) I think I’d like this to be a 1 by setup. The Dura-Ace crankset is a heavy AF too so I’ll most likely get some shorter and lighter 160mm cranks. The ENVE’s are heavy at 1600g. If I can sell them I wouldn’t hesitate to get some lighter (maybe even deeper) Chinese wheels (ZEN Carbon Bike perhaps).

A couple of days before pickup the seller let me know that the bike was in the shop to get the bartape replaced and they found a crack in the bars. The shop is replacing the bars under warranty, bit of a bummer as it was raining all week and I wanted to get busy working on it (and I just really wanted to close the deal!).

Good news is the bars are in, and he’s going to get them on at the shop (Wheelhaus) this Thursday. Fingers crossed all goes well and the bike is mine.