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.

Running out of ways to shave grams off my SL8, big time! These carbon shifter clamps are designed and made by Aandrea Campenni Design in Italy. They came in at 13g for the pair (SRAM ones were 32g, so that’s a 19g savings!).

Visit: @andrea_campenni_design

I spent some time hunting down some lighter wheels to replace the heavy AF (1571g) Roval C38’s on Gina’s SL8 and found a guy on the Weight Weenies forums (username: Sander7721) who’s obsessed with buying and testing the best value for money wheelsets out there.

Sander7721’s theory is that it’s just not worth spending huge dollars on Western wheel brands that have jurassic specs, and whilst the big brand Chinese wheel companies offer much better value for modern specs (wider internal width, wider external width and lighter weight), he’s found a few OEM manufacturers who have been willing to work closely with him to develop and offer modern wheelsets at even better pricing.

One company (which I obviously had an instant vested interest in!) was Zen Carbon Bike who are based in Xiamen, China. The story goes; Sander7721 dealt with Zara at Winspace a few years ago. Her dad’s a carbon fibre engineer who started Zen as an OEM factory. Zara left Winspace and joined him there, and they’ve been growing steadily since.

Using specs which Sander7721 suggested and taking Gina’s weight into consideration too (she’s light which affords us an even lighter wheelset) we opted for a 40/45 wheelset with 24mm internal width and 31 external width. 3.1mm carbon spokes and ZEN SL hubs which came in at an amazing $809 USD shipped.

Whilst Zara’s communication was often instant, she never gave me updates on the wheels without me prompting her first, nor tracking information (only when I asked did I get the tracking information).

The wheels took a month to get here, they were boxed well (came with spare spokes, rim tape and tubeless valves) and they look amazing. The included rim tape was trash so I used Schwalbe tubeless tape instead (much more elastic and easier to apply). At 1058g a set they’re 513g lighter than the Roval C38’s (which are also a shallower at 38mm front and back). I fitted a Conti 29C Aero 111 to the front, 30C GP5000 ST R to the rear with RideNow 19g TPU tubes and Gina’s bike now comes in at 6.3kg’s.

Visit: @zencarbonbike

Gina’s SL8

2025 Tarmac SL8 Expert
Satin Champagne / Black Pearl
Size 44

Brake Calipers: Shimano Ultegra Di2 R8170 (327g)
Brake Rotors: Galfer E1 160mm/140mm (97g/79g)
Shift Levers: Shimano Ultegra R8170 (403g)
Battery: Shimano Di2 (52g)
Derailleurs: Shimano Ultegra Di2 R8150 (FD 111g, RD 260g)
Direct Mount Derailleur Hanger: Framesandgear Oil Slick (14g)
Cassette: ZTTO SLR Gen3 12 Speed ​​11-30 Oil Slick (132g)
Cassette Lockring: ZTTO (6g)
Chain: ZTTO z12 12-speed Oil Slick (223g)
Crankset: Shimano Ultegra R8100 165mm 52/36T (720g)
Pedals: Xpedo Thrust SL Titanium (165g)
Bottom Bracket: Shimano Threaded BSA BB (77g)
Wheelset: Zen Carbon Wheels 40/45 (1058g)
Rim Tape: Schwalbe tubeless rim tape (13g)
Front Tyre: Continental Aero 111 29C (272g)
Rear Tyre: Continental GP 5000 S TR 30C (312g)
Inner Tubes: RideNow 45mm valve (19g/19g)
Stem: Tarmac integrated 70mm 6-degree + Ti bolts (130g)
Handlebar: EXS R175 360mm (175g)
Bar Tape: EXS Airtape (29g)
Bar Ends: Extralite (1g)
Saddle: Specialized S-Works Power with Mirror (203g)
Seatpost: S-Works Tarmac SL8 Carbon 15mm offset (141g)
Bottle Cage: Celoco + Ti bolts (9g)

WEIGHT: 6.36kg

Couldn’t help myself!