I’m looking for a little wisdom on choosing a P5. My requirements are:
Arm pad reach: 495mm
Arm pad stack: 630mm
Saddle height: 768mm (Adamo)
Saddle setback: 62mm
The Cervelo fit chart indicates that 54cm or 56cm would be OK and I am leaning towards the 56cm because my numbers fall more or less in the middle so that gives me room for changes. However, I’m just wondering what the minimum realistic saddle height is for the 56cm, I’ve read that it is quite a tall frame so will I be left with a tiny amount of exposed seatpost?
Thanks for pointing me in the direction of your post. I was measuring to base plate so no worries on that score. I’m right in the middle of the stack adjustment so I could still drop 25mm if I need to.
Out of interest what saddle height are you running on your 56?
Roughly 755mm measured center of bb to surface of adamo saddle where I sit (very near front). The bike is in storage for winter so I can’t measure it precisely, but I measured my old P2C which was setup with an identical fit.
If your only concern is getting the saddle low enough and it turned out to be a problem I assume you could cut the seat post right?
How stable and/or aggressive is your position? What are the odds of dropping more than 2.5 cm?
And when you say you’re in the middle and have 2.5 cm to go, does that include the X-Low bar or would that drop you another 2 cm? EDIT: Just checked the chart and see that you could drop 3 full cm with the Low bar on a 56 and still achieve your reach. The X-Low wouldn’t achieve that reach though.
My position is fairly stable, I used it for most of last season and have only made minor tweaks before that over the last few years. If anything it is likely to move up and forward as this is what my coach is saying he tends to do with people, and so one of the things I am concerned about is the reach if I go for a 54cm. That said it is only a difference of a few mm between the 54cm and 56cm.
The worries for me about going for the 56cm are the high standover height which only gives me a cm or so clearance and the possibility that I might have a really small amount of saddle exposed which means I’d have to cut the seatpost and that the bike would not look as aesthetically pleasing. Based on what you have said about your saddle height, which is less than mine that should not be a problem.
My current bike frame stack and reach are 523 and 420 on which I run 3cm of headset spacers and a 9cm stem which looks a closer match to the 56cm.
One other thing, you mention in your other post about using pad spacers. Looking at the Aduro bar diagrams I did not see any pad spacers, can you confirm? If you do have them how much height can they give you?
Your measurements are close to mine with the reach being off a little, 475, 635, 760 and 6.0. I am running the Hi-V with only the 5mm spacer under the stem and my pads are as far back as they can be (-25mm position) (-25mm, 0mm, and +25mm options). Don’t forget the pads are very large. If you want to run the low position with stem spacers, the 56 will likely work well. If you do not mind the High-V setup you can run one or no spacers on a 54 with the pads in the middle. Most people I have seen on this forum went with the same size as their previous Cervelo bike or a size smaller.
You are correct, the Aduro doesn’t come with arm pad spacers, only fork steerer spacers.
The arm pad spacers folks are referring to would be aftermarket. The Aduro’s bolts are 25mm apart, like many other aero bars, so any spacers that can fit around that bolt spacing will work. FSA & Zipp come to mind, and there are probably others. For that matter, you can use any arm pad plate with the same 25mm spacing as well.
This inter-compatibility was designed-in as a conscious choice to make the P5 simple to live with.
Thanks Damon, great to have some input from you. These kinds of practical design elements really make the P5 a great package. I only wish I could see one in the flesh before placing my order!
Just to put my mind at rest, would you be able to give me a rough estimate for how much seat post would be exposed on a 56 frame and how much seat post I’d need to cut off if any? I’m trying to decide whether I’d prefer a 54 with the high-V and no spacers or a 56 with the low and 2-3 cm of spacers. If the 56 meant having a really small amount of seat post showing I really hate the look of that and would go for the 54 frame.
Thanks Damon, great to have some input from you. These kinds of practical design elements really make the P5 a great package. I only wish I could see one in the flesh before placing my order!
Just to put my mind at rest, would you be able to give me a rough estimate for how much seat post would be exposed on a 56 frame and how much seat post I’d need to cut off if any? I’m trying to decide whether I’d prefer a 54 with the high-V and no spacers or a 56 with the low and 2-3 cm of spacers. If the 56 meant having a really small amount of seat post showing I really hate the look of that and would go for the 54 frame.
Thanks
You’ll love the bike when you see it in person. I wasn’t impressed with the online photos and such. When I saw one in my shop that was being built up for someone I was more than impressed. So impressed that mine is “shippable” this month…which according to my dealer means it WILL ship by the last day of the month. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I’ll have it home. Now I just have to wait for temperatures above single digits!
Just measured a few seat tube lengths. Didn’t have a size 56 handy, but a 54 is about 54cm and a 58 is about 57 cm. So roughly speaking, subtract the frame size from your saddle height and Bob’s your uncle.
But if your concern is mostly looks I’m surprised you’re more worried about the seat post than the cockpit. I think having lots of spacers has more impact on looks than seatpost length. I suspect the V-High with no spacers would look prettier than lots of spacers under the stem.
Something else to throw in the mix: The spacers also determine how various sized bento boxes integrate with the frame. If you want a big bento box it’ll hide better behind a stack of aduro bar spacers.
And finally… if your plan is to go up over time you might need to do Aduro bar math. If you want to go up just a bit you could use some kind of pad spacers. But if you may raise significantly you might need a new fork. But you might be able to avoid that if you’re clever enough: you could start with the Low bar on a 54 with lots of spacers. Then when you want to go up, you could cut the fork and switch to the V-High bar. For example, cutting the fork 2 cm and switching to the V-High would raise you up 2cm.
You’ll love the bike when you see it in person. I wasn’t impressed with the online photos and such. When I saw one in my shop that was being built up for someone I was more than impressed.
Agree 100%. I think it’s great in person. Much better than in photos.
Your bike looks sweet, so on that basis the 56 will be fine for me. We are probably almost identical on saddle height as I measured mine to the middle of the saddle rather than the front.
To start with I think I’ll go for the low bar with 3 cm spacers and then if I need to I can switch to the high v and lose the spacers.
Using arm pad spacers instead of fork spacers would look better and suit my normal pad to extension position. I’m having trouble locating the Zipp or FSA ones. Can anybody give me some links?