Cervélo goes full gravel with new Ãspero. Have to say, looks pretty appealing, with decent price points.
(Surprised no thread on this yet; BryanD, where are you?)
Makes me really regret my C5…
This might be the best looking bike released this year. The dark/light teal should be a complete build…but it looks fantastic in all three colors.
And, given today’s prices, not outrageously spendy. I’m thinking of the mid-tier right now!
Cervélo goes full gravel with new Ãspero. Have to say, looks pretty appealing, with decent price points.
(Surprised no thread on this yet; BryanD, where are you?)
Very solid looking option. Could definitely be a swiss army knife type bike. 42mm chainstays and proper BB height for 28-30mm tires make this a very road race capable bike.
(Surprised no thread on this yet; BryanD, where are you?)
Drinking coffee and reading your thread 
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$2800 for an Apex version (vs $2500 for the frameset), that’s very tempting just to try it out, and slowly upgrade.
Interesting. I’ve been wanting to pull the trigger on an Open UP but I may have to give this a full look first. Wish they had teal in their he Ultegra build. Reminds me of the Sagan S Works paint schemes. Bummed they copied Cannondale with no downtube logo though 
Wow, that caught me by surprise. Looks really nice. Not sure what the point is of having both the nearly-identical “Ultegra RX” and “GRX” build levels, though.
Interesting that across size spectrum, frame stack is identical to the R3/S3, while reach is 10mm longer. Shorter stems spec’ed, perhaps? Geometry is certainly “racier” than the C-series.
It’s a New Bike Year for me, and I was contemplating going in this direction - get one bike that with a switch of wheels and/or tires, and can do EVERYTHING from the Thursday Night Club/World Championships Ride, the odd Gran Fondo, and take it also on gravel and light trail use.
Bikes I was looking at - 3T Exploro, Open, and now this!
Good time to buy a bike!
Is the black plastic on the top tube near the stem simply a cover for cable routing? Or is it designed for adding a toptube bag like the Exploro is designed for?
Is the black plastic on the top tube near the stem simply a cover for cable routing? Or is it designed for adding a toptube bag like the Exploro is designed for?
Looks like a bag mount. Grab from the Cervelo promo video:
BTW, that promo video is pretty nicely done.
I like the look, but this doesn’t seem very differentiated vs. the Diverge, Revolt, Checkpoint etc. Maybe Cervelo’s more of a cult brand for some people. Also, clearance for 42s is a hair skimpy these days.
If I didnt already have an Ibis Hakka MX this bike definitely would have been added to my list for consideration. It looks good at a decent price. I wont be surprised if I start seeing a bunch of these on the trails real soon.
You still on the black on white R3?
I like the look, but this doesn’t seem very differentiated vs. the Diverge, Revolt, Checkpoint etc. Maybe Cervelo’s more of a cult brand for some people. Also, clearance for 42s is a hair skimpy these days.
It’s longer and lower than all those.
As for tires, you can run 49c 650b’s. Room for anything bigger than a 42c 700c would have meant compromising the geometry/handling objectives. 42c seems more than enough clearance for a bike billing itself as a “gravel race bike.” Of the bikes you mention, only the Revolt has nominal clearance for anything bigger (700 x 45).
I like the look, but this doesn’t seem very differentiated vs. the Diverge, Revolt, Checkpoint etc. Maybe Cervelo’s more of a cult brand for some people. Also, clearance for 42s is a hair skimpy these days.
It’s longer and lower than all those.
As for tires, you can run 49c 650b’s. Room for anything bigger than a 42c 700c would have meant compromising the geometry/handling objectives. 42c seems more than enough clearance for a bike billing itself as a “gravel race bike.” Of the bikes you mention, only the Revolt has nominal clearance for anything bigger (700 x 45).Good points. I guess this is at the very racy end of the gravel spectrum. Still, it’s getting to be that buyers are splitting hairs when comparing these bikes. Evreyone is offering something.
BTW, the Checkpoint is advertised as clearing 45s at 700c but can definitely handle some bigger (labeled) tires. That bike has tons of room.
Good points. I guess this is at the very racy end of the gravel spectrum. Still, it’s getting to be that buyers are splitting hairs when comparing these bikes. Evreyone is offering something.
BTW, the Checkpoint is advertised as clearing 45s at 700c but can definitely handle some bigger (labeled) tires. That bike has tons of room.
Mea Culpa, my source was incorrect on the Checkpoint. You are correct.
Chainstay length vs tire clearance is a dance they all have to do. The bigger tire you want to clear, the longer you have to make those stays, and the less sharp the handling. Cervelo naturally chose to hang their hat on the “racy” end of the spectrum, which meant keeping the chainstays relatively short, and, therefore, limiting ultimate tire clearance.
**You still on the black on white R3? **
Mostly white with black logos accents.
Yes.
Rode 110K on Monday this week - 50K of it on a gravel rail trail and some other gravel roads - not super technical gravel - really nice gravel for the most part - better then some of the paved roads in our area!! -
Not sure what the point is of having both the nearly-identical “Ultegra RX” and “GRX” build levels, though.
I’ve since read that the GRX build isn’t available at launch, suggesting the Ultegra RX build is probably just a temporary placeholder in the lineup. That makes a lot more sense than building these two nearly identical variants side by side.
Cervelo designed this to be a gravel race bike hence the reason why there are no extra mounts. They have also optimized the geometry across all sizes. If you look at the geometry chart for the Aspero the trail is the same across all sizes which means that the size 48 should handle the same as the 58. They do this by using three fork offsets across the sizes and changing the head tube angle on the smaller sizes. But trail changes with tire size so the created the “Trailmixer” on the fork so that the trail stays the same if you are using 700x35 or 650x45 tires. If you look at the geometry of the Checkpoint you will see that all sizes use the same fork offset and therefore the trail changes as you go up in size. That means the smaller sizes will handle very differently then the larger sizes and when you change tire size that will also effect the handling.