Cervelo Caledonia-5 Rival eTap AXS

We don’t see road bikes as delicate machines meant only for putting watts into and receiving speed from. They’re an extension of our soul, of the way we want to see our worlds, and the lives we want to live. Sometimes that means cutting across park grass, and sometimes it’s seeing where that dirt road off to the left leads you. The Caledonia-5 is a bike for the modern road rider.

The Caledonia is the bike we keep reaching for when we know the odometer’s going well past the triple-digit mark. Long rides invariably have some smooth tarmac, some junk pavement over backroads, a cutty singletrack connector, and maybe even your own local Strade Bianche sector. So Cervelo built a bike that could take on all of them, do it well, and fit fenders in case the ominous clouds turn into a downpour 130km into your day.

Cervelo developed the Caledonia-5 in collaboration with their World Tour riders to satisfy the need for a dedicated cobbles bike. Faster handling isn’t necessarily better—they engineered the handling based on the specific use-case. In this case, it’s Roubaix. Roubaix is harder on bikes than any other race on the calendar, and there’s zero margin for error. Cervelo increased the rear center, lowered the BB, and increased the trail. The handling is still fast, but with added stability.

Modern road riders are looking for bikes to handle long-distance, high pace, no limits, and offer maximum fun. By placing lower modulus carbon in key areas to mitigate the brittleness of hi-mod fiber—the Caledonia delivers performance, comfort, and speed. Oh, and you can fit a 34mm tire in there. Or 31mm with fenders.