Zwift’s latest update includes a new bike frame from Cervelo, and it’s a special one. Say hello to the latest version of Cervelo’s flagship S5 line, in a limited “Lupine” colorway:
The Cervelo S5 has always been fast on Zwift – first the 2015 version, then the 2020. This latest iteration, released in mid-2025, has a unique one-piece cockpit, deeper fork blades, and other changes which, according to Cervelo, make it 124 grams lighter and 6.3 watts faster than the outgoing model.
(You may have seen this very bike recently winning the Giro d’Italia, in fact. With a little help from Jonas Vingegaard, of course. He rode a custom pink version into Rome on the final day, complete with Reserve 34/37 wheels, which Zwift also added to the game today.)
On Zwift, you’ll need to be updated to game version 1.116+ to see this bike in the Drop Shop. You’ll also need to be at level 40+ with 1,800,000 Drops to buy it. Yes: it’s currently the most expensive road bike in Zwift! Here’s how it’s described in the Drop Shop:
When the pace explodes and the sprint banners come into view, the Cervélo S5 comes alive. Built for pure aerodynamic speed, this race machine slices through the wind with aggressive tube shaping, deep integration, and WorldTour-proven handling. Whether you’re attacking off the front or chasing the fastest lap, the S5 is engineered to stay fast when every watt counts.
See our master list of all frames in Zwift >
It’s rated 3 stars for aero and 3 stars for weight, like the top road racing bikes on Zwift. But how does it actually perform? Since Zwift’s 4-star system isn’t the most granular performance metric, we ran this frame through our precise tests to measure performance in nerd-level detail. Let’s dive in!
Note: test results below are from a 75kg, 183cm rider holding 300W steady using Zwift’s stock 32mm Carbon wheelset on the un-upgraded version of the frame, unless otherwise noted.
Aero (Flat/Rolling) Performance
The new S5 delivers pack-leading aero performance, edging out all other frames in our tests. It doesn’t win by a huge margin, of course, but it’s always news when a new king arrives in the jungle!
The frame’s time puts it 63.5 seconds ahead of our baseline frame across an hour of riding, which means it’s half a second faster than the previous king, the Canyon Aeroad 2024.
Climb Performance
While the new S5 isn’t a standout climber, it improves significantly over previous S5 versions, trimming more than 8 seconds off the 2020 model’s time thanks to its lighter weight.
The frame’s climb test time puts it 39.8 seconds ahead of the baseline frame after an hour, which is ~18 seconds slower than the best climbers in game (frames like the Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8, Specialized Aethos S-Works, and Cannondale SuperSix Evo LAB71).
Upgrading Your Cervelo S5
Like all frames in Zwift, the S5 can be upgraded in five stages. It uses the Distance, High-End upgrading scheme, giving it the following characteristics:
Performance At Each Upgrade Stage
This chart shows how many seconds this frame will save across 1 hour of riding compared to our stage 0 baseline frames (Zwift Carbon or TT). This is based on a 75kg rider, 183cm tall, at 300 watts, riding on tarmac.
Upgrade Stages (Distance, High-End)
- 200km: Aero Upgrade for 100k Drops
- 260km: Weight Upgrade for 200k Drops
- 320km: Drivetrain Upgrade for 350k Drops
- 380km: Aero Upgrade for 500k Drops
- 440km: Weight Upgrade for 750k Drops
Conclusions
The new Cervelo S5 earns a 100/100 aero rating in our ZIMetrics, meaning it’s the fastest road frame in Zwift, at least for now. While I wouldn’t recommend it for a race that includes any sort of climbing, its unique color and slippery nature will surely appeal to many Zwifts, particularly those who love Cervelo and those who love to race.
This bike has been added to the following posts:
- Zwift Shopping Guide: What To Buy from the Drop Shop at Each Level
- The Top 10 Road Bikes in Zwift
- Fastest Aero Bike Frames and Wheels at Each Zwift Level
- Zwift Speed Tests: Frame Ranking Charts
- Speed Tests: Concept Z1 (Tron) Bike vs Top Performers (Un-Upgraded and Fully Upgraded Versions)
- A Complete List of Zwift Bike Frames
Questions or comments?
What do you think of Cervelo’s zippy new S5 in Zwift? Share below…
Important note: this post contains speed test results for Zwift frames or wheels. These results may change over time, and a bike's performance relative to others may also change. We don't always revise posts when performance rankings change, but we do keep current, master versions of our speed test results which are always available. See the frame charts, wheel charts, and Tron vs Top Performers for current performance data.
S-WORKS -SL8 Still best overall and 94.6 climber at level 5 much better than 76.2
Wouldn’t be so sure, wait for the new Supersix post. Looks like the new best if the test spreadsheet is anything to go by…
Well at my age I really need a bike to be at level 10 to keep up with men half my age 😂Im kinda tired of upgrading bikes, going to a climb portal is what helps my racing . Placing in the top 10 is my win .
Does the Specialized Project ’74 Fully upgraded save 154.4 seconds? Is that comparable to the New S5 fully upgraded at 92.6 seconds? Is the Halo bike significantly faster on the flats?
You can’t really compare the Halo bikes’ times to road bike frame test times, because the Halo Bikes include wheels that can’t be separated from the frame.
The fastest road bike combo (this Cervelo S5 + fastest disc wheel) at stage 5 puts 142.6 seconds into our baseline setup across an hour of flat riding. The Project 74 is at 154.4 seconds. So that’s your actual gap.
So if you have every bike and everything is upgraded five stages, including the halo bikes, what is the current fastest fully upgraded option assuming the non-halo bikes also have fast wheels?🙃
And, of course, a good number of bikes at level 5 are faster than the Cervelo at level 1.
While I appreciate the colorway and option this S5 frame would have to be significantly more aero than the alternatives to make up for its rather pedestrian climbing performance. Feels like there won’t be any real upgrades from the S-works SL8 until the S-Works SL9 comes out.
I think it’s long past time to move past the “secret” stats method of adding new bike frames and make the star system standardized across bikes. In essence, all 3 star bikes should perform exactly the same in their respective categories (aero or weight).
In Zwifts defence they are trying to make the bikes perform similar to their real performance so having all 3* bikes perform the same wouldn’t make sense as there would be differences with the real bikes.
I see two issue with their current system
1) A 4* system isn’t enough to allow people to know what bikes are best.
2) Why people would bother with any new road bike now is beyond me as people should be concentrating on getting the Project 74 so they should save their drops and ride time to upgrading Specialized Bikes.
The thing is that all of the top bikes do perform basically identical in real life. It’s also Zwift and I’d much rather that bikes of a certain caliber are interchangeable so people can choose their favorite brand/colorway rather than worry they’re gimping themselves. To your other point I’d like to see it maybe expanded to 10 stars.
Also FWIW, the project 74 is an absolute boat anchor up inclines. Considering that almost every race in Zwift has some kind of climb that acts as a major selection point, unless you are just an insanely strong climber vs your competition it is a horrible bike to race on.
“The frame’s climb test time puts it 39.8 seconds ahead of the baseline frame after an hour, which is ~18 seconds slower than the best climbers in game”
This isn’t really useful to understand the performance of this bike. Is 18 seconds really good for the class of most aero bikes in game? Bad? Avg? Without that info this bike could just be the same as existing most aero bikes, could be a better climber, or could be a worse climber. All very different outcomes. The comparison is to bikes in its same class.
Tim, have a look at the Zwift insider Zwift Speed Tests: Frame Ranking Charts It will answer your Good? Bad? Avg? question. But also bear in mind that unless you are a 75kg, 183cm rider holding 300W steady, the time differences quotes will not be accurate for you. Use Zwift Insider’s data as a guide but your own riding experience to determine the best bike for any given route.
That’s where I looked first. Unfortunately this frame is not in there yet.
I guess I know the next bike I need to level up.
Seems a bit disappointing to me, they haven’t made the aero frames fast enough compared to the all rounders to be worth using at all
I find this very interesting, and would be curious to know….
If the SL8 is a better climber, at what point do you switch to the S5 if the race is flatter?
Is there a general “rule of thumb” as to how much climb gives an advantage to the SL8 over the S5?
I tend to work on the overall distance to climb ratio. If a course has >1% average climb, so, say, it’s 10km with 100m climb, does that favour the SL8 or the S5?
Would the gradient of the climb(s) matter? – i.e. 1 x big climb for the whole 100m ascent versus the 100m being spread over the whole 10km course….
As a low Cat. C racer (Racing Score 400’ish) looking to gain any help that I can!!
Thanks. 🙂
Do you ever get dropped on flats? On climbs? There’s your answer.
What if the answer is …. both! 😉
….or,
…. neither! 😉
Both – wait until your score drops and you cat down so you can stay in the pack. Switch to a TT bike after you are dropped?
Neither – use the most aero bike because that means the finish comes down to a sprint. Unless the finish is at the top of a hill.
Glad they tried to do the Lupine colorway but it’s rendered horrifically in game, you can’t even read the Cervelo logo on the downtube on high graphic settings.
It’s not great, is it?
Eric – do you think they will make improvements to the in-game graphics? That’s a lot of drops to spend for a brand you like to not be able to read the logo!
Seems unlikely in the short term. Zwift has previously said that they want to make sure the game can run efficiently on all devices, including slow pc’s tablets, Apple TV etc.
Improving the graphics will (all else being equal) slow the game down or raise the requirements.