Cervelo R5/R3 cable routing is keeping me up at night

[crossjunkee]

I truly value the opinions of this group. So here it goes.

I'm making the switch to Cervelo from S-Works for my workhorse bike. I'll be racing this season throughout CO on the frame. I was 100% sold on the R5, but then I saw the mechanical cable routing through the toptube looping above the stem.

1. Is it just me, or is it funky?

2, Should I even care and ride the crap out of it?

3. Should I go with the R3 and have normal downtube cable routing.

4. Sell my brand new 12 speed Record group and go Di2 or eTap - Even though I've ridden Campy all my life.

The HT is slightly longer on the R3, so that's nice. The stack height is close on both and either one will be taller than my current S-Works.

The group will be Record 12 speed, with disc's.

I just can't get my head around the look. The picture I'm attaching is a build from the internet. I haven't built mine yet and there's still time to change to the R3. Please let me know your thoughts. Especially if anybody has ridding / raced the new 2018 / 2019 Cervelo.

[kramnnim]

Get EPS, problem solved. You'll love it.

[zmalwo]

I would go with R3 and downtube routing. I had a S5 for a short period of time, basically bought and sold, and didn't like the routing at all. It was the same with the R5 on your picture. Or spend few hundred bucks more and go with Di2 since you are already getting an R5. a full R8050 set is only $600 bucks more than a mechanical Ultegra set.

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by kramnnim

Get EPS, problem solved. You'll love it.

+1

I wouldn't do comple mechanical internal routing like that if at all possible.

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[crossjunkee]

Originally Posted by kramnnim

Get EPS, problem solved. You'll love it.

In a perfect world! But in reality I'd be sleeping on the couch, haha! Plus this is just a race bike.

[ntb1001]

I have that routing on my Cervelo S2...haven’t had a problem with it.


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[Mark McM]

I've got the same routing on my Cervelo S5. It's been no problem at all.

The cables in the photos are a little longer then they need to be, and arc upward more than they need to. On my S5 the cables only rise a little above the stem, and only at the rear. I've got a computer mounted on top of the stem (just behind the handlebar clamp) and the cables don't interfere with it at all.

[Black Dog]

Originally Posted by kramnnim

Get EPS, problem solved. You'll love it.

This. Why do people assume that the only e-groups are Di2 or Etap. Like campy is still waiting to release an e-group. Sigh.

[Black Dog]

Originally Posted by crossjunkee

In a perfect world! But in reality I'd be sleeping on the couch, haha! Plus this is just a race bike.

Wait what? Di2 and Etap are options for you but EPS is not because of the price difference? It is not that much more $. EPS, Di2, Etap are designed for bicycles that are meant to be raced.

[crossjunkee]

Originally Posted by Black Dog

Wait what? Di2 and Etap are options for you but EPS is not because of the price difference? It is not that much more $. EPS, Di2, Etap are designed for bicycles that are meant to be raced.

Si. SRAM Red is dirt cheap.

https://www.excelsports.com/main.asp...jor=1&minor=35

My Record mechanical group was a 1/3 of the price of Record EPS. I'm the weirdo with Campy.

[bcroslin]

Originally Posted by kramnnim

Get EPS, problem solved. You'll love it.

Same with etap. With that said, the S5 routing is about as ugly as you can get. My vote would be for the R3. I picked up an R5 here on the PL and love it.

[zmalwo]

Originally Posted by Black Dog

This. Why do people assume that the only e-groups are Di2 or Etap. Like campy is still waiting to release an e-group. Sigh.

As much as I like Campy stuff, Di2 is just too perfect for wired e-groups :S Cheaper, more customization, programmable and shifts better... But on the other hand, Campy takes my money for mechanical stuff.

[bicycletricycle]

I would not ride a mechanical group with that routing. I would go with the R3

[dddd]

I've built up a couple of the new R5s and had no difficulty with the cabling.

As with any new configuration, I forced myself to slow down on the first go, making sure that I checked all the boxes for a 1-shot build that didn't need any re-do.

A couple of things I noticed were:

The adjuster for the front derailer cable is detented, but is free to spin in the ferrule socket of the frame. The trick to adjusting this thing is to tilt it to the side before turning the knob, so that the lower end of the adjuster isn't free to rotate in the frame while the knob is turned.

The cables can't rub on the headtube, so there will be no protector patches to apply.

The bb guide trapdoor has very long cable "housing liner" tubes fitted to it, but which don't connect to the housing ports in the frame up at the headtube or out at the rear dropout. I suspect the added length might be to prevent the end of either of the spaghetti tubes from sliding past the grooves in the guide, which might otherwise allow dirt/dust to enter the cable path.

On both R5s, the shifting performance was fine after I installed Shimano and SRAM components using standard cables, so the cable path seems ok.

[oldpotatoe]

I've built some of these and as the cable snakes into the top tube then makes a turn to go down downtube on the way to ders...VERY common to have system drag, that really goons up the shifting(rear der)..so yup, race bike, gotta work, get the R3...