Cervélo goes full suspension with the WC XC focused ZFS-5

Nothing motivates bike brands quite like a fast approaching Olympics, and that’s just as true for XC MTB as is for Road and Track. On that note, today saw the official unveiling of the Cervélo ZFS-5.

Making the announcement Cervélo is keen to emphasize that a bike built for today’s evolving XCO courses has (of course) to pedal well, and react quickly, but also be able to excel when take on the increasingly technical UCI MTB WC courses, where off camber tree roots, jumps, and drops have come to redefine the XCO and XCC series in recent years.

Here the brand points to the all new ZFS-5 sporting a 67.8-degree head tube angle, designed to deliver the precision required for elbow-to-elbow hole shot sprints, and the confidence to let off the brakes when the track gets rough. Paired with a76-degree seat tube angle, the result is said to be a fast, efficient, and poised ride. Everything you’d want from an XC racing weapon.

Spanish site esmtb.com has shared what looks to be the only video footage of the new bike (so far), likely from the pits at Nové Město.

Of the new bikes geometry, the eagle eyed team over at BikeRumor highlighted changes between the 100mm and 120 mm bikes (XC and XCM spec) with 67.8 and 66.6 head tube angles for the respective bikes.

Cervélo says it has chosen to go with a flex stay single-pivot suspension design, which it describes as, tried and true, and very tuneable. A floating brake mount has been engineered so as to equalize the flex of the stays on each side of the swingarm, with extensive work put into defining the right layup so as to deliver the ride characteristics wanted for a podium chasing race rig.

Assessing the suspension design, James Huang, writing for escapecollective.cc points out that Pon family DNA means you’re not wrong if you found yourself thinking the ZTS-5 bears more than a passing resemblance to the Santa Cruz Blur.

The Z bikes—the ZHT-5, which we featured earlier this year, and the ZFS-5, hardtail and full-suspension, respectively—will make their race debut at the Nové Město World Cup, ridden by World Cup veteran and former Dutch National XCO Champion Milan Vader alongside reigning Cyclocross World Champion Fem van Empel.

Whilst the ZHT-5 has been in store with Cervélo dealers for a number of months, the ZFS-5 is scheduled to be available for Summer 2023. Build, pricing, and final spec will be published at that time.

In the UK Cervélo is distributed by Pon.Bike Performance. Interested retailers can contact the business via email on [email protected], or call 01423 780088.