While mountain bike brands are jumping shark to launch new gravel models and tap into a new market for dirt bikes, renowned road bike marque, Cervelo, is swimming against the tide with its first mountain bike. The key question being, is it any good compared to the best XC race mountain bikes? Need to know First MTB from the premium road/triathlon brand Super light weight but lifetime tough 29er race hardtail Punchy under power, but not a punishing ride Steep angles and prices, but it is a premium brand “We’ve ridden ‘roadie mountain bikes’ and we wanted to make very sure this wasn’t just one of those.” It’s a promising opening line from Cervelo Marketing Head, Brian Bernard. The last time Brian talked to me about an XC race hardtail was at the launch of the latest Santa Cruz Highball. A bike Brian had a big part in developing before he moved across to Pon family sibling Cervelo. So that was another promising aspect. But how different can a race hardtail really be? And does Cervelo’s ZHT-5 feel like it’s genuinely got dirt in its DNA, or is it just a cosplay dirty weekend bike for posh roadies to keep at their second home in the country? Most XC race hardtails aren’t as slack as the latest XC full suspension bikes and the ZHT-5 reflects that in its 68.5º head angle. The 74º seat angle hasn’t been nudged forward for steep climb poise either. The reach on the large test bike was generous at 470mm though, and the bottom bracket swings low between the wheel axles. While it’s not the lightest production hardtail option (Specialized and Unno are fighting over that title) the 810g, 840g, 870g, 895g frame weight spread from S-XL certainly isn’t heavy. Those impressive frame weights are achieved with tube profiles and lay up lessons from Cervelo’s lightweight R5 road race bike. While the stiff, sturdy bottom bracket area owes a lot to the Aspero gravel race frame. Thankfully, it uses a threaded bottom bracket, not a press fit time bomb, and it’s still 310g lighter than the aero profiled Aspero. Despite the low weight you still get a lifetime warranty with no maximum rider weight limit either. Two bottle cage mounts make it marathon friendly, the rear axle comes with a detachable tool handle. There’s plenty of room between the stays for 2.4in tyres. Yes, the headset top cap cable/hose internal routing makes later maintenance awkward, but it does keep the lines super clean. It also removes the need for weight adding, reinforced entry points on the frame tubes. The seat stays blend into the sloped top tube via a subtle shelf around the seat tube. That’s the obvious difference compared to the otherwise very similar, but dropped-stay Santa Cruz Highball. The Cervelo seat post is also a larger diameter than the Highball, 30.6mm vs 27.2mm, dramatically opening up the choice of compatible dropper posts. One really cool feature is that the rear brake is mounted …Continue reading »

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