Cervélo's first e-bike combines road and gravel features

Cervélo has released its first e-bike in the shape of the Rouvida. It is a bike designed to have a split personality with a flip chip changing the geometry between road and gravel riding. Cervélo claims that its design is more than just a flip chip as the different dropout configurations change the relative position of the entire frame. These change the fit and the bike's handling, tailoring it for the intended terrain.

• Read more: How to choose a new gravel bike

Premium e-bike brand Fazua has been drafted in to supply the pedal assistance with its Ride 60 motor system that has been specifically tuned to the requirements of Cervélo. As you might have guessed from the name, the system provides up to 60Nm of torque with a peak power delivery of 450 Watts. To power the motor, a 432Wh battery sits within the oversized down tube.

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The Fazua motor and battery sit neatly around the bottom bracket of the frame

A bike with two personalities

The Rouvida has been marketed as one bike with the characteristics of two, capable of switching between a road and gravel geometry thanks to the flip chip equipped on the front and rear dropouts.

When the tech is switched to the gravel setting, the head angle is 0.7º slacker, the trail is 4mm longer, the stack is 7mm taller and the reach is 5mm shorter. These changes in geometry should make the bike more stable on looser surfaces, while the increase in trail and slacker head angle also increase the wheelbase making it more planted at higher speeds.

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The dropouts feature adjustable geometry to change the ride characteristics of the bike

The tyre clearance changes rather drastically between the road and gravel set-ups as well. When configured for the road, the Rouvida has a generous 34mm tyre clearance. However, when the dropouts are flipped into the gravel setting, this grows to 43.5mm.

• Read more: How much slower are gravel tyres than road tyres?

Price and build kits

Cervélo is offering the Rouvida in four build options and, emphasising the bike's adaptable, two of these have more of a road flavour while two come as stock with more heavy-duty gravel components. The bike is currently available to order for customers in the USA and will be made available to the European and UK markets in January 2024.

The range-topping Rouvida is set to retail for £11,000 / $13,000 / €12,499 and comes with SRAM Red XPLR AXS 1. The big feature that makes this a more road-orientated model is the specification of 30mm Vittoria Corsa N.EXT tyres.

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The range-topping Rouvida Red XPLR AXS is built around road riding kit

The secondary road-orientated offering is the Rouvida Rival XPLR AXS 1. It will retail for £7,200 / $7,500 / €8,299 and comes with SRAM Rival XPLR gearing along with Fulcrum DB600 wheels and Vittoria Corsa N.EXT 30mm tyres.

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The second offering in the range comes with SRAM Rival and 30mm tyres

The top-tier model tailored to gravel riding is the Rouvida Force XPLR AXS 1 and this comes fitted with a SRAM Reverb XPLR AXS dropper post along with WTB Vulpine 40mm tyres. This model will retail for £9,500 / $9,800 / €10,699.

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Cervélo also offer the Rouvida with builds tailored for technical gravel riding with the inclusion of a dropper post

The final model on offer is the Rouvida GRX RX610, the cheapest bike in the range at £6,000 / $6,200 / €6,799. This model comes with the same WTB Vulpine 40mm tyres as the pricier Force XPLR AXS model, however it doesn’t have the dropper post and uses Shimano’s mechanical 12-speed GRX gravel groupset.

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Rounding off the range is the lowest spec option with Shimano GRX RX610

What do you think of a multi-purpose e-bike, does this have you reaching for your wallet or wondering why it’s a thing? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Cervélo

Cervélo is a bike manufacturer based in California, USA. The company produces bikes for road, track, triathlon and off-road, all with a strong focus on innovation.