This Vaunted Racing Brand’s First E-Bike Is Basically a Dip in the Fountain of Youth

Ripping around on the gravel version of Cervélo’s brand-new Rouvida feels like getting a new lease on life.

Published December 5, 2023

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In the year 2023, Cervélo accomplished something unprecedented. Its bikes were ridden by the winners of all three Grand Tour stage races: Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España. And yet, that might not even be the most shocking thing the renowned Canadian bike brand did this year. Because today, it’s launching … an e-bike.

And not just any e-bike, mind you. That’s not how Cervélo rolls. Nah, the new Rouvida is quite possibly the sleekest, speediest pedal-assist ride I’ve ever tried. That’s certainly what the designers intended, anyway.

The nuts-and-bolts key is a super-streamlined carbon frame housing a Fazua Ride60 motor with a 432wH battery that promises 60nM of torque and assists up to 28 miles per hour. But what really makes it a Cervélo are unique touches, such as vertically orienting the battery to save 25g in the wind tunnel, well-hidden controls and of course some smooth-shifting groupsets.

Speaking of which, the Rouvida is not one bike but four: two roadies and two gravel bikes, each type having its own frame but different groupsets. On the road side is the Rival XPLR AXIS 1 with SRAM Rival groupset ($,7,500) and the Red XPLR AXIS 1 with SRAM Red groupset ($13,000). On the gravel side is the GRX RX610 with Shimano GRX groupset ($6,800) and the Force XPLR AXS 1 with SRAM Force groupset ($9,800).

Cervélo Rouvida Force XPLR AXS 1
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All the frames feature cleverly designed interchangeable dropouts, so no matter which terrain you favor, you can shift toward the other style. But generally, the gravel frames have a slacker head tube, longer trail, taller stack, shorter reach and more tire clearance (up to 43.5 mm) than the road versions.

I am admittedly a bit of a caveman when it comes to the finer specs, but I was lucky enough to get to rip around on the higher-end gravel model, the aforementioned Force XPLR AXS 1, ahead of today’s release, and I have thoughts. While there’s at least one nit to pick, and I am generally an e-bike skeptic, I gotta say I am pretty wowed by this bike’s ability to make me feel at least a decade younger. Here’s what jumped out after half a day e-biking all over rocks and dirt — and a few city miles, too.

Electric interface is (mostly) smooth and even subtle

As the headline here is “e-bike,” I was super curious how smoothly Cervélo could integrate the technology. Rewarding my continuous faith that the best e-bikes are made by brands who start by making, you know, bikes, the answer is very smoothly. Cervélo was wise to sign up with Fazua, which is based near Munich and has been progressively innovating e-bike motors for a decade.

The result is not only a super efficient and quiet motor, but a pretty approachable interface. A simple display on the top tube indicates your basic amount of charge and also how much juice you are getting, from the eco-level green to the intermediate blue to the damn near ludicrous red (really more of a magenta). This little display also pops up to provide access to a USB-C charging port, a nice touch when your devices need a battery boost.

To turn the bike on and to shift between the power levels, you reach down the inside of the drop bars with your thumbs, where two very discreet buttons enable you to decrease power (left) and increase it (right).

It really could not be simpler or sleeker. Within a minute of riding I was able to pretty comfortably get the hang of it. If anything, the buttons are a bit too discreet — you do have to rather deliberately press them with your thumbs to activate. On the downside, it can be a little tricky to adjust pedal-assistance on the fly. On the upside, there’s almost no chance of accidentally triggering it one direction or the other.

Climbs like a champ

While it is a thrill to crank the bike up to magenta and zip through New York City like a maniac (seriously, if you’ve gotta be somewhere that would normally take you 20 minutes, you can easily shave five), I was more interested in how the bike would perform on actual gravel — hilly gravel.

So I took the train up to my go-to gravel spot, Cold Spring, and loaded up a 40-mile route. While it was nice cruising the flats and ripping the downhills on the slim but capable WTB Vulpine TCS 700x40c tires — where I typically kept the power at green level — the bike really impressed on the climbs.

Here it’s worth mentioning that, relatively speaking, all the Rouvida models are pretty dang light. The road versions are around 29 pounds, and my tester, with Shimano clipless pedals attached, weighed just under 31. Not only does that mean that it’s super nimble on flats and technical descents, but kicking up the power — in tandem with the smooth-shifting 1×12 SRAM Force XPLR AXS drivetrain — lets you tackle big hills without breaking much of a sweat.

As an e-bike skeptic, I will be the first to say that part of what makes cycling special is those brutal, punishing climbs. That’s where you theoretically earn the privilege of bombing down glorious downhills after all. But hey, we’re all getting older, and I’ll be the first to say that as the day wore on, I was plenty happy to shift into blue or even red mode and with medium effort crest hills that normally nearly break me.

It’s on those climbs where I really felt a decade younger — and had the smile on my face to match. Did I feel a little guilty blowing past a couple of other riders tackling one ascent the traditional way? Sure, but unlike with early-gen e-bikes, it’s not like they could hear me coming, at least.

In all, I did more than 4,500 feet of climbing, which is not record-breaking, but that’s typically enough to leave me pretty damn sore the next day. In this case, if the bike had any more juice, I probably could have doubled that number.

Not much of a pack mule

Like I said, I do have a nitpick, and this is it. I find it sort of ironic that while this bike is optimized for going fast and crushing tough ascents, it’s not set up to bring along a bit of baggage, which it could quite comfortably carry. There are mounts on the seat tube and down tube and … that’s it. Nothing on the fork, nothing on the top tube (sort of understandable as that is where the electronic readout is) and nothing on the seat stay.

You also can’t store anything under the seat, because the electronic dropper post motor is there. (I love a dropper post as much as anyone, but I prefer the simple hydraulic mechanism that doesn’t have a battery you need to occasionally charge.)

Now, I recognize that with the limited range of an e-bike, you’re might not be planning to take this thing on a big bikepacking adventure. (With semi-judicious power management, I was able to squeeze more than 50 miles out of a charge, which is awesome for half a day but not an extended trip without somewhere to recharge.) Still, another mount or two to take along some extra gear or snacks wouldn’t hurt, would it?

Bottom line: Fast and fun AF

That little quibble aside, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have an absolute blast on the Rouvida. I can see a lot of handy uses for it, especially if you bike a lot with someone who is much younger and/or fitter than you are. Or hey, if you have the means, you could get one for a parent and help them level the playing field with you.

Even without those factors, if you just want to be able to ride more without fatigue, or regain the joy of biking, I can definitely see the appeal. It doesn’t hurt that Cervélo itself is aces at bike design, making the Rouvida a hyper-efficient pleasure to ride, electric power aside. I imagine if you removed that whole set-up, it would make for an excellent human-powered gravel bike.

I enjoyed it so much that, on the train back to the city, with one battery indicator light left, I got off one stop early, in Harlem, and ran the Rouvida into the ground on the 120-block trip downtown. So. Damn. Fun. In another life, I could see picking one of these up just to shred city streets like the Tasmanian Devil. The only question then would be what kind of over-the-top, Pee-Wee Herman-esque lock I’d procure to safeguard a ride that costs nearly 10 grand.