Cervélo refines Aspero gravel bike with tweaked frame, greater compliance and more room for mud

Cervélo has unveiled the latest iteration of its Áspero gravel race bike, sporting a raft of evolutionary updates including a slimmer down tube and significantly dropped seatstays.

Since its 2019 debut, the Áspero (meaning rough roads) has existed at the racier end of the wide gravel bikes spectrum, with a stripped-back frame and fork, and minimal bikepacking-friendly fixtures.

Continuing that approach, the new Áspero features tube shapes culled from Cervélo’s extensive library, with plenty of the frame’s elements drawing inspiration from its road-going siblings – most obviously the Soloist.

Unlike most new bikes, Cervélo has reduced the Áspero’s frame stiffness in some areas, which it claims improves performance.

Also unlike the plethora of new gravel bikes for 2024 – including the Merida Silex, GT Grade, Santa Cruz Stigmata and Canyon Grail – geometry has been left largely alone.

The focus is instead on improved clearance for mud and chainrings, along with frame-shape tweaks designed to make the Áspero a more agile racer.

Warren Rossiter has spent some time riding the new Cervélo Áspero Rival XPLR AXS and you can read his review here.

Frameset evolution

The new Áspero frame has seen subtle changes rather than a radical redesign. It now has a lower standover height across all sizes, while both chainstays have been dropped further to improve chainring clearance.

Cervélo has looked at the carbon and layup schedule, too, introducing more compliance to the frame and fork.

Most noticeable is the slimmer down tube, along with seatstays that are dropped much further down the seat tube.

Cervélo has decreased the head-tube stiffness to 95Nm/deg from the 110Nm/deg of the original and 112Nm/deg of the premium Áspero 5. However, bottom-bracket stiffness is up on the original 228Nm/deg versus 220, but less than the Áspero 5’s ultra-stiff 240Nm/deg.

The goal for the new bike was to maintain the Áspero’s performance-oriented handling, but improve compliance through the saddle and bar, while retaining drivetrain efficiency.

Also outgoing is Cérvelo’s long-standing press-fit BBRight bottom bracket, in favour of a threaded BBRight T47-A. It’s the same unit used on the Soloist – and it’s not the only tech borrowed from the brand’s all-rounder aero road bike.

Up-front, the new Áspero shares the ST36 system, where the hoses are semi-integrated into the frame using a D-shaped fork steerer.

For bikes with mechanical drivetrains, Cervélo offers a new cable-management system called the ‘clippy clip’. Here, a split bearing cap (available in 14mm and 30mm depths) enables the cables to be channelled, along with the hoses, through the head tube.

The cables and hoses don’t run fully internally through the stem, making servicing and transporting the bike easier.

A lot of Cervélo’s rivals have moved closer to MTB-inspired geometry, with long front-centres, longer forks and slacker head angles.

However, Cervélo has stuck to its steeper, road-oriented head angle (72 degrees on sizes 54, 56, 58 and 61cm; 71/71.5 on 48 and 51cm respectively). It’s similarly steep at the rear – 73 degrees (56, 58, 61cm), 73.5 (54cm), 74 (51cm) and 74.5 (48cm).

The new frame offers 7.4mm of mud clearance with a 700x42c tyre, thanks to chainstays that have increased to 425mm from 420mm. The wheelbase is only a millimetre longer in a size 56cm.

The fork offers the same clearance and Cervélo has kept the switchable dropout it calls the Trail Mixer.

Cervélo’s fork dropout insert alters the position of the fork offset fore and aft by 5mm horizontally. It claims this means the bike will feel the same running a relatively slender tyre on a 700c wheel, compared to a maxed-out 42mm gravel tyre.

The fork’s chin has a much cleaner integration into the head tube, which is reminiscent of the Soloist. Like the original Áspero, the new bike retains its three bottle boss sets, down tube protector and bento box mounts on the top tube.

Mud clearance on the drivetrain is also improved. With a 46-tooth chainring, there’s 2.7mm clearance, 1.8mm with a 48-tooth ring and 3.2mm for a 52-tooth ring.

The dropped seatstays influence a revised seat-tube shape with a much more prominent wheel cut-out. The seatpost has a standard 27.2mm diameter and is compatible with gravel dropper posts, while the rear dropout is now SRAM Universal Derailleur Hanger compliant.

2024 Cervélo Áspero range details

Áspero Rival XPLR AXS

Áspero GRX RX820

• Groupset: Shimano GRX 820 12-speed
• Wheels: Fulcrum Rapid Red 300
• Tyres: WTB Vulpine TCS Light 700x40c
• Handlebar: Cervélo AB09 Carbon
• Stem: Cervélo ST36 Alloy
• Saddle: Prologo Dimension NDR T4.0
• Seatpost: Cervélo SP19 Carbon 27.2
• RRP: £4,400 / $4,000 / CA$5,700 / €4,899 / AU$5,300

Áspero Apex XPLR AXS

• Groupset: SRAM Apex 1
• Wheels: Fulcrum Rapid Red 300
• Tyres: WTB Vulpine TCS Light 700x40c
• Handlebar: Cervélo AB09 Carbon
• Stem: Cervélo ST36 Alloy
• Saddle: Prologo Dimension STN
• Seatpost: Cervélo SP19 Carbon 27.2
• RRP: £4,200 / $4,300 / CA$3,500 / €4,899 / AU$5,500

Áspero APEX XPLR 1

• Groupset: SRAM Apex
• Rear wheel: Alexrims Boondocks 7D
• Front wheel: Alexrims Boondocks 7D
• Tyres: WTB Vulpine TCS Light Fast Rolling Dual DNA 60tpi 700x40c
• Handlebar: Zipp Service Course 70 XPLR Alloy
• Saddle: Cervélo Saddle
• Seatpost: Cervélo Alloy 27.2 15mm offset
• Stem: Cervélo ST36 Alloy
• RRP: £N/A / $3,500 / $4,350 / €3,599 / AU$4,400

Áspero GRX RX610

• Groupset: Shimano GRX 610
• Rear wheel: Alexrims Boondocks 7D
• Front wheel: Alexrims Boondocks 7D
• Tyres: WTB Vulpine TCS Light
• Handlebar: Zipp Service Course 70 XPLR Alloy
• Stem: Cervélo ST36 Alloy
• Saddle: Cervélo Saddle
• Seatpost: Cervélo Alloy 27.2 15mm offset
• RRP: £3,100 / $3,600 / CA$4,650 / €3,699 / AU$4,500

Áspero GRX RX610 1x

• Groupset: Shimano GRX 610
• Rear wheel: Alexrims Boondocks 7D
• Front wheel: Alexrims Boondocks 7D
• Tyres: WTB Vulpine TCS Light 700x40c
• Handlebar: Zipp Service Course 70 XPLR Alloy
• Stem: Cervélo ST36 Alloy
• Saddle: Cervélo Saddle
• Seatpost: Cervélo Alloy 27.2 15mm offset
• RRP: £3,100 / $3,600 / CA$4,650.00 / €3,699 / AU$4,500

Áspero Frameset

• RRP: $2,500 / CA$3,500 / €2,799