Originally Posted by WhyFi

As someone who has recently purchased an R3, the Caledonia hit me in the feels, too. That said, my initial reaction is that it's a big expense for a few tweaks relative to the R-series. Also, one of the more alluring aspect for me, the hidden/internal wiring, is only available on the Caledonia 5, not the base model, and only with an electronic groupset, so that steps the price way up.

What does your R5 clear, tire wise? I'm currently running wide rims (Zipp 303S, 23mm int width) with modern, nominal 28mm tires (Pro 1 Addix TLE). I haven't poked around to measure the gaps, but I think that I could clear a 30mm in a Pro 1 if I wanted to; with the wide rims, this gives me quite a bit of volume - shoddy roads are no problem, likewise with shorter stretches of gravel. Realistically, a Cal5 would get me what - three or four mm of additional tire width? I don't think that that kind of difference moves the needle much in terms of road surface capability. I guess that I could also run my current wheels/tires with full fenders, and that could be appealing in some scenarios... but still - that's a lot of coin for not a ton of return, IMO.

I guess that were I stand is: if I were shopping for a new bike and it was between the Cal5 or an R-series, I'd lean Cal5... but as an owner of a recent R-series, it's just not bringing enough improvements to the table for the difference in price and it presents a poor value proposition.