Posts Member

Nothing wrong with those bikes. Or the QR Seduza, or the Kuota Kaliber, or the Trek Equinox TTX, or the Scott Plasma...

Dont go by looks, go for ride. They will all have a different fit and feel. Test riding is the best part of bike shopping!

Posts Member

I have the P2C and love it. Great bike, stiff, reasonable weight and nice parts spec. The vision aero bars are the perfect bend and the wheels are great for training and not bad for racing. My only gripe is that there is only room for one water bottle cage which means you will have to run an aero cage off the back (I use the Hydro Tail which I highly recommend as well). Other than that the bike is amazing.

Also, I just got a fit and the guy told me that this is one of the easier bikes to fit people to, seems to accomoate many different positions and is not super agressive like the P3.

Go for it - you will not be dissapointed.

Posts Member

Definitely not.... Fit first, but after that, it starts to become an emotional thing. And, there is nothing like a sexy bike to motivate you to take it out for a ride!

;-)

Posts Member

Have you ridden the new Felt?
Any data to back up, either...
the stiffness of the Cannondale/ Felt vs. the Cervelo?
that stiffness in anyway effects speed?

Because I've never seen either. I've seen stiffness tests, but never have I seen it say anything except how it effects feel, not speed as you say.

Frankly, I would go either P2c or Felt depending on fit. They have seem to done their tri-geometry homework better than cannondale.

Posts Member

Well, if you stand up on a Felt or C'Dale, they flex...they feel "mushy". If you push hard up a hill, you can make the C'Dale's brakes rub. Why do you think sprinters always have carbon stems and handlebars? It's because they don't flex as much as aluminum (assuming, of course, that they're made of good carbon) and don't suck up power by being torqued.

Every bit that a bike flexes means that the power it takes to do that isn't being transferred to the wheels....conservation of energy....don't ask me, ask Newton. That's why people don't race Huffys.

Agree with you on C'Dale sucking at TT bikes, though.

Posts Member

Yeah, after the force isn't being applied anymore and there's nothing to gain in terms of forward movement. Think of it this way: Your bike moves as far forward as your crank arms times the gear ratio minus the inefficiencies in the bike. If the bike initially flexes 5 mm with every pedal stroke, eventually returning to its original position (that's how you use the word initially....it means, "at the beginning"), thats about 90rpm * 2strokes/rpm * 5mm/stroke * 53/14 = 3400mm = 11.2 ft per minute = 671 ft per hour. You're starting the run about a minute down. That's a disc wheel and trispoke. And 53/14 is a conservative estimate. If you're really strong, a 53/11 is 853 feet behind. The stronger you are, the more it matters, which makes sense...stronger riders will flex a frame more.

If you're fast, then you're fast. People ride Softrides fast because they have strong legs. People ride P3s slow because they have weak legs. Softrides are for people with back trouble or who are getting paid to ride Softrides to market to people with back trouble. Someone riding a Softride who doesn't have back trouble will be able to ride a stiff bike faster (about 60 seconds faster....pretty significant). I know that there's the argument for Softrides making it easier to run, but there's no need to make the numbers even more complicated; we're talking about stiffness.

Guess I took care of that. It's not really UNDETECTABLE, is it?

My 105 Plasma (I'll upgrade when I'm out of college where I learn things like English and Physics) flexes less than an Ultegra Slice (safe to say it's not the components). OVERBOARD would be saying that no factual information exists relating stiffness and speed. I used to time trial my old, flexy bike at about 24 mph. My nice new stiff bike went over 26 mph last weekend. Same wheels. I wasn't even wearing a skinsuit for the last one, either. Apparently the stiffness AFFECTS the speed a bit, since the end EFFECTS were a (much) faster time.

Posts Member

You win, ride your plasma and believe it's best due to stiffness.

Posts Member

Gator, you're hilarious!

How long did that post take you to write? Don't you have homework to do? :rolleyes:

Posts Member

Steel, carbon, ti...whatever. The fastest guys I know ride aluminum bikes (yeah, supposedly they are stiff) but point being is it doesn't matter whether you ride a top shelf bike or mid level bike - it is the person on the bike. You don't have to worry about seconds or even minutes when you are training your ass off and hammering when it counts. Yeah, it's fun to have the cool bikes, aero wheels, and other goodies that will save watts here and shave seconds there, but in the end, the most seconds come from training like a warrior.

Posts Member

Casino or 7-11? :eek:

Posts Member

Hey,

I'm no sport veteran, but I understand your need for a sweet-looking bike. I just upgraded from a Specialized Allez road bike to a $3500 Scott Plasma (with some upgrades) on Monday. There were some better looking bikes there and believe me, I wanted them. But in the end, the Scott fit me the best, and after riding a few, I realized I HAD to have a carbon bike--just fell in love with the way they ride. Do check out the Scott Plasma team btw--looking around you should find one for about $2,750. The Quintana Roo Seduza looked awesome, but stretched me out too much (and from what I hear, they are nearly impossible to fit). They did say good things about the Cervelos being easy to fit--so from that aspect, you're probably doing OK with a Cervelo as far as comfort goes. I'm 6'3 193, so it sounds like we have roughly the same proportional build. Might be worth a look at the Scott.

I put some sweet American Classic wheels on with tires that match the yellow/black color scheme of the bike, and some yellow tape on the base bar to add some spice to it. In the end you can do stuff like that to make your bike look meaner. I am a true believer that if you think your bike looks mean and fast, you'll be that much faster. But no matter what you get at that price range, it'll look phat and fast as hell--especially with some extras. But go for comfort and feel first!

Posts Member

okay, I just got all caught up in the cult of Cervelo and am thoroughly hooked. the frames just fit... if you have shoulder or back issues, upgrade / side grade to a more adjustable aero bar like the carbon stryke by profile design or one of the super adjustable oval design models. I just don't see how you can go wrong with Cervelo and their geometry for a tri bike.

I still say, hard work makes you go faster than any bike but the p2 carbon should cut a few minutes off your race times just by virtue of that fact that less wind resistance = faster times with less energy wasted leaving more in the tank for the run... That plus a sexy bike the the p2 or p3 carbon just makes you want to get out and ride. Luckily the bikes are so comfortable that you can look good on it for much longer rides without getting beat up :D