Now you are at it too, with this "Premium" business! ;-)

Yes, should have said, that is on my list too but being in the UK I'm a bit put off buying direct from the US without a UK distributor. And I'd be holding out for the frameset+bars option - don't need the wheels or the power meter! I think Dan said that would be an option eventually. I do like the bike and the ethos.

I'm one of those that is in the U.S. and chose Canyon:
- Nutrition, hydration, and tool storage integration done in a way that makes sense to me and the way I race (don't get me started on Cervelo's decision to mandate accommodating a round bottle on the down tube)
- Build option with Ultegra Di2 and no race wheels.
- While there aren't any published tunnel numbers, 2 IM WC wins with strong bike splits certainly provide some confidence that it's not a brick.
- I'm still planning on working a business trip to Europe and bringing one back. Even with import tax and airline fee, once VAT is refunded the price point is just over $5k. Compare that to the other top responses in the poll. The Felt IA3 will cost you that and you don't get Di2 or integrated hydration and tool storage. A P5 is only available with Dura-Ace and HED Jets and you're going to pay $3k more even for mechanical shifting, no integrated storage or hydration (though admittedly wicked fast). The P5X is of course more than double the price. The Speed Concept 9.9 is also more than double the Canyon's price. Finally, the QR PRsix with Di2 is at least $3k more. Even among the other responses, is there a bike with that kind of integration and Di2 that even comes close to the price point?

The question talks about which brand bike you would buy based on what you know today. While tririg may not get the expected score it may be because people would not buy the complete bike yet, which is what they are asking. However, they will get a specialized, cervelo, felt, trek, orbea and swap out a bunch of parts for tririg parts without even riding it once.

Especially from teh impression that I get from ST, this poll will show which frame most people would buy.

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Swim with swimmers, bike with cyclists, run with runners. Train with those who are hard to keep up with. Soon you will be hard to keep up with.

Knighty - Thanks for your post. I put up the frame set pricing on our website a few months back.

I'm sponsoring Storm the Castle in Ludlow UK April 23. If you are in the area please stop by and say hello - I will have the bike there.

I'm in Taiwan this week working out some shipping options for customers outside the US. Currently we ship all the bikes to the US which include US Duty and ocean freight to Chicago etc... shipping it from the US to Australia, New Zealand or UK does not make sense from a cost perspective.

Soon we will be able to offer a direct shipment from our Taiwan office - omit those two costs and add the freight from Taiwan direct to the athletes home country. In addition, the athlete would then only pay duty/taxes for their home country.

We are trying to eliminate as many costs as possible to make the bike more available.

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Dan Kennison

facebook: @triPremierBike
http://www.PremierBike.com
http://www.PositionOneSports.com

Things I'm surprised by:

1) Canyon is so high

You can't even buy one of these in the US. And their distribution channel for their tri bikes is - by many accounts - horrifying.

2) Ventum is so low

This is a manufacturer who might possibly have the fastest bike currently in production. It's got a co-founder who posts on here probably as much as Dan (K) does and who probably has a better grasp on what athletes want than most other bike company founders/CEO's given that he was a good athlete himself and the team behind the Ventum knows a thing or two about going real fast.

The question talks about which brand bike you would buy based on what you know today. While tririg may not get the expected score it may be because people would not buy the complete bike yet, which is what they are asking. However, they will get a specialized, cervelo, felt, trek, orbea and swap out a bunch of parts for tririg parts without even riding it once.

Good point and right in some ways.

Indeed, the number of triathletes who will buy a new bike, "a la carte", as they say - by buying a frame and building it up with the spec and parts they want, purchased separately is relatively low (but probably a high number of those sorts of folks are here on the ST Forum!)

The vast majority of bikes sold, and not just tri bikes but road bikes to, get sold as complete bikes with the spec the manufacturer has put on them! Indeed, that's what often defines the "price-point" of a bike - "This is the Ultegra version", and so on!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

You can't even buy one of these in the US. And their distribution channel for their tri bikes is - by many accounts - horrifying.

What do you mean by this?

This is a manufacturer who might possibly have the fastest bike currently in production. It's got a co-founder who posts on here probably as much as Dan (K) does and who probably has a better grasp on what athletes want than most other bike company founders/CEO's given that he was a good athlete himself and the team behind the Ventum knows a thing or two about going real fast.

In the past a great Slowtwitch forum presence was VERY helpful to a brand in the triathlon market. Indeed, one of the reasons for Cervelo's early success in triathlon, was co-founder Gerard Vroomen's regular presence on the forum - answering questions, making contributions, even taking some shots and criticism. It was all a bit simpler back then - the Internet was still relatively new and no where near as big and omnipresent as today, and social media and other digital marketing options and channels a ways off.

I believe having a presence here is still helpful and important for a brand - it's just not as potent as it was years ago. Things are more complicated now.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Well, exhibit A is their continued delays into the US Market. They are "behind schedule" on that already. Another example is frustration with their delivery timetables for Euro consumers. Here is an example of that. Here is another example. Here are some reviews of their CS. Shall I continue?

This poll lead me to pick Trek because of the wording of the poll. The reason I say that is because the one I am most likely to buy NEXT would be a used bike that I know is fast. And I know the Speed Concept is fast and I would be able to get it at a good price used.

Now if the poll were buying new I would probably have gone with Scott, Ventum, Premier, or Canyon based on what I know about those bikes, and like. Scott and Canyon I would LOVE because of the integration of everything, Ventum looks cool and is fast and has cool, and responsive, owner. And Premier because I love what they are doing and that bike looks fast and very adjustable.

I also do like the new QR bikes too. They look nice and look very clean which should be fast. But in reality if someone gave me a choice I am not sure which way I would go since, assuming I fit on them, they are all probably in the same league. So another way to put it is if anyone wants to give me one of those bikes I would gladly take it!

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Twitter - Instagram

So another way to put it is if anyone wants to give me one of those bikes I would gladly take it!

Poll asked about "Buying" not "getting"! :)

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Hey maybe someone will win the lotto then see my post and say "hey I'm going to buy this guy a bike." It's a long shot but sometimes they workout!

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Twitter - Instagram

Well, exhibit A is their continued delays into the US Market. They are "behind schedule" on that already. Another example is frustration with their delivery timetables for Euro consumers.


I recall that Cervelo had a few "growing-pains" back in the 00's as well. Typically, around delivery times to dealers and expectations out of line with what was the reality of the delivery and availability. They seemed to weather-those-storms reasonably well.

That business/brands are not perfect, and have challenges and problems is well known - happens to even the best-of-the-best - it's how they react to these challenges/problems that will really define how the business goes from there.

Canyon is coming into the North American market at an interesting time both in the micro and the macro sense.

Macro - The bike and tri business in NA is flat or down! The good news is perhaps things have bottomed out!

Micro - They are supposed to launch in Q3! The bike buyng season is more-or-less over by this point, but perhaps it will give them the fall/winter, to ease into things and work out some of the bugs.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog