Alright, I’ve gotten a number of requests to put together a post on my project bike, the P3-6. I will detail the changes I made, and the reasoning in this post. Hopefully it could help some with their questions on what I have done.
First, the bike specs.
Frame: Cervelo New P3 Size 54 cm
Fork: Cervelo P5-6 version
Bars: 3T Aduro
Groupset: Shimano Ultegra 6870 (updated from full bike picture
Brakeset: TriRig Omega X front and rear
Crankset: Quarq Elsa RS 165mm BB30, 53/39 chainrings (Updated from picture)
Wheels: HED Jet 9+ w/ Catalyst Carbon Cover
Skewers: ViewSpeed Aero Skewers
Bento Box: Darkspeed Works 480D (sometimes put on a torhans bento)
Alright, first things first. Why did I build this Franken-bike instead of just buying a P5-6. Serveral reasons. Most of all, I like to have something that is a little bit different. It is just too easy to go any buy a P5 off the shelf. Second, I hate hate hate bb mounted brakes. Not an issue when they work, but if I ever have to get to them to work on, I just would rather have a traditional brake placement. Finally, I never intended to go this far with the project, I sort of fell into the p5 front end through a number of sources. I will detail the modifications I have made below one by one:
1. P5-6 bar and fork install
This one was easy and is not really a mod. It is just about gathering the pieces and putting them together. The geometry of the headtube area is very similar between the p5 and p3/p2 and it fits no problem. I got the bars by stumbling across them when the Garmin guys were selling off their old Cervelo gear at the beginning of the year. Then I poked around for a fork and found one that a shop had sitting around (Thanks ATC!). After ordering the small pieces, I put it all together and the P3-6 was born.
2. Paint
Completely unnecessary, but I am OCD about matching and it started to drive me nuts. Allen Edwards (PaintIt) helped me with the paint job. Under 30 days from shipment to receiving it back!
3. BB Mounted Torhans VR
Like most everyone with the p2/p3/p5, I wanted some sort of aero neutral flat storage option for the mysterious bb mounted bolt. I know that Torhans had a design that was never followed through for various reasons and it didn’t look like anyone was going to release anything. I knew the VR tested ok on several bikes and had one sitting around. One day I got a stroke of smarts and noticed I could just lop off the bottom part and it would line put well with the angles of the DT and ST. So I went for it. Basically, I took a knife to the mount for the bottle and cut off the bottom inch or so. This obviously left a giant hole in the bottom and not and really secure way to attach it to the frame besides the bottom cage bolt. To fix this, I took the left over plastic from what I cut off and fashioned a bottom plate of sorts. I use a soldering iron to heat the plastic and attach it to the mount. Viola. The bottom bolt now has a use. I originally did this with a normal VR, but wasn’t entirely happy with the lack of transition to the seat tube and overall quality of my work. So I order and Felt VR version and it did wonders. As you can see, it transitions to the frame as the U cutout shields the seat tube better (it also helps with it being secure with a little cut up tube glued in place). This final product is pretty slick. No aero numbers as of yet, but I hope to get some one day. At best, I am hoping for aero neutral. I’m also working on modifying a vr bottle to sit in there and maybe use that for concentrated nutrition)
1st Attempt:
2nd Attempt:
4. Aero 30 Mod
For those of you who have paid attention to Jim and his results with the Aero 30, you know there is a substantial benefit using the Aero 30 if you can get it right up to the headtube. Originally I cursed Cervelo and their silly little bridge for a BTA bottle on the aduro bar. I knew I c couldn’t cut and/or modify that portion of the bar as it was adding some sort of structural support. Then after my exploits with the VR, it clicked. Make the bottle fit the bar. So much like the VR, I took a knife and a soldering iron to a $30 water bottle. This was much more frustrating as I obviously didn’t want it to just be a glorified fairing. I needed it to hold water. A couple of hours of soldering, checking for leaks, and fixing any holes and I had a bottle that holds water. To ensure the seal, I took some food safe silicone and gobbed it up along the seam of the pieces.
For reference, I used the Torhans VR plastic to mold into the bottle. Worked ok, but the glass transition temperature for the Aero 30 and VR plastic is different and thus it took some learning to join the pieces properly.
Being a sucker for punishment, I gave the first bottle away to the Wurtele clan. Heather even used it at IMTX. Pretty cool moment to see a shot of her using something I made. That was a dumb move though as I now needed to make another one. The results was slightly cleaner the second time. It may look messy from the back, but from the front, you can’t see a thing.
Also, instead of the straw mast, I now use a camelback water hose and bite valve with a magnet that extends to near my hands. This allows me to pick it up, sip, and then place it back. I had to dip my head awkwardly with the straw mast, so this was a better solution for me.
5. Omega X/Magnetic fairings and beard
If you noticed on the bike specs section, I am using Omega X brakes. If you are familiar with the fork of a P5-6, you know that isn’t normal as the fairings for the brake attach to the Magura brake only. Well, while I didn’t mind the Magura brakes, I just didn’t like the thought of something happening in travel. Also, I was moving to Di2 and I didn’t want to do the Cateye button hack again.
Looking at the Omega X and the magnetic attachment of the front plate, I had an idea to go the same thing to the p5 brake fairings. So I ordered the brakes and installed them with no issues. Then I had to get the fairings to attach properly. Using some sugru (magical stuff) I created a sort of “mount” that would cradle the brake arm and hold the magnet. The mold had to cradle the brake arm so that it would pull the fairing back after the brake was released. I essentially pressed the moldable sugru on to the fairing (w/ a magnet in place) and then set it on the brake to align it with the fork. Once I was happy with the placement, I pulled it off and let it cure. The magnet came off when I pull the fairing away, but I glued it in place after the sugru was cured.
Also a note: the fairings did need to be trimmed with an exacto knife due to the pad arms of the brake not clearing the original fairing.
This modification is the best as I can snap the covers on and off with no thought. It also allows for easy access and adjustment of the brake.
The other portion of the fairings was with the “beard” attachment on the p5. I hated the thought of traveling with it and having to remove the 3 tiny bolts each time to pack it properly. Luck for me, magnets were my new best friend. I also have a basic 3D printer at home (DeltaPrintr) and knew I could make an attachment for the beard with inset magnets.
After some measurements on the current beard attachment, I iterated the design and came up with a final result. Using some magnets with a countersunk hole, I attached them to the aduro bar using the normal screws. I only used two of the potential three as it was sufficient for alignment and holding strength purposes. Then I attached my home-made beard attachment to the beard. The final result is a easy to remove piece. There was a slight gap to the spacer above, so I used some more sugru to fill the gap. The brake fairings sit slightly lower than they would stock and to keep a proper gap with reason there was a gap was that I placed the beard I had to make the beard lower on the headtube.
Overall, this is my proudest modification. It took some time but it removes a ton of hassle from the bike and is simple and easy to live with.
That’s all I have. Let me know if you have any questions. Feel free to tell me I wasted my time as well.
First, the bike specs.
Frame: Cervelo New P3 Size 54 cm
Fork: Cervelo P5-6 version
Bars: 3T Aduro
Groupset: Shimano Ultegra 6870 (updated from full bike picture
Brakeset: TriRig Omega X front and rear
Crankset: Quarq Elsa RS 165mm BB30, 53/39 chainrings (Updated from picture)
Wheels: HED Jet 9+ w/ Catalyst Carbon Cover
Skewers: ViewSpeed Aero Skewers
Bento Box: Darkspeed Works 480D (sometimes put on a torhans bento)
Alright, first things first. Why did I build this Franken-bike instead of just buying a P5-6. Serveral reasons. Most of all, I like to have something that is a little bit different. It is just too easy to go any buy a P5 off the shelf. Second, I hate hate hate bb mounted brakes. Not an issue when they work, but if I ever have to get to them to work on, I just would rather have a traditional brake placement. Finally, I never intended to go this far with the project, I sort of fell into the p5 front end through a number of sources. I will detail the modifications I have made below one by one:
1. P5-6 bar and fork install
This one was easy and is not really a mod. It is just about gathering the pieces and putting them together. The geometry of the headtube area is very similar between the p5 and p3/p2 and it fits no problem. I got the bars by stumbling across them when the Garmin guys were selling off their old Cervelo gear at the beginning of the year. Then I poked around for a fork and found one that a shop had sitting around (Thanks ATC!). After ordering the small pieces, I put it all together and the P3-6 was born.
2. Paint
Completely unnecessary, but I am OCD about matching and it started to drive me nuts. Allen Edwards (PaintIt) helped me with the paint job. Under 30 days from shipment to receiving it back!
3. BB Mounted Torhans VR
Like most everyone with the p2/p3/p5, I wanted some sort of aero neutral flat storage option for the mysterious bb mounted bolt. I know that Torhans had a design that was never followed through for various reasons and it didn’t look like anyone was going to release anything. I knew the VR tested ok on several bikes and had one sitting around. One day I got a stroke of smarts and noticed I could just lop off the bottom part and it would line put well with the angles of the DT and ST. So I went for it. Basically, I took a knife to the mount for the bottle and cut off the bottom inch or so. This obviously left a giant hole in the bottom and not and really secure way to attach it to the frame besides the bottom cage bolt. To fix this, I took the left over plastic from what I cut off and fashioned a bottom plate of sorts. I use a soldering iron to heat the plastic and attach it to the mount. Viola. The bottom bolt now has a use. I originally did this with a normal VR, but wasn’t entirely happy with the lack of transition to the seat tube and overall quality of my work. So I order and Felt VR version and it did wonders. As you can see, it transitions to the frame as the U cutout shields the seat tube better (it also helps with it being secure with a little cut up tube glued in place). This final product is pretty slick. No aero numbers as of yet, but I hope to get some one day. At best, I am hoping for aero neutral. I’m also working on modifying a vr bottle to sit in there and maybe use that for concentrated nutrition)
1st Attempt:
2nd Attempt:
4. Aero 30 Mod
For those of you who have paid attention to Jim and his results with the Aero 30, you know there is a substantial benefit using the Aero 30 if you can get it right up to the headtube. Originally I cursed Cervelo and their silly little bridge for a BTA bottle on the aduro bar. I knew I c couldn’t cut and/or modify that portion of the bar as it was adding some sort of structural support. Then after my exploits with the VR, it clicked. Make the bottle fit the bar. So much like the VR, I took a knife and a soldering iron to a $30 water bottle. This was much more frustrating as I obviously didn’t want it to just be a glorified fairing. I needed it to hold water. A couple of hours of soldering, checking for leaks, and fixing any holes and I had a bottle that holds water. To ensure the seal, I took some food safe silicone and gobbed it up along the seam of the pieces.
For reference, I used the Torhans VR plastic to mold into the bottle. Worked ok, but the glass transition temperature for the Aero 30 and VR plastic is different and thus it took some learning to join the pieces properly.
Being a sucker for punishment, I gave the first bottle away to the Wurtele clan. Heather even used it at IMTX. Pretty cool moment to see a shot of her using something I made. That was a dumb move though as I now needed to make another one. The results was slightly cleaner the second time. It may look messy from the back, but from the front, you can’t see a thing.
Also, instead of the straw mast, I now use a camelback water hose and bite valve with a magnet that extends to near my hands. This allows me to pick it up, sip, and then place it back. I had to dip my head awkwardly with the straw mast, so this was a better solution for me.
5. Omega X/Magnetic fairings and beard
If you noticed on the bike specs section, I am using Omega X brakes. If you are familiar with the fork of a P5-6, you know that isn’t normal as the fairings for the brake attach to the Magura brake only. Well, while I didn’t mind the Magura brakes, I just didn’t like the thought of something happening in travel. Also, I was moving to Di2 and I didn’t want to do the Cateye button hack again.
Looking at the Omega X and the magnetic attachment of the front plate, I had an idea to go the same thing to the p5 brake fairings. So I ordered the brakes and installed them with no issues. Then I had to get the fairings to attach properly. Using some sugru (magical stuff) I created a sort of “mount” that would cradle the brake arm and hold the magnet. The mold had to cradle the brake arm so that it would pull the fairing back after the brake was released. I essentially pressed the moldable sugru on to the fairing (w/ a magnet in place) and then set it on the brake to align it with the fork. Once I was happy with the placement, I pulled it off and let it cure. The magnet came off when I pull the fairing away, but I glued it in place after the sugru was cured.
Also a note: the fairings did need to be trimmed with an exacto knife due to the pad arms of the brake not clearing the original fairing.
This modification is the best as I can snap the covers on and off with no thought. It also allows for easy access and adjustment of the brake.
The other portion of the fairings was with the “beard” attachment on the p5. I hated the thought of traveling with it and having to remove the 3 tiny bolts each time to pack it properly. Luck for me, magnets were my new best friend. I also have a basic 3D printer at home (DeltaPrintr) and knew I could make an attachment for the beard with inset magnets.
After some measurements on the current beard attachment, I iterated the design and came up with a final result. Using some magnets with a countersunk hole, I attached them to the aduro bar using the normal screws. I only used two of the potential three as it was sufficient for alignment and holding strength purposes. Then I attached my home-made beard attachment to the beard. The final result is a easy to remove piece. There was a slight gap to the spacer above, so I used some more sugru to fill the gap. The brake fairings sit slightly lower than they would stock and to keep a proper gap with reason there was a gap was that I placed the beard I had to make the beard lower on the headtube.
Overall, this is my proudest modification. It took some time but it removes a ton of hassle from the bike and is simple and easy to live with.
That’s all I have. Let me know if you have any questions. Feel free to tell me I wasted my time as well.
Last edited by:
zachboring: Jul 27, 15 7:43