I was giving this one some thought and I think Cervelo is onto something here. Their first offering has its issues (e.g. clunky brakes), but honestly I think they are appealing to a big segment of their market.
I'm not a triathlete - if I am on my TT bike, I am doing 20K or 40K TTs. I don't need to eat during those efforts. I don't carry a flat kit because if I get a flat, my race is over. So I'm not the target customer for this bike. This is me on my P5. No gels taped to the top tube. Pretty simple. Likely faster now since I've switched to Alpha X / Omega X.
But I see a LOT of riders on TT bikes here in SoCal, and very few have a similarly minimalist setup. This bevy of riders may never do an IM distance triathlon, but their bikes are set up so they can. They've got bottles all over. They have huge saddle bags. They've got bentos, you name it. They are packed like they are ready to do RAAM. Solo. Basically, anywhere they can affix something to their bike, they do.
And for this large segment of riders, the P5X is gonna be faster. It's gonna hide all that damn gear. And yeah, if you are a 140.2 triathlete and need to carry a bunch of stuff to race, the P5X has got it all figured out for you. It's really not a bike as much as a complete integrated bike + storage solution. And for a lot of riders out there, many of them who have never heard of Slowtwitch, that's exactly what they need.
And yeah I know, my seat's too high.
Amateur recreational hobbyist cyclist
https://www.strava.com/athletes/337152 https://vimeo.com/user11846099