Slowman wrote:
"At $15k I think it needs to be more aero to justify that cost."
here are my reasons:
1. it's $15,000 the way it's spec'd at $15,000. spec a speed concept, a felt IA, a scott plasma, a dimond, a ventum, you pick the bike, you spec it that way, tell me the price of that bike.
2. there's also a $11,000 spec.
3. the felt DA, when it came out, almost a decade ago, was $12,000. period. that was the price. you can get a P5X for less than you could have gotten that initial DA for.
4. this is a new platform. just as with that DA, new platforms are way up there. they didn't get rid of the P5, the P3, the P2, they added a new bike and next year, the year after, it'll come down in price just as did the Felt DA and IA.
5. have you ridden the bike? have you adjusted it to fit you? have you taken it apart for shipping, put it back together again? i have. if you have the ability to spend time with this bike you'll discover its virtues.
6. and finally, this bike is the grand experiment in human behavior. i don't know how you race, but i know how you
writ large races. i know how you plural races. this bike is designed for how people race. how they live. their
actual training and racing behavior. i spent upwards of a week with this bike. i climbed from sea level to 6000' and back down. i rode in gusty 30mph sidewinds. i set it up quickly for myself, and had to stop 3 times on the road to make adjustments. what would have taken me 45 minutes to do on a P5-6 took me 45 seconds to do on this bike.
it's hard to appreciate this bike unless you spend some time with it. but look, you may well be better off on a tactical. that bike is just as much a marvel as the P5X. but just because you are best served on the tactical, that doesn't mean everyone else is. i promise you the P5X will make some users 5X happier than they would have been on a tactical. but i also see why the tactical is a no-brainer for a lot of people. that's why i wrote about it in pretty glowing terms.
the tactical: the best value in a high-end superbike.
the P5X: easily the most civilized superbike ever made.
the andean: what would come out if the tactical's value and the P5X's virtues mated and had a baby.
Regarding livability with these bikes what about changing a flat with the P5X and Andean? I'm not sure with disc brakes and through axles how challenging that would be.
-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
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