Congrats on the new ride! Not exactly semantics, but the frame is anodized (not sprayed/powder coated). As for your 3 questions, I'll only hazard a guess at #2.....I suppose Cervelo could spec the bike with some Zipps, but that would probably bump your $3300 bike up over the $4000-4500 mark. Look at the Cervelo Bayonne, spec'd with Zipp Z-series wheels....they cost $3k alone, bike comes in at $8k+ and is far less accessible for the majority of buyers.

Hope you sort things out to your liking and enjoy the beautiful ride!

B-

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"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars, the rest I just squandered" -George Best

Why didn't you just buy a frameset and put the parts you like on it? I'm completely and utterly mechanically incompetent, but with the new DA 7800 crankset, I can put together an entire bike with the exception of the headset, which still scares me a little. My LBS did the headset, cut the steerer and the seatpost for $15. I did the rest, using my favorite parts.

-jens

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My latest book: "Out of the Melting Pot, Into the Fire" is on sale on Amazon and at other online and local booksellers

I wanted to build the bike up, I am a engineer by day and play with refienry machinery and the bike in no worry, just that economocally the buying the frame and fork way is always more expensive even when I worked my LBS deals into it. for the bike to be close to ideal it could have been the new ultegra 10 set and a decent saddle. why should I buy a bike and then throw half the components away, I suppose ebay really is a god send!

The brakes are a bit crappy, it seems bike companies want to include as little shimano stuff as possible these days. I am sure the ones on there perform ok, but they look cheap on such a high spec bike.

I built my TT bike up from a frame and did not get any wheels, I just swapped over the ones from my road bike on the odd occasions I rode it. However I found I needed to train more and more on it to get used to the forward position and I got sick of swapping wheels, ended buying some. It would make it hard for shops to sell bikes if they had no wheels, they would all fall over on the showroom floor ;)

I bought a P3SL too, and I know where you are coming from, but I think there is a reason for the madness. In the Cervelo world, until the P3C comes out, the SL is the shiznit, but if you want to see people on it, it has to be affordable. As we know, there is no ceiling to how much you can spend on a bike. If they make it look cool and advertise it right, someone will spend the money. That being the case, if they put dura ace brakes on and jack up the price, some people would still want to make their SL more exotic and put a llighter carbon brake or something on it.

The bars work, they look cool, and they are new, but if you don't like them, put your old ones on. That's what I did, and I like it much better. Just like the brakes, imagine the hundreds of race wheel options you could put your money into. Tri spokes, 404's, disc combo, etc...its endless. Would you want to spend another grand on the bike and have your money invested in a race wheelset that wasn't your top choice? Think of it as a license to spend some more money. Besides, the Vistas are smooth, durable, and stealth.

Finally, is there really a bike out there that you would buy and not change anything on it? That's the bike mantra. Constant change. Constantly upgrade. Its our world, and as much as we would like to think $3300 will buy the perfect bike, it just buys a canvas to start with. Now, go paint.

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56-11...the only way to fly

I think that one reason that a bike like the P3SL comes with wheels for training vs. racing is the same rationale for not including pedals with most bikes. Personal preferences have a great deal of influence on decisions. If a bike came standard with Look pedals that would be a waste for me since I prefer speedplay. Most people purchasing a P3SL are not beginners and probably already have a set of race wheels. Why set the price high if many of the buyers don't need a second set of racing wheels. I'm sure that many bike shops would swap out the velomax for Heds or Zipps when you bought it if that is what you really wanted.

Why didn't you just buy the frame set and build it up as you like?

2. The velomax wheels are in essence "training wheels" but I do all my training on a road bike so why do I need another useless pair of end of the pot wheels.


Sell the new velomax wheels on e-bay. You'll get good money out of them. My LBS would have given me a rebate on the P3 and would have sold it to me without the wheels. But you would get a better deal on e-bay.

It is very very easy to get a good price on NEW parts on e-bay. Buy a complete bike (always the best deal), substitute your favorite parts and sell the unused parts. Comes out WAY WAY cheaper than building it up from the frame.

Francois in Montreal

There's nothing wrong with those brakes. I have a set, rode them in the rain many times last season, total ~2000 miles. They have yet to show any wear or rust. They aren't terribly light, but they aren't expensive either.

I don't know about the wheels, but any shop would've let you buy without wheels. Sometimes, dude, you need to ask!

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Too f@ckin depressed from various injuries to care about having a signature line.

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Hmmm,

We've never seen those brakes rust. I think they are good brakes.

You're right, the Velomax circuits on there are not a race specific wheel. Wouldn;t your dealer credit you for these?

I prefer non adjustable bars. At our store we change the bars on the bike to suit the customer, rather than giving them an adjustable bar- which I don't really care for because of the additional weight and complexity.

You have some good observations here, I would discuss these with your dealer and ask them to make the necessary changes so the bike suits you more completely. That is what the dealer's primary job is- getting the bike right for you.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com