I've actually been comparing those two bikes as well. I think for me it's going to come down to disc brakes vs. rim brakes. It's been a while since I owned a TT bike, but I do recall braking was not that great. I'm guessing modern disc brakes solve all that and make it a more fun bike to ride.

Having owned a Canyon Aeroad CF SLX for some time and having had a very good experience, I recently picked up a Speedmax CF 8.0 LTD. Whilst I can't comment on the vs. I can give you my thoughts:

- Very high quality bike and finish is excellent
- Plenty of adjustability - but sounds like you have your own cockpit anyway
- Competitive on weight at 8.5KG for SL and LTD, might be handy for those hilly courses
- Braking is pretty poor with the Zipp 808/404, I don't know whether it is better on the SL with the DT Swiss
- The Zipps look and feel amazing

I have 3 Canyons including the Speedmax 7.0 and all have been awesome, and availability of parts has not been an issue at all. On my Aeroad I needed a longer stem; on my MTB I needed an upgrade kit to install a dropper post, on one of my other bikes I installed the canyon handlebar because I liked it so much on my aeroad, etc. When you need something, call them up, and you'll have it in a few days (2 days if you live in SoCal).

I bought a Speedmax 7.0 because I mainly wanted the frame. I installed a TriRig Alpha X front end and Omega X brakes, Rotor 3D crank with Power2Max, Flo wheels, etc. Ceramic bottom bracket and pulleys and Premier chain. It's a superfast bike, and I Iove it a lot. There are always going to be people bringing up parts availability as a concern but that's really based on bias and not reality. A LBS wants to make money and they won't make money if you buy your bike elsewhere, so it's never in their best interest to recommend a brand like canyon.

I appreciate the thoughts! Canyon has a 8.0 LTD in the outlet at the moment that’s pretty tempting. I do have a few “rolling hills” courses on the schedule for this year, hopefully the braking is at least somewhat bearable. With the price difference between the Canyon and Cervelo I’m definitely leaning towards the Canyon. Again, thank you!

Glad to hear I’m not the only one! Makes sense regarding the brakes being the final deciding factor. I’ve had decent luck with my current rim brake setup but disc is quite tempting. All of my bikes at the moment are rim brake so I’m struggling to stomach the swap cost. It’s nice being able to swap around wheels!

I'm in the middle of the same decision - Canyon vs. Cervelo, Rim vs. Disc. I already have rim brake race wheels so wheels are not that important but my whole bike 'eco-system' is based on rim brakes. Disc brakes seem to be best on steep descents in wet weather. I live in a pretty flat area and I hate riding in the rain so I'm not that worried about braking as I've yet to have a problem. (I know - "but it may happen at a race"). I think that it comes down to what type of races am I going to do, where and when. Rim brakes have been fine for Lange, Frodeno, Sanders & Starky so I'm leaning towards - they'll be okay for me as well. Price on Canyon vs. Cervelo is a contributing factor as well.

I really appreciate the reply, this is super helpful. Your build is shockingly close to what I have in mind and I’m glad you’ve had a good experience with it so far! Did you upgrade to electronic shifting? Do you think the Omega X brakes are worth the upgrade? I’d say I’m pretty convinced at this point to go with the Canyon and use the extra $$ for a few upgrades.

You are at two ends of the extreme from a product management standpoint. One is a value priced offering, and the other is a premium priced product. Unless you have massive discretionary funds, the Cervelo makes no sense. It may be faster than the Canyon, but you would have to be a sweet drug to justify the incremental $3K. You could buy a felt ia16 with the delta and be faster than both.

Omega X brakes are nice and they really compliment the bike. They're faster and work very well. No electronic shifting for me - the latest versions of the mechanical groupsets are so nice I'm not sure what other benefit Di2 will really add. Maybe I'll upgrade later but no need for me at the moment.

Very good point. It really doesn’t seem like the P-Series is worth that much of a price increase from a functional standpoint and I don’t have a special affinity for the brand. Funny you bring up the IA16, that’s actually what I have now. It’s been a great bike for over 2 years and I just got a TriRig Alpha One after a recent fit required more adjustments than the stock bars could manage and the proprietary stem saddled me with a steer tube cut incredibly short. LBS said Felt doesn’t sell replacement forks so now I’m in a bit of a pickle. Obviously could be plenty worse but its hard to ignore the option for a NBD :-). Anyway do you really feel the IA16 is a faster rig?

Yes, an IA16 with Tririg upgrades is almost certainly faster than both of those. An IA is close to the P5.

I thought that Felt was selling replacement forks. At least, they were a year or two ago.

Echoing the point on replacement part availability: I cracked the basebar on my Speedmax CF back in April 2018, I emailed Canyon USA and they mailed me a replacement quickly and free of charge.

It's almost certainly going to be faster than the Canyon, I'd be willing to bet a 5 figures on that as long as 1 isn't the first number. If you're looking at the Canyon you should also look at the Premier tactical, which is also going to be a few watts faster than the Canyon. Ask me how i know ;-)

IDK if the Felt is going to be faster than the cervelo.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Just one point or consideration- if you are like me and wanted a UCI legal bike the speedmax works whereas most tri bikes will not.

Aren't the cervelo's UCI legal?

I thought they were, maybe they're not...idk?

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

My comment was a little hyperbole and a little hunch. It looks like the new P Series is somewhere in between the old P2/3 and the P5. The P5's rear triangle with its seat tube angles and more aggressive gussets is still far more refined than the P Series. But, the P Series has way better cockpit and cable routing than the old P2/3. (The front brake routing is still way uglier than the P5 disc.)

Not to make your purchase decision more confusing, but a customer recently showed us this very slick Cervelo P-Series (Disc) with Alpha One, Scoops, and a custom-painted Delta. I'd bet this rig is the fastest among those in your shopping list. And of course, I'd recommend adding Omni to your shopping list. It's exceptionally fast :-) And it may be the best deal too; you can even buy it without the bars since you own them already.

But here's that Cervelo I mentioned:

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TriRig.com

Thanks for your detailed experience on this.

It's surprising to see Canyon be so popular in a forum where people discuss the aero penalty of skewers and the small vent on a non-ultimate aerohead.

I thought about Premier Tactical! Sadly my saddle height puts me into a large but the arm pad height is too low. Dan was incredibly responsive via email to help me sort this out with data from a recent Retul fit. Definitely a bummer I can’t send him some of my $$. Thanks for the suggestion!

Now that’s a good lookin ride! The slickest part has to be that Delta. Thank you for making my decision so much easier haha. I’ll definitely check out the Omni fit calc. Gotta make sure it can handle my non-pro triathlete measurements :-) Being able to buy the complete frame set without the Alpha One is a slick deal.

Now the P-series just became a nice bike!

I'm curious which bike you ended up buying?

I was recently in the same boat, and had narrowed my search down to the Canyon Speedmax CF 8 eTap or the Cervelo P-Series Ultegra Di2. Both the same price. In either case I'd be replacing the cockpit with an integrated setup from 51 Speedshop. The Canyon certainly wins the component race. I'd much prefer an eTap build, and the Canyon includes a power meter. The wheels are also nicer than the Vision 55TC's that come on the P-Series.

However, in the end I went with the Cervelo. There were a few local shops that actually have the bike in stock, and I like being able to touch it before I buy. Plus, they were willing to be very flexible replacing some stock parts for a credit. That's a huge bonus, since I know my exact stack and reach. Heck, the shipping date with Canyon get pushed back every other day, so who knows when you'll even be able to take delivery of one.