Yeah, I've had the same observation. I was eyeballing an S5 last year in a bike shop, and the store owner almost ran over to me, and told me he'd had that one in inventory for 18 months, and he'd give it to me at his cost. I told him I only wanted the frame, pushed him a little bit, and I got an absolutely obscene deal on a $4500 frameset. He said no one looks at S5's anymore. He'd bought one size run from Cervelo, and basically didn't sell any in 18 months. And this is a big shop that has Tarmacs going out the door daily.

x2. I used to race Valente at the Tuesday night racing at our track (when she was like 14-15 years old and racing the men), so I'm a huge fan of U.S. women's track. It's a remarkable story of how the small group of women came together and became so dominant so quickly vs. other countries that have much deeper roots in track.

And that's a damn shame. She's incredible.

I would say that you are understating both how long some of the members of the women's TP squad have been racing, as well as how deep the roots of track cycling are in the US. (Do names like Connie Paraskevin ring a bell?)

I have an old 2011 P2 and I'm not anticipating buying another Cervelo.

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

S5 is way overdue for a redesign. You've got to think one is coming this year since they did the R5 last year. That being said, they had Dimension Data testing the R5 at the early season races and they released it around the Giro. If they are changing the S5, they aren't following that same timetable. Maybe we'll see a masked version at the Giro and get a full release around the Tour.

FWIW, I've had a S3 and R5, and am now riding a Teammachine SLR01 Disc so one less person on a Cervelo.

For road bikes besides when CSC was on them I don’t think Cervelo has really ever been that popular. I rarely if ever see people on Cervelo unless it’s a tri bike, and it’s been that way for a long time.

I see quite a few (or maybe it's the same 2 guys) Cervelo road bikes around here.

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so are you a serious athlete, too? I mean like a pro? I find this statement kinda odd

I came here to post basically what you've said here.

You know who gets a lot of running shoes for free? People who work at the shops. In part to help make the dollar go further, but also with the understanding that influencing the people who influence actual purchasing decisions is far more beneficial than, say, local fast guy.

My old local Nike-affiliated team that worked through the shop got discounts; somewhat substantial, but stuff was rarely (if ever) free.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

I don't think I am understating it. I'd call the history rich, but not very deep. On the women's side there's been one superstar per generation for the past 3 generations. There's a lot of luck there. And 3-4 others capable of competing at the international level at times, some of whom were pulled from road racing. For the men, mostly crickets.

Just to clarify - you personally had a sponsorship relationship with Cervelo (1 to 1 type relationship)? Or your coaching company did?

And if personally, was this with Cervelo corporate, like I'm assuming the Wuerteles had and FVL has? Or with, like, a regional rep or something?

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"One Line Robert"

Yes, for 2017 we had an agreement/partnership, at the corporate level with the triathlon marketing director. In 2016 I paid pro pricing for a bike.

Wuerteles are no longer with Cervelo if you didn’t see that above. Actually not sure who is still with Cervelo..........

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-Brad Williams
Website | Twitter: @BW_Tri |Instagram: @BW_Tri | Strava | Co-Founder & Coach at: KIS Coaching
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Nice!

Yeah, I did see. Which is why I used past tense to describe their relationship and present for FVL.

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"One Line Robert"

Because running shoes cost next to nothing to manufacturer? And the upside is you get running billboards. But then combine that with huge marketing campaigns that can be very broadly spent and/or hyper targeted...and it all sounds pretty smart to me. Never mind running is significantly larger than triathlon - which is so obvious I probably didnt need to write it.

As opposed to handing out bikes within a very niche sport - which arent exactly expensive to manufacturer. But bike manufacturers don't generate Nike like revenue either.

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"One Line Robert"

Hey blaxxxuede,

Yes, it stinks :(
The past few years have been tough financially for a lot of bike companies. Our management team took a hard look at where we needed to scale back and that meant some of our athletes contracts would not be getting renewed. It allows us to better focus on the smaller number of athletes and give them the best possible support.

Every triathlete we have ever sponsored was always carefully selected not only by their race results, but by their personality and fit within our company and team of athletes. We consider all our athletes as part of the Cervélo family so it was a very difficult decision to not renew contracts.

Although we are sad to lose some amazing people, we're excited to continue working with our current roster of athletes. Our engineering and design team is very focused on giving them and our customers the best tools to be faster in 2018 and beyond.

Jakub

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Jakub

Same reason I shop at my LBS as much as possible instead of buying online: they support the community (my LBS does, at least), so I support them.

ETA: that said, I'm still going to buy a bike based on fit and aerodynamics, and I'm not willing to hurt my own performance in order to support any one brand, but given the choice between two bikes that are relatively equal and both fit, as almost all bikes are these days, I'm going to choose the one that gives the most to the community.. (currently looking at a canyon myself).

I'm not sure what is odd about it.

This is purely my opinion. I am not sure why it matters to anyone but myself, but if you really want to try and understand here it goes........

I like to have confidence in my equipment. From safety, speed, and (subjective)looks aspects. Usually in that order.
When I see someone who is a far better athlete than myself racing it week in and week out, it seems to me that it meets those standards. (I am not saying that others don't as well but the perception of pros not racing your bikes anymore says something to me)

Otherwise yes I would consider myself serious as in I am dedicated(5000-7000 miles a year on a bike). FOP in legit races no.....

instead of an online dealer like canyon why wouldn't you choose an LBS bike from a brand which sponsors triathletes?

I bought my Cervelo from an LBS. If you're buying Canyon, you're not buying from an LBS. How is that better?

but I really don't want to ride a bike brand that is not willing to put their bike under serious athletes.


Mark Cavendish is riding a Cervelo! :-)

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Lol,

But he said “bike under” as others have noted the cervelo’s are rarely under cavendish.

Maurice

You've got to think one is coming this year since they did the R5 last year. That being said, they had Dimension Data testing the R5 at the early season races and they released it around the Giro.


Just spent a week in Cuba test riding on the new 2018 Cervelo R5 - in a word: WOW!

Years ago, Cervelo staked out the ground in the road bike business with their all-around R-series. In fact it was Cervelo who really first defined that we shall have two distinct kinds of road bikes - the aero road bike (S-Series) and the all-around road bike (R-Series). The aero bikes got all the looks, and the ooohhh- aaawws, but for the really serious road rider/racer it was the R-Series that you really wanted!

Years and years of refinements, have made the new Cervelo R5 a true rocket-ship, that you can ride all day.

The bike also came with the new 2018 Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 - amazing. Light-years ahead of previous iterations!

I did NOT want to give it back!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

The Speedmax looks boxy, and well ugly. Fast I'm sure, but I'm only wowed because Jan is on it. Not because it's aesthetically pleasing. QR seems to have good price points and the designs have gotten nicer.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Well there is that!

Yeah, I've had the same observation. I was eyeballing an S5 last year in a bike shop, and the store owner almost ran over to me, and told me he'd had that one in inventory for 18 months, and he'd give it to me at his cost. I told him I only wanted the frame, pushed him a little bit, and I got an absolutely obscene deal on a $4500 frameset. He said no one looks at S5's anymore. He'd bought one size run from Cervelo, and basically didn't sell any in 18 months. And this is a big shop that has Tarmacs going out the door daily.


You have to put this in the right context. 2016 and 2017, were probably the two worst years in the last 20 or so for "performance bike", road/triathlon sales. These have been really grim years. Last year Trek, CEO John Burke had this to say about the whole of the bike business, "if you are above of being 4% DOWN on your business, you are having a good year". Performance sales were REALLY down in the past two years!

In short it's been a hard, challenging few years for EVERYONE in the business.

I'd be interested to verify your "Tarmacs rolling out the door daily" report. If it's from a shop employee, with all due respect, I've received some of the WORST information ever, about the state of the bike business, from bike shop employees!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog