So looking at your additions (which I agree should be there) Desert Dude has tested the Plasma 3 against the 5 and the 3 won.

I saw a 5 year old Shiv TT beat out 2 other of the bikes on your list.

I think Super only applies to the sticker price :-). I think it comes from the manufacturers referring to them a super profit generators....

I must be old, because my definition of the "super bike" had none of those things...

Lotus 108 then the 110
Pinarello Espada (and the other one, whatever it was called)
Hotta
Project '96 GT Superbike
Colnago had one (I forget what it was called)
the Team Australia track bikes (BT???)
and some other examples that elude me now.

They are bikes that pushed the limits of what was possible. I'm not sure what (if anything) falls into that category now. Maybe the P5x?

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I agree. And I’m not at all concerned with Disc Brakes for Triathlon. I haven’t needed them for 10 years and not concerned my Speed Concept doesn’t have them.

A better fit on the new bike could also make it 'way faster and more comfortable'.

I bet if most people would clean their drive train, they would be/feel faster as well.

True and true, though I do believe the comfort benefits of a beam when riding outside are real, not just marketing.

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Did either of them tell you how they knew the bike was faster and/or more comfortable?

Lots of people say lots of things about stuff they own. The criticisms are far more valuable than the praise, but both need to be carefully vetted.
Most people are very happy to say good things about what they chose to buy, unless they have an actual grievance.

Also, it's simply not valid to describe a bike as "faster", "more comfortable", or "better" without qualifying the remark with a hell of a lot of additional information as to the nature of the comparison. So any such statement should be treated as dubious in the absence of that contextual info.

The one they were supposed to ride in Tokyo ?

Nope. the ones they rode in Sydney 2000. Sort of Corima - esque...

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Hi fellows,

Any reason why the CUBE Aerium C68 was never mentioned in the thread? It seems to be a super bike to me ?! Or am I wrong on that one?

https://www.cube.eu/...ad/triathlon/aerium/

Maybe! I didn’t know the term existed back then. I never thought it meant a “super” bike/the fastest bike/the best bike/the most intriguing or unique bike. I always thought it had to do with integration and hiding of cables/brakes etc such that a bike was clean and had everything you “needed” hidden away from the wind and others to see in plain sight.

No reason, other than just an oversight. There are many niche bike makers that could fit in this space. For example, none of us mentioned Parlee, and they are like Cube in more of a niche space versus a global supplier.

The market has changed significantly over the past few years, and now pretty much every manufacturer has a halo bike that probably qualifies as a Super Bike. Some are more unique, like the Omni, Ventum, Dimond, and PX. But, even the P5D, which is pretty traditional, is still likely the fastest bike you can buy.

IIRC, the term was coined around 1992 when the Lotus 108 came out at the Barcelona Olympics. I know GT specifically referred to their track bikes in '96 as "Super Bikes" It was even in the name! SB1 and SB2... Edit - USA wasn't on the GT in '92. They were riding Yamaguchi's, which were gorgeous. I still want one.

Although thinking back, I'm not sure if the Team USA Huffys from '88 were called superbikes or not.

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Hi fellows,

Without starting the Third World War on this forum, it appears that the SC has not had much upgrading done to it since the Armstrong years....am I wrong on that one?

I will duck into my bunker now :(

Oh...on a side note, I appreciate all of the input on this thread, I am certainly learning :)

GG

The Trek Speed Concept is currently one of the fastest bikes you can buy. Most side-by-side wind tunnel comparisons I have seen put the Cervelo P5 at fastest, and then there have been a cluster of close second bikes, of which the SC is there. The first generation SC was pretty awesome, and the current design came out around 2013. They are probably due for an upgrade, but hey, the Cervelo P5 came out around the same time and it is still extremely fast by today's standards, and the current P5D is essentially the same bike but with disc brakes and a better cockpit.

Basic frame shape is the same (it is fast and it works). Front end is quite different though, much friendlier as I understand it. And apparently it now has functional brakes.

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Next gen SC will likely go to disc brakes and isospeed. That's my uninformed guess.

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Makes a lot of sense, thanks for the input! Agreed that a 1x setup looks super clean. Maybe someday if I stop doing hilly races/get stronger I'll go for it :)

The idea that newer is better is based on the notion that every technology can be improved upon. Bikes in the last 10 years have nearly hit a ceiling when it comes to gains. The difference between a 10 year old poor mans TT bike and a top of the line 2020 TT bike is likely down to a matter of seconds. Bikes for the large part have hit a ceiling. There are component upgrades that have made bikes faster but the frame is largely as fast as its going to get. Thats the reason why there are so many super bikes out there. There is very little that a large company like Cervelo knows about frames that a smaller niche company doesn't know as well. Going with some of the top bikes is going to be a 1% difference. Your bike choice should be based on YOUR needs and your personal preferences. The P5d is without question faster than the PX series......assuming you have no wind visible nutrition. Thus if you carry a ton of stuff on your frame a PX will be faster than a P5 despite a less aero and heavier frame.

I bought a Cervelo P5d because I liked the color, the look and thats what I'm use to. But my bike splits are not tangibly faster than my 2015 P5 nor would I expect them to be much faster than my 2011 Speed Concept if they were all set up the same.

I'm pretty sure Brian's plasma 3 isn't stock so its not exactly an apples to apples comparison. A few of the non "super bikes" can be made faster than their "super bike" successor. Eg; a modified P4 can be made faster than a P5 (which was the fastest bike out there for quite some time until the P5x came around).

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Lance was never on the gen 2 SC which was released in summer of 2013 as a 2014 model year.

Gen 2 had several improvements over gen 1:
- front end (less hardware, easier to adjust, more range for adjustability, mono extension for micro pad x adjustments, easier to break down, bosses for bta cage/bottle)
- Faster than gen 1 (according to trek white paper)
- rear brake fine adjustment (gen 1 only had this on the front brake)
- seatpost clamping improvement
- Internal seatpost mount for Di2 battery

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During my time on this forum, the origination of the term "super bike" came about in the 2011/2012 timeframe with the original release of the SC and P5 which at that time were the first bikes to showcase integrated front ends (SC/P5) and integrated storage (SC draft box).

But doing a search result shows discussions back to 2002. Define it however you like.... there's no wrong answer here

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Granted.

IMO, my very personal definition of superbike is a bike that can be made top 5 fastest with whatever 3rd party addons are required. That made be a bar from Matt Steinmetz, or a brake from XYZ....

IMO the plasma 3 makes that list. Definitely top 10.

Hello, thank you for the update.

What do you fellows think the SC Gen 3 would require to make it a modern up-to-date superbike?

With my limited knowledge on tri-bikes, I think a disc brake option would be the first place to start :)

GG

I wouldn’t call the SC out of date. Sure it’s going on 7 years since the latest version was released but the bike was really the industry leader and first to do a lot of things you see today on new bikes that are now expected (adjustability and integration). The rest of the mfg’s have just now caught up. The bikes still checks all of the boxes of a super bike (IMO) and is still one of the fastest bikes available.

I think we are still a year or 2 away from a new SC being released. I personally would like to see a few things on a new SC:

- micro pad x/y adjustment (Trek already has pad x figured out, now they just need to figure out how to add pad y..... essentially the trek and cervelo front ends need to have a kid)
- T47 BB (I don’t have a huge issue with bb90 personally, but after ~30k miles on my sc I’m not sure how much longer I have with the current bb shell)

I don’t really think disc brakes are needed or required for a Tri/TT bike so it’s not something I care too much about. But I do think that a new SC will have disc brakes.

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