Integrated storage (draft box and bento) and presumably clearance for wider tires (though I'm not sure what the equinox can handle now). If you are fit well and still enjoying the equinox, probably no real reason to rush into an upgrade but if it makes you happy or want to train more, then its worth it.

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It'll likely be one of the last of the great rim brake bikes, if you're interested in staying rim.

Thanks. That has in fact occurred to me. Not ready for the rotors outside my MTB. (B/c I'm getting old and aesthetics matters more & more.)

I just bought a 2020 Speed Concept. Why? Because I got one of the fastest frames available with Ultegra Gruppo, draft box and top tube storage for under 4K. Add race wheels and I have one of the best looking, most aerodynamic, most comfortable tri bikes available. I like rim brakes on a tri bike just fine. I think it’s the best deal out there!

You MAY have to trim the rear brake cover, or run one of the UCI legal covers, but I bet you can get 700x28 tires on a SC. I have 700x25 GP4000s on my training wheels and those work fine. Wide tires don't work so hot on most of the old superbikes.

You may want to hold off until after Kona to see if Trek does a new SC. If that happens, it would be disc and I would expect some deep discounts to move the rim brake bikes out quickly.

it's very fast and insanely ajustable.

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Great thinking (& along w/others, thanks for sharing). Any thought on when post-Kona pricing may kick in?

Very doubtful you will see any price drop on the SC. Unless you can find a Trek dealer that has last years model in stock and needs to make room for newer inventory...

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Same here, just took delivery of a P1 frameset from my LBS. Love the storage, perfectly fine with rim brakes (especially with HED black rims), nice aero package on the P1 frame, love having the easy dealer/parts network. Building with Ultegra di2 shifting and a 9100 crankset, black jets 9/6, might pick up a jet disc.

Really the only thing I feel like I am losing out on compared to some of the newer cervelo models is the super easy to adjust arm pad height with their monopost thing.

Is there a stack/reach armpad chart available for the speed concept?

I asked Mitch (trek rep here on the forum) about that few weeks back, and he emailed me the sizing documents. They are too large to attach here, and not sure where they can be found online. If you want to PM me your email address, I can forward them to you.

Its proven to be fast, reliable and there is an insanely deep well of knowledge on the bike right here on Slowtwitch.

This is the reason!

Thank you all. Like i said, I'm brand loyal to Trek (like I am to Toyota). I'm pulling the trigger!

This. If you order the base package, and skip the pricey Project One customization, it’ a screaming performance bargain. Despite the age of the design, I don’t think you can buy an appreciable faster frame. Throw a ~$2k Hed Jet 9/Disc combo on a ~$4k standard Speed Concept, and you have a package that can go toe-to-toe with anything you can buy at any price.

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I had a speed concept a few years ago. I built the bike up and the integrated handlebar setup and cables running through the front end with the proprietary brakes was just too much bs. It took forever to get it setup right. I ran to a bike shop for a brake part and the mechanic was like, OMG... why have that bike. He said, unless you are a pro, why go through the headache on setting that up if you have to break it down to fly to a race.

I agreed. Sold it and bought a Cervelo P2 since it has a regular stem and regular road brakes.

My .02

You do bring up a valid issue, albeit a bit overstated and one that applies to a good number of other superbikes out there. The Speed Concept has a huge fit range, but making changes to aspects of the fit involving stack can be difficult, particularly with mechanical setups. Reach and armpad width are easily adjustable, but other than a 5 mm spacer, stack adjustment is complicated. The mono spacer can be changed reasonably easily if you have electronic shifting, but requires a re-cable with mechanical. Changing stems requires a re-cable.

For this reason, I don't recommend the SC for folks that don't have a dialed-in position (other than the 7.0 which has a normal stem). If you're still experimenting with your position, you're better off with a regular stem, or else the newer Cervelos with the mono stem, or the Tririg Alpha One.

I've traveled with the SC and it didn't require recabling, I was able to unbolt the handlebar and drape it to the side (with a plenty of padding, of course).

We do have two SCs in our household and it's a super fast bike at a reasonable price and that still makes it a compelling choice for anyone with a well-dialed in position. Both of us far overperform in the bike leg relative to our power output thanks to really good aerodynamics, and the SC is an important part of that equation.

Yeah honestly that is a bit of an exaggeration, and you need a better bike shop if that was their reaction. I had a gen1 SC9 and the brakes were some of the easiest to work on, two arms with a spring in the middle, and a pulley between them. Yes, getting the -initial- cable housing routing took a little more time if you are not experienced at it, but how often do you have to do that anyway? Any decent shop should be able to route the brake housing through the bars in minutes, especially if they have something like the park tools di2 snake kit, which in this day and age every shop should have.

Agree with you on the base package. But just food for thought..... I paid roughly $700 Canadian (about 500 US) to upgrade from the stock SC frameset to the P1 frameset with the base two tone paint colors, of which there were about 4 to choose from. With the 'base; P1 upgrade, you get:

- those few paint options
- carbon seat post
- full non-UCI width base bar
- speed fin rear brake cover

None of that is gonna make you any faster IMHO, but I think they are nice upgrades for the price.

Carbon seat post is a measly 40 grams lighter, but does have fitment for a Di2 internal battery. Slightly faster in the wind tunnel but likely no faster with a rider on board. Adjustment is more fiddly than the aluminum post.

Speed fin & non-UCI basebar might be a tad faster but more importantly, both look way cooler.

Choosing your own paint scheme might also have a placebo effect!

Yep, like I said, none will make ya faster, just for me I liked the upgrades.

I could also just get a 2012 trek speed concept 2.5 aluminum frame off ebay for $500, throw a bar on it, and be just as fast! :)

The shop wasn’t being problematic and my comment was not to be a hater. I love the look of the integrated stuff and the look of the speed concept. However, I built up my bike and I build all of my bikes. I have don’e that for 3 decades now. So, I don’t necessarily need the shop for their skill.

The brakes on the speed concept (at least my version), were essentially center pull brakes. In the 90’s, shimano and campagnolo went to a dual pivot side pull brake which works far better and less adjustment to get it right. THAT is now a standard brake setup on non-disc brake bikes. Having standard brakes that work better than a center pull design and handlebars I don’t have to re-cable when I take them off, is a huge plus.

For those bike maintenance conveniences it might cost me 10 seconds of aero-ness. Fine by me. I’m not a pro. Certainly out of Kona contention as well.

Dual pivot brakes will always be more powerful and easier to adjust than the center pull brakes, for sure.

But on my older SC, and the gen 2 SC, pretty sure all you had to do was squeeze the calipers together with your hand and pull the triangle pulley out, no need to disconnect cable. The trek also has a little 2 or 3mm allen screw, accessible without removing anything, on each brake arm to adjust the pad spacing in or out.

And again, totally agree that the integrated brakes/cables are no faster, at least not to the point of making a difference for most of us. Has more to do with what you like looking at.

Thanks. Are the wheels really not race-worthy? I have a pair of low-mileage 1st gen Flo 60s. You think these perform better than the Aeolus?