Every year for the past 3 years I go through the same dilemma – get a new bike or keep the old girl. Nothing really wrong with the old one really, she’s just starting to look long in the tooth and I’d like to go all carbon for various reasons, 700c wheels (more generally accepted, easier to get tires), and just to get a newer bike that’s more worthy of upgrades.
The old girl (aka ‘Promdate’):
2001.5 Cervelo P2K 51cm, 650c, Red, bought the frame new in 2003
Ultegra (2003) brakes, derailleurs
DA shifters
Velocity Deep V training wheels
Time RXS pedals
Upgrades 2007: Zipp 404 race wheels (2003? bought used), Easton Aero Carbon Fork, Shimano FC-R700 compact crank (in hindsight, perhaps a mistake given that I’m on 650c wheels too), DA chain and Ultegra cogsets
Upgrades 2008: Syntace C3, Profile Cobra basebar, QSC levers, Easton EA90 Stem, XLab flat wing, re-cabled everything
Options:
Keep the old girl, and take upgrade suggestions from ST
Buy new 2008 P2C + convert P2K to road geometry and move 2008 cockpit over to P2C
Buy new 2008 P2C and sell the old girl (to free up cash for race wheels)
Others ideas?
My racing is anything from Sprints to HIM, IM not in the cards for family reasons, for now.
I hate to discourage anyone from a new ride, but there is not a thing wrong with that P2K. If you are itching for a new ride I’ll look for a new roadie as it sounds like you need one.
keep the old girl and save your money for the economic apocalypse
I agree with you. As much as I love new bikes (mine or others), I don’t think I would make a major purchase of any kind right now.
I agree… I don’t get why so many triathletes spend $3000+ on fancy carbon tri bikes when they either don’t own a roadie at all or have something far inferior as far as quality.
A road bike is likely going to be your ‘daily driver’. If you can only afford one fancy carbon bike, why would it be the tri bike?
"If you can only afford one fancy carbon bike, why would it be the tri bike? "
My philosphy has always been get a nice road bike first and then a tri bike. For tri all I care about is aero. Top end gruppo and feather weight aren’t important on a tri bike. I’ll save the bling for the road bike. Surprising how many trigeeks don’t even have road bikes.
Thanks for all the input. Maybe I’m missing something, but why would I need a road bike? My only reason to change the bike to a road geometry is that I’m not one to just toss things away. I ride because I do triathlon so why should I not focus on building my fitness in a tri position? Plus, I’m a parent and my time to train is limited, so my rides need to be focused on priority. If I had the time though, a cross bike would be the one.
Just think of buying the new bike as one more way that we’re stimulating the economy, and the way we’ve been burning through cash lately, I think we’re single handedly keeping the economy afloat --we’re reno’ing the kitchen and will be doing more later this year, just bought a new car, etc. and the '08 P2C’s are at least $500 cheaper than ’09 and it fits.
if you are doing a lot of racing then keep the p2k(have it repainted) i just sold my 650c blade and built a road bike, i rarely race anymore and i ride in traffic, was on the same boat as you are but these two factors made me get the roadie frame and it`s aluminum but so far so good, the ride felt better even than the blade
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A lot of the top pro triathletes spend a lot of time on their road bikes training, in some cases up to 80%. You build core strength on a road bike but not on a tri bike due to resting on your skeleton is another argument. Plus if you group ride with the roadies you’ll develop much better bike handling skills. Nobody wants to be accused of having triathlete bike handling skills.
Just speaking from my own perspective here, but although I love my tri bike, I find it impractical as an everyday bike. Riding in traffic, commuting, riding hills, group rides - all things the tri bike isn’t perfectly suited for. Tri bikes are fantastic for their intended use, but I don’t race every weekend and prefer the comfort, versatility and relative safety of the road bike for day-to-day riding.
I don’t ride because of triathlons, I do triathlons because I love swimming, biking and running as individual sports (as well as together). YMMV.
Have you thought about getting a quality professional fit? This might help you feel faster and more comfortable on your bike… maybe you can fall in love all over again with the Promdate. From my humble opinion it sounds like you have a nice rig as it is now.
