Anyone of you dares to estimate how many seconds (or hundredths of a second) will be the difference between a Cervélo P4 stripped down to race at the track (no bottle of course) versus the Cervélo T3 in a 3 km Pursuit at an indoor track?
Would that difference be even more in an outdoor velodrome?
I have seen road TT bikes like the P2SL, P2, P3SL and P3 used succesfuly as a Pursuit bike but never a P4. Maybe if the Pursuit is the only track event you race, using the P4 for both the TT and the Pursuit would be a good idea.
Sergio has used succesfuly the P3 that you saw in Austin on the track Jack. I was thinking that he could use also the P4 in the same way. The seatstays/chainstays soak the difference as it is rather small. Just don’t tell Gerard he has been doing that. Hmmmm… I think he knows he has been doing that.
This was his first “conversion”. A P2SL when he was 14 (close to 4 years ago)
Later he converted a P3SL and then a P3 for the track. Maybe he should convert a P4. Or maybe we should just buy the T3, but I am not sure if the T3 is faster than the naked P4. Gerard personally told me that only two or three P4s were adapted for the track (the bottle converted to be part of the frame). I doubt those P4s converted would be allowed to be used at the Junior Panamericans. I don’t even know how the UCI allowed them to be raced at the track worlds with the “bottled” frame.
Yes. Unfortunately, the UCI killed the bike and the T4 no longer exists. Cervelo had some pretty cool photos up and I was pretty stoked on the T4-- and I don’t ride track.
Yes, but Gerard himself told me when I asked if I could purchase one that they were never mass produced. I would need to check that e-mail to be sure, but I doubt more than three were produced.
Gerard stood his ground with a reasonable stance regarding this configuration being UCI legal, but I doubt the UCI would agree. I am not sure they /the UCI) killed the project, but I have not heard anything since then.
I took a closer look at the area of the P4 where the bottle goes and I wonder it it would be faster than a T3 without a bottle.
Looking at that bike made me remember he has to take his 3:1 seatpost with him.
Sergio
Interesting that you don’t always just have the 3:1 seatpost installed. Have you tested it and found it much slower than the original seatpost?
UCI Comissairs have been postponing the enforcement of the seatpost rule in junior races at the American Continent.
Since the rule went into effect, he has always carried his 3:1 seatpost with him just in case in the most important races, but neither at the nationals nor at last year Panamericans (Continental) Championships was the rule enforced. Neither has any Mexican or USA UCI commissair said something about the seatpost this year in Mexico or the USA after several TTs.
UCI commissairs are very strict in all other matters (morph exceptions, rollout limit, use of non 3:1 aerobars, etc.) but have been unusually tolerant to the older Cervelo seat post.
He has a wind tunnel session with John Cobb this month. Maybe they could measure that difference.
Sounds a little like the situation here in Denmark. They have only checked distance between the BB and the tip of the extension and not really any of the other things. They have just postponed the enforcement of the new rules for another two years (after everyone has bought new equipment), except for the nationals - so I will need it for that anyway.
The original seatpost is pretty close to 3:1 (69 mm / 21 mm IIRC) so I guess the new seatpost shouldn’t test much different - maybe it’s even a bit faster as I think it’s frontal area is a bit smaller because of the shim required. But it would be fun to have data. I could of course give it a try myself by doing some Chung testing with the two seatposts, but I doubt I will able to see a difference.
I agree, there should not be much difference between the two seatposts.
As a mater of fact I will install the 3:1 as soon as he gets back for the USA and before he goes to Argentina. It is just too much of a risk forgetting about that only to have a commissair (rightfully) enforce the rule or commissair panel not agreeing in letting the riders use the older seatpost.
