I’ve had my Kalibur for 2 years. It’s comfortable, looks great, and does a great job. I do have issues with it - the back end flexes when using a disc and aerodynamically it’s not great (although i retrofitted a jetstream fork). Having studied bicycle design to a fair degree as part of my masters thesis I personally consider the P3c to be the current ‘gold standard’. It ticks all the right boxes although it seems impossible to get a test ride on one in the UK as they never seem to be on the shelves very long. I’m concerned I may be trading a lot for little noticeable gain.
The Kalibur was already top drawer but it’s quite a purchase moving to the P3c.
Can I justify this or more to the point, is there a realistic gain to be had here ?
weren’t you the guy who had trouble getting the proper fit on a kalibur due to top-tube, head-tube geometry issues? if it is the ‘other’ uk-kalibur-rider, my apologies … but it would seem that a p3c would be a tougher fit …
You can be honest with us. Both bikes will go fast if you pedal hard enough. You just want a new bike! Buy the new bike if you can afford it. Otherwise, you’ll always think about it.
You don’t have to use aero benefits to justify getting a new bike with us. We LOVE new bikes!!
You’re right (good memory) and thats potentially true although the modified aerobar i have may negate this problem. The head tube of the respective P3c is actually 5mm greater in length. The top tube (virtual) is similar.
I’d love to know what Tom D would think about this…
How does the Kalibur fit you? In terms of aerodynamics you would see a gain through frame design and perhaps positioning but that may be meaningless if the p3C doesn’t fit properly.
There is something to be said for buying a great bike and riding it into the ground. Besides the money savings there is an environmental aspect to consider— By buying earlier than needed you are creating demand for additional bikes and all of the materials and manufacturing byproducts that go with them.
I would only switch if your bike does not fit properly or has a major problem. For environmental reasons I would keep each bike until it was truly worn out and technology had made large advances.
-Marc
PS: Gerard or anyone, care to comment on the environmental record and controls at the Chinese plants that manufacture Kuotas and Cervelos?
Excellent point. Another option is to sell the Kuota to someone else so they can run it into the ground. That person gets a great deal on a bike they couldn’t afford previously. The seller gets the money to put towards the new bike.
Even reselling a perfectly good bike that is being ridden regularly increases the environmental footprint, because no-one actually rides a bike into the ground. I used “into the ground” as a relative term and in practice most of our bikes could be ridden much longer than they are.
Let’s look at from this angle, if one person buys a bike every five years, they buy two new bikes in a decade. If that same person buys a bike every two years, that’s five new bikes in a decade. That one person has purchased three extra new bikes in 10 years. Those three extra bikes may be resold, but there are enough used bikes sitting in garages to allow everyone that wants to to compete in triathlons and time trials, so even if those extra bikes are cascaded down the line through used sales, some other bikes will sit in a garage or landfill as a result.
Even if you buy a nice bike and keep it in your garage forever, unridden, you caused the manufacturing byproducts to be produced (and released into the atmosphere), so any bike that is not fully utilized fails to deliver the positive impact of bikes (health, clean air, etc) yet delivers the full negative impact of the manufacturing process.
excellent post. but think of all the electricity used for you to be logged on to the internet. surely it could be saved and used for more critical projects. Let the guy buy a new bike for crying out loud
So would you suggest that next time I clean my bikes with kerosine I dont dig a hole in the neighbors yard and pour it in? What about all the platic bags and AOL CD’s I burn in the fire pit?
Things are starting to get interesting here! I ride a P3SL and plan to ride it into the ground or buy a new bike in about 200 yrs. However, if technology continues to grow and a new bike is availabe that could shave me a few seconds in an IM race, you have my attention!
