So here’s the story. We’re a tri bike shop in NorCal - carry the major players: Cervélo, Felt, Scott, Look, Cannondale and some of the secondary/tertiary players (Parlee, Pinarello). We are always on the lookout for the next rising star in the tri bike world. We played around with Kuota, and for whatever reason, it just did not work for us. Down to the point at hand, Ceepo has piqued our interest. Why? I don’t know exactly. Personally, a bike has to call to me on a level beyond just the engineering. This may sound weird coming from a die hard Cervélo guy, but part of the reason I am so into Cervélo is because of their story. The company has a very definable storyline with Gerard and Phil and has a prevalent company philosophy. I dig it - the whole package makes me excited to ride their bikes. Given their sales and growth, I assume this is a similar situation with other people as well. However, I don’t trust my gut 100%. My other favorite brand is Time. I love their ride quality, handling…everything. And their lost wax build method makes me swoon. I’m into it. But, unlike Cervélo, we barely sell any of these, and in general the company has a minimal US presence. As a result, I don’t trust my opinion to be the absolute barometer of the market.
Down to Ceepo - what do people think? Are you excited by the brand? Do you seek out more information about them? Or is just another bike out there that you would stop and look at if you saw, probably think it was cool, but not go home and make it your screen saver.
Why do we care? Obviously, if we are seeking out what people think, it is a brand we are considering carrying. We are getting a Katana to evaluate the mechanics of the frame, but also want feedback from the masses.
I am building one now (a venom) and I love it. I test rode it when I was in Lanzarote and put it on my list immediately. I would not have bought one as the price was a little outside my budget, but I got a smoking deal on a 2008 on the ST classifieds.
The Ceepo frames indeed looks interesting. However, as a roadie with TT ambitions, Ceepo is just not an option as most of the models are not UCI legal. They do look slim though…
The company is dedicated to time trial and triathlon which makes them unique in that they don’t carry a road bike line. The owner and the US distributers are all very excited about the sport and are triathletes themselves. Tri position bike fit is important to them, as the US distributers attended one of Dan’s FIST classes. And, they are cool looking. Belinda Granger brought her new Katana into the Retul Multisport Studio in Boulder to mimic her bike set up from the Venom.
The Beach 2 Battleship iron-distance triathlon in Wilmington, NC was won this year by Bjarne Moller of Denmark who rode a Ceepo Venom. I’d seen photos of the frameset before that race and thought it looked pretty ridiculous. When I saw Bjarne’s bike all built up and in person, it was another deal entirely. It looked amazing. I spoke with Bjarne about it and he said he absolutely loved the bike. Granted, he is sponsored by them, but he’d just turned in his fastest bike split ever on it, so he seemed pretty sincere in his excitement over the bike.
I read up on the company when I got home from that race. People on Slowtwitch often speculate what it would be like if someone built up a frameset for triathletes without any concern for stupid UCI rules. Somebody has. Ceepo.
The Ceepo frames indeed looks interesting. However, as a roadie with TT ambitions, Ceepo is just not an option as most of the models are not UCI legal. They do look slim though…
Apparently they have a UCI-compliant model coming out in January, 2010.
I like the way they look, apart from the M-Dot logo.
I’m very curious about them and would love it if you would carry Ceepo. I know probably not an option for a variety of reasons, but I’d like it if you had a Fuji D6 as well.
I saw a Viper on display at IMAZ and remember thinking that it was the ugliest bike I had set eyes on. The competition is going to be so strong in that price range this year (Specialized, Trek, Giant, Cervelo…) that I find it hard to imagine anyone willing to drop that kind of $ on this bike. The Katana and Venom look like reasonable bikes – I particularly like the Katana’s down tube – but I don’t see myself choosing them over something similar (Venom looka a lot like an Orbea) when my other options are relatively similar and UCI-legal.
I fit somebody for a Viper and did the build up on the bike. I also had a chance to spend some time on a Katana. I loved the way the Katana rode, plenty of BB and front end stiffness and it felt in that way more like a road bike. I will go out on a limb and say that to me it handled better than the Cervelo P2/3 carbons I have ridden. The bikes look really good as well, you can always cover the M-dot with a sticker if you are into the Kaczyinski anti corporate thing ;-). As a retailer if you are looking at selling them the issue I see is that are somewhat pricy, its hard to throw down say 3600 for a Venom frameset when a P3C can be had for around 3200, or a P2 for 2000. Now I know that Ceepo say they use a higher grade of carbon, but that is something that might be tough to sell to a consumer. It would appeal to the person who wants a bike thats a bit different from the norm, but whether there are a lot of those who will pay the extra is a tough call in this economy.
