As a way of keeping my mind occupied at IMCDA I decided to keep a running tally of all the Cervelos I passed (or passed me). Plus 1 or minus 1 as the case might be. I started counting on the way back from Higgins Point on the first loop and got as high as 15 before dropping to a low of 5. In the end I was at 9. Lot of them were multiple passes and being re-passed by the same people. The most consecutive Cervelos that passed me was 3 while I never passed more than 2 in a row. I didn’t time it, but I would guess I never went more than 10 minutes without seeing a Cervelo.
Why Cervelos? Why not? I guess I could have chosen Kuotas or Kestrels, there were a lot of both, but I noticed more Cervelos and it was the first brand I thought of.
What does this mean? Probably nothing. It doesn’t say anything at all about the relative speed of one bike or another. It does say that there were a ton of Cervelos on the course. It did keep me focused on the course and my position relative to the bikes around me. Maybe next time I’ll pick another brand.
Gary Mc
PS. I finally saw a Total Eclispe from Carbon Sports in person at the race. It looked as good in person as it does on the website. I’m not sure why that bike hasn’t caught on. Looks very aero and fast.
As a keen Cervelo owner, I too count cervelos. I haven’t ever passed another cervelo however
Watching the IMNZ video a few years ago, I watched the bikes. As a general rule, if you rode Cervelo you were at the front and if you rode C’Dale, you were at the back. Nowadays I think there are even more Cervelos nearer the front.
I swim OK and ride like a manhole cover, so I get to watch about 400-500 people pass me on the bike at IM. I rarely pass more than a handful, and that’s usually people who passed me earlier in the day and flatted or other mechanical failure
As a general rule, if you rode Cervelo you were at the front and if you rode C’Dale, you were at the back.
Were you being sarcastic here or was this an actual statement? I think Faris has been sort of near the front (winning IMAZ in 2005, IMH in 2005, 2nd at IMH in 2006) and he rides a Cannondale. Danilo DiLuca just won the Giro d’Italia, also aboard a Cannondale.
At a sprint race in Alabama a few weeks ago I was a mile or two into the bike course when a guy riding a P3C with Zipp 404’s went by me and my vintage P3 (one of the red and white ones from the last year they were available–2004 or 2005, shod with Zipp 909). He was flying so I let him go. A mile or so later another guy comes around me on a brand new P2C (complete with either a 909 or 999 wheelset). At that point I was feeling good so I said f’ it, I’m going to hang with this guy. So I let him pull away a bit and then dialed up the effort to match the pace. It was a perfect morning and we were rolling at 25 plus with a bit of a tailwind. Fun. Then we caught and passed the guy with the P3C/404’s and after we’d ridden a bit longer I glanced back over my shoulder and he was hanging in there with us. We passed everyone we could see.
No conclusions here, just good fun to be going fast on a good bike–surrounded by other good bikes (at a legal distance, of course).
Bottom line is there are a lot of Cervelos out there in the triathlon world.
I did a local race near Toronto last year and almost every bike in my AG rack was a Cervelo!
2006 Steelhead. AG 35-39 rack. 3 Cervele P3Cs (red color) with Zipp 999s next to eachother. 2 of them 54 one of them 56, I wondered if i switched the bikes would they notice it? both had look pedals but different models.
sure it means something, it means a lot. cervelo make very good and very smart and very fast bikes and sells them for price a lot of folks are able and willing to pay.
build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door …
I wondered if i switched the bikes would they notice it? both had look pedals but different models.
Good point. I thought that same thing briefly at the race I was at - how can people tell it’s *their *Cervelo. No problem for me. I ride a musem piece, mango yellow, nearly 10 year old Cervelo Erye Road bike that sticks out like a sore thumb! No problem finding it!
Since getting my Cervelo P2SL I have only been passed by 3 bikes, and two of them were more expensive Cervelos. I think the third was a lightspeed, but I’m not sure.
Since I don’t have a particularly large amount of talent yet, this is scientific proof that the only thing faster than a Cervelo is a more expensive Cervelo…and a lightspeed.
As a general rule, if you rode Cervelo you were at the front and if you rode C’Dale, you were at the back.
Were you being sarcastic here or was this an actual statement? I think Faris has been sort of near the front (winning IMAZ in 2005, IMH in 2005, 2nd at IMH in 2006) and he rides a Cannondale. Danilo DiLuca just won the Giro d’Italia, also aboard a Cannondale.
Yes Cervelo makes very good bikes. No doubt aboout it. However, there are other brands that make very good bikes.
Cervelo is also very good @ marketing and branding.
However, there are other brands that make very good bikes.
there may be, but find me a even single bike or brand that makes a frame today that sells for less than 1,300 dollars (or anywhere near that) and made out of any material that is as willowy and narrow as a P2K/P2SL (for example, 28mm wide along the entire downtube, and 25mm wide along the seatube).
we are talking about a frame with a very small frontal area, and it’s not even brand new technology. if another production frame than can compare to this exists out there, i certainly don’t know about it.
also if you know anything about advertising and about cervelo, their “marketing” and “branding” is nearly nonexistent, and primitive at best.
