The number one question I have gotten since switching to the Canyon Speedmax CF SLX is “How does it compare to the Cervelo P5-6?” I wish it were that easy to just say one is better than the other, but honestly if I put a blindfold on you and had you ride 2 brand new bikes, I really doubt you would know the difference. That being said, there are some significant differences between the 2 bikes, so I will try to highlight those below.
First off, to be completely transparent here, I am “sponsored/partnered” with Canyon USA/North America. I did PAY for my bike, although with a discount. So some may think this is a biased post, and I get that. I have been transparent in everything I do, and with every company I have worked with/partnered with/been sponsored by, I have started off as a paying customer beforehand.
Good to see this post although shame it wasn’t a year earlier when I was debating between the two bikes! In the end I went for the Canyon too.
What are your thoughts on the climbing performance of the two bikes? I know it’s not something that gets talked about very much for TT bikes but to my mind its still important as an indication of the frame performance.
The Canyon was my first TT bike, so the only comparison I can make is to my road bikes (S5 and Specialized Allez). Quite frankly, I feel like the climbing performance of the SLX is utter turd in comparison to the S5… Near to me there is a 10% climb that I normally do in ~5 minutes. On the Canyon at the same power output I am a full minute slower! I know such a test is never truly scientific but before others wade in with comments I’ve done my best to make my comparisons as fair as possible. I’ve done the climb back to back several times on a number of occasions so the 1 min difference is an average (although the scatter is only a few seconds tbh). Also means weather etc is not an issue. I’ve used the same wheels, same brand PM (P2M), stripped the ancillaries (bottle cages/hydration etc) off the canyon and loaded the cervelo with water bottles so that they weigh within a 100g or so of each other.
I fully realise this is an extreme comparison and I know it’s not scientific as mentioned so I’d be very interested to know how you think the P5 compares?
Did you choose to run Flo wheels, as in the photo? Thanks for the write up. I ride a P5 with the same Flo race wheels. As far as climbing, when I went from the OP2 to the P5 the P5 felt unstable. I think this is because the basebar is narrower, but faster. Wider is more stable for climbing, but likely slower the other 98% I am not climbing. That’s my opinion.
I have been happy with how the SLX climbs, have never done a direct comparison between it or any bike for that matter. I have felt really good climbing on it and took it on some solid climbs while out in California. Have never compared how two bikes climb. Just off the top of my head, are the positions identical between the 2 bikes? And if not the exact same power meter, there could be some variation there as well, even though it is the “same brand”. Just something to keep in mind, although 1min over ~5mins is a big chunk of time.
If you want another opinion on how the SLX climbs, Scott DeFilippis and Carrie Lester just spent the summer over in France/Switzerland racing some of the toughest triathlon bike courses out there, so they may be worth reaching out to.
Did you choose to run Flo wheels, as in the photo? Thanks for the write up. I ride a P5 with the same Flo race wheels. As far as climbing, when I went from the OP2 to the P5 the P5 felt unstable. I think this is because the basebar is narrower, but faster. Wider is more stable for climbing, but likely slower the other 98% I am not climbing. That’s my opinion.
Yes, I chose to run the FLO Wheels. My HED Jet+ wheels I ran on the P5 had ~3 seasons on them, and no longer had a partnership/relationship w/ HED so was looking to make a change. I had always heard great things about FLO and wanted to see if they lived up to their hype, so picked them up during their demo/blemish sale. Been really happy with them thus far, was hoping something would come out of it, but only time will tell on that side of things. From everything I have gathered and the talks I have had with them, their current business model does not support sponsorship of pro athletes, but hopefully that will change in the future.
As mentioned above, I couldn’t tell a difference between how either bike climbs, and not something I had compared between the two bikes. Makes sense on what you are saying between your P2 vs P5 and the bar width creating instability.
While I can see that the “feel” of a light road bike with nice wheels may be much different from the P5 on a 10% climb I would suggest that you look for reasons why you see such big differences. Physics says the difference you see isn’t reasonable.
Maybe the PMs are off or you have brake rub on the TT bike (under BB brake are notorious for wheel rub issues). Whatever it is, you should identify the problem and thank me for making you faster.
Completely agree - Except that im happy ive ruled out the ‘obvious’ answers for such a difference which is why i was curious for another opinion (i dont know anyone else with this bike to compare notes with so thought this was a good post to ask on).
Dont get me wrong, im fully aware that my comparisons are crude and the reality is im sure not that big.
@BW - positions obviously not identical. PMs could well be reading slightly differently but ive no way of checking that, hence asking for another opinion (although compared to HR/PE they wont be too far out i dont thnk) Good to know nothing jumps out for you, thank you and that the P5 is prob similar
Your tests are not legitimate if they are telling you the same power is getting you up the hill 20% slower on one bike versus the other. That cannot be true in a straight comparison. I suggest it’s not even in the correct order of magnitude.
The options:
You are NOT doing the hill at anywhere near the same power each time.You are not riding the hill in remotely similar wind.You are not normalising for factors other than the bike frame (don’t suppose you were using Schwalbe marathon plus tyres and wearing a 25kg rucksack while riding the Canyon?)You weight about the same as a small hamster so that any difference in the bike weights might be significant as a proportion of total weight.You are not riding the same hill
