P-Series race set up guidance

Triathlon Forum
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I would like to get some feedback. I have just purchased a 2023 Cervelo p- series for an attempt at 2 Ironmans this year. There are two items I would like to upgrade on the bike and need some guidance. I have been out of the triathlon scene for a long time and feel lost.

  1. I would like to upgrade the cockpit with the goal of comfort, aerodynamics and a BTA set up. What are my best options?

  2. I would also like to upgrade the wheelset. My preference is as fast a wheelset as possible with my preference being a hooked rim that I could run either tubeless or with a tube. What are my best options? Thank you for any guidance and have been looking and feel overwhelmed.

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  1. Since it has a standard headset, you have a wide variety of options. I went with TriRig on mine but I have mixed feelings about it after a year of use.

  2. Offhand, I’ll suggest looking at Hed, Premier Tactical, and Parcours for what you described.

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What didn’t you like about the tririg?

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Bang for buck, then the Trek Aurelus RSL 75 wheels are very hard to beat. Light, stable in crosswinds and very cost competitive, with a bonus that you can get with local bike shop support in case of any issues. Hooked and tubeless as you (wisely IMHO) want. And whilst many will say you want a disk, and I wont argue, this gives you a wheelset that will be quick and useable in pretty much all conditions.

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What cockpit is on there now?
What wheel/wheelset?

Without those necessary bits of info it’s hard to make accurate recommendations

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You didn’t mention BTS hydration, but for Ironman racing I use B-RAD double bottle adapters on the stock rear bottle cage mount. You can get two bottles BTS, and also use a B-RAD mounting base if you want to adjust the height of the bottles.

Double Bottle Adapter: B-RAD Double Bottle Adapter – Wolf Tooth Components

Mounting Base: Wolf Tooth B-RAD Mounting Bases - Shifting bottle cages, add tools – Wolf Tooth Components

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My P-Series had a Vision basebar so it was a no brainer going with the Vision TFE pro aerobar. Like them alot. Great comfort and adjustability.

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The bike has the stock profile design cockpit and dt swiss rim(not deep, almost true box rims)

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Thank you. I have never seen those before. That looks like a good option for BTS set up.

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I’d look at crw works wheels on pandapodium. Light bicycle also has some good options.

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IMO from having fit a lot of people on the Vision’s and Profile’s I’m team Profile 9/7 days of the week. You’re probably fine with what you have, maybe some extensions changes to your favorite shape/angle.

For wheels you can’t go wrong with any of the major brands. Now if you’re going to ask them to do double duty as a training and race set then you may make some compromises as far as depth front/rear.
HED, Premier, SwissSide etc. Most of these wheels are going to be within :10/40k of each other. Of course I’d rather be :50 up to road at the end of the IM bik leg.

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What would be your 1st and 2nd wheel choices that are not hookless?

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  1. HED Vanquish 62/84 with 28c GP5000 S TR’s.
  2. SwissSide Hadron 62/80 with 28c GP5000 S TR’s.

Those should be great combo training and race day wheel sets. Easy to control front wheel with a deeper rear wheel for stability. Add a disc if you want for race day, or save some bucks and get an EZ Disc cover.

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I spent a good chunk of last summer testing tires and wheels. I had a set of Premier and 2 “high end” wheels. They were identical in terms of performance.

I would be looking at other factors such as crash policies, who I buy them from…

I have training wheels and race wheels for one simple reason, race rubber is too fragile for everyday training and no way I am swapping tubeless constantly

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