Just back from Interbike this morning… Another year of debauchery in Vegas. The show was great fun as always, and quite productive as well. The highlight was indeed the new P3 Carbon frame. After so many years of seeing more hype than substance in tri bikes, not much can stop me in my tracks these days. But I can honestly say that Cervelo’s new creation held me speechless and caught me totally by surprise. Upon closer inspection and talking with Phil White, one of Cervelo’s founding engineers, I learned of many improvements in aerodynamics, weight, and strength that the new carbon frame will feature. This is not just another carbon frame, nor is it a simple copy of the existing P3. It’s an entirely new frame that put everything else at the show to shame. Pretty exciting.
Price for the frameset (frame, fork, seatpost) will be $2995. Not a cheap toy. If you are adverse to spending that much money on a frame, or you think you are satisfied with your current ride, don’t even look at the P3 Carbon. It will seduce you like the Sirens. This frame has the ability to produce bike envy on an unprecedented scale.
Availability will be sometime between March and June, 2005. They actually are not done testing yet, have not gone into production. The frame has been three years in the making, so Cervelo is in no real hurry to get the bike onto the market. When its ready, its ready, according to Phil White.
And lest you think no one will spend that much on a frame, I’ve sold twelve P3s so far this year (frameset $2200), and I fully expect to sell at least that many of the Carbon version next season, mostly to current tri bike owners. The new frame raises the bar so much that everything else pales in comparison.
Krag
Krag Rasmussen
Owner/Operations Manager
Transition Sports LLC
4266 Piedmont Avenue
Oakland CA 94611
510-601-1824 ph
510-601-1834 fx www.transitionsports.com
Serving triathletes since 1997
“is not just another carbon frame, nor is it a simple copy of the existing P3.”
Time will tell, but there is little doubt that the P3C was the star of the show and upstaged everybody else.
However, IMO the big news of the day is the aero stats put out by Softride. If it’s true that it’s that much faster over the alu P3 as claimed then this new carbon one sure has a lot of ground to make up.
I’ll be hanging on to my P2K for awhile yet before making any upgrade decisions.
Since you talked to the designer, a question for you–if one were to slap a seat on the seatpost of the P3C and the nose of the saddle did not point forward as the rider desired, how would one adjust or correct for this? I.e., how would you adjust the post/head/assembly to get the nose of the seat to point where you wanted (say, exactly forward)? The question comes up because with just a small photo of the cervelo carbon post, I can’t see how the angular adjustment works (if there is any at all). And since no saddle (and often no frameset) is absolutely perfect, the rider often needs a little angular saddle adjustment.
Excellent report on the P3C. We are taking orders with an “undetermined” delivery sometime in '05. I did wait over a year for my R2.5, but I passed over an initial version for the current version.
From a purely business perspective do you think Cervelo have uncovered the P3c to close to the P3SL to maximise the sale of the SL. I am guess alot of people who might have replace there P3’s with the SL will now wait for the Carbon. If they had kept the Carbon underwraps untill it was closer to release, I am sure they would have sold more SL’s. Now everyones eyes have been opened wide by the Carbon the SL will have dropped in worth (figratively speaking as a P3 team is worth an Olympic bronze).
I guess perhaps the different price points will mean that each P3 will maintain it’s Niche.
Let me try and answer all the reply questions in this one shot while I have a moment…
First to Mike Plumb - Thanks Mike! Tanya is looking very cute at 8 weeks to go. I miss SD and hope I can make it down soon.
To Tom - I didn’t ride the R2.5 until last week! Initially its good, but I need some more miles on it to really know. It feels like carbon should. I will also be taking the first P3 Carbon that comes our way!
boing - I think Cervelo could have milked the SL a little more, but there are some very important differences between the SL and the Carbon. What struck me as the most important difference is that the Carbon seat angle will only be approx 76-77º in the forward position. The SL can still be pushed up to 78-79º. That is an important fit determination. Plus, I’m afraid the days of 650c wheels are numbered - Cervelo seems to be moving away from them, except in the smallest sizes. I personally think that sucks.
Greg - Not sure about the saddle angle adjustment, but from what I saw it was something akin to Kestrel’s aero post set-up. I didn’t look too closly though, so don’t quote me on that.
Cerveloguy - Softride frames have always been the most aero on the market, due simply to design. And although they ride very smoothly, I have never been convinced about their stiffness. I have sold them and trained on them, and at least for me, I feel the design is not as efficient as others, no matter how good your spin scan looks. They are a good bike for a certain rider, but that market is very limited.
BTW, Softride’s booth was quite downsized this year compared to years past, and location wasn’t anything to write home about either. I wonder what’s going on there.
"Softride frames have always been the most aero on the market, …, I have never been convinced about their stiffness. "
I’ve never owned one or even rode one. Also don’t even know anybody personally who does. I just found their aero data quite remarkable as it claims the bike is dramatically faster than the P3, Blade or Trek. The timing of it’s release upstaged the P3C, at least IMO. Based on their aero data it would seem that Softride should very well be THE bike of choice for the serious AG’er. The stiffness wouldn’t be that important to your average 200-225 watt producing AG triathletes.
No, Phil White told me that at least in the current form, the angle ranged more from 74 to maybe 77. That’s still a better range than anything else I know of, except Softride, I guess… He said the SL would go steeper.