im currently riding a 2015 P3 with stock components (ultegra mech) with the exception of the wheelset being a 1.5 year old reynolds strike. been using the bike heavily on the trainer and for an IM and 2 70.3 races for 1.5 years. was thinking of a small treat to myself by changing bike to one with di2 but am not sure if this is a worthy upgrade
i don’t like downgrading AND spending additional money.
if you wanna spend money, upgrade something useful that will make you faster. cockpit setup, fit adjustment, powermeter option, wheelset choice, trainer setup, wind tunnel time. don’t waste money on things that
im currently riding a 2015 P3 with stock components (ultegra mech) with the exception of the wheelset being a 1.5 year old reynolds strike. been using the bike heavily on the trainer and for an IM and 2 70.3 races for 1.5 years. was thinking of a small treat to myself by changing bike to one with di2 but am not sure if this is a worthy upgrade
I have the exact bike you’re looking at buying and it is a good bike. I’ve had some issues with it, but mine was also the first one shipped to the US for general consumers, so that could be somewhat expected. The bike is moderately a pain to work on but it is definitely doable. I just took off the rear brake yesterday and cleaned everything down there (you’ve gotta do this once in a while to keep it functional). This bike is fast though in my opinion. I don’t use any of the included hydration but you can. To be honest, if you’re only “losing” $900, going from mechanical Ultegra to 9070 it is almost worth it right there IMO. Make sure you fit on whatever size you’re getting and pull the trigger.
there are many better ways to spend money and, as a coach, you have to be invested both in your athlete’s happiness but also in their performance. so saying ‘‘buy what makes you happy’’ when there are clear choices and winners and losers is a bit of a cop out.
what are you hoping to achieve out of spending money on the portion between T1 and T2?
if your answer is:
i wanna move through that segment faster
then, you have a really, really fast bike. it is almost certainly not the bike itself that’s keeping you from realizing your ‘‘potential.’’ it’s some combination of fit, equipment/accessory choice, fitness, etc. so no, moving from 1 frame to another is not likely to noticeably decrease bike times.
i don’t feel like my current bike is a great fit
ok, according to who? you? your fitter? why do you/he/she say that? what’s holding the bike back from allowing your optimized fit to mesh with it? is there an equipment change that can make it better? this is a legitimate reason to buy a different bike, but it needs to have great context behind the decision.
my bike is ugly
the p3 colorways can be hit or miss. wrap that sucker in vinyl. or, get over it. you do have to like what you ride, but if you can convince yourself that it’s actually extremely difficult for you to truly upgrade your bike to get faster, then i think you’ll find your bike beautiful in its own way.
my friends have new bikes
beat your friends on your ‘‘old’’ bike and i bet they’ll feel silly.
you could upgrade your p3 to di2 for <$1000. it’s not even that hard. di2 doesn’t make you faster, though it is a nice luxury.
ETA - i seriously doubt you could get $3300 for your P3 + wheels, btw.
thanks! thats one thought i had but i am a total mechanical idiot and i have no idea where to start. i tried looking for upgrade packages but was lost when they asked for detailed specs like wire length, internal or external etc
was thinking the easier way was to buy a bike which came with it
what are you hoping to achieve out of spending money on the portion between T1 and T2?
if your answer is:
i wanna move through that segment faster
then, you have a really, really fast bike. it is almost certainly not the bike itself that’s keeping you from realizing your ‘‘potential.’’ it’s some combination of fit, equipment/accessory choice, fitness, etc. so no, moving from 1 frame to another is not likely to noticeably decrease bike times.
i don’t feel like my current bike is a great fit
ok, according to who? you? your fitter? why do you/he/she say that? what’s holding the bike back from allowing your optimized fit to mesh with it? is there an equipment change that can make it better? this is a legitimate reason to buy a different bike, but it needs to have great context behind the decision.
my bike is ugly
the p3 colorways can be hit or miss. wrap that sucker in vinyl. or, get over it. you do have to like what you ride, but if you can convince yourself that it’s actually extremely difficult for you to truly upgrade your bike to get faster, then i think you’ll find your bike beautiful in its own way.
my friends have new bikes
beat your friends on your ‘‘old’’ bike and i bet they’ll feel silly.
you could upgrade your p3 to di2 for <$1000. it’s not even that hard. di2 doesn’t make you faster, though it is a nice luxury.
ETA - i seriously doubt you could get $3300 for your P3 + wheels, btw.
thank you very much for the detailed answer. i dont think im looking to get much faster. im at the point where more training will give me way more improvements in time than equipment. im not going to KQ so to me even saving 10 mins over the course of an IM wont mean much in the grand scale of things
i just wanted to "reward"myself for finishing an IM with maybe a new bike with slightly more features (di2 and integrated system) than my current P3. i got a firm offer of $3300 but i have yet to accept it before i see whether its a viable option