given my frame crack and some lucky stars aligning (in terms of somebody putting up a for sale ad last Sunday) today I’m going to go check out a 2002 p2k w/ 404 wheels (58cm, which is what I usually run for road bikes, 6’0" with a 34" inseam).
While I have a pretty good idea of things to look for in terms of road frames/drivetrains, I’ve never really had any close-up-and-personal experience with 404-type wheels or tubie rims in general or carbon forks or cervelo frames.
Now, I am very confident that the frame is going to be ok (I heard only good things about Cervelo frames’ durability) but I’m wondering if there’s anything specific that I should be looking at on the wheels/fork/… etc. to make sure that everything is a-ok, after all for me this is a significant amount of hard earned $$$ to spend in a private transaction (the ad specifies that the bike is ‘mint’ and prices it a smidge under current retail for the p2k but with the 404 wheels vs standard, which seems reasonable)
things to look for other than the obvious being a true wheel:
loose spokes…cracking of the carbon around the nipple holes…cracking at the hubs where the spokes pass through…bearing smoothness cracks around the valve openings…excessive brake track wear. It’s a plus that you can actually see the wheels first hand before buying them (most of mine have been bought sight unseen…been lucky so far). As far as Zipp wheels goes…I think the ones with silver hubs are reported to be better than the black ones. Think the black ones are 2002 or older and had some reliability issues (though some with more knowledge here might know otherwise).
As for forks…take a close look at all contact points…drop outs and headset joint…for the most part newer carbon forks probably won’t fail unless the bike has been in a major accident…in which case it will be pretty easy to tell if there is something wrong. One way or another it sounds like you’re getting a pretty sweet new ride…hope it’s all good and you have a blast.
following up on myself: I just went to see the bike and it looks like a very sweet ride, very well kept, no cracks/chips/etc. anywhere, the guy was not kidding when he wrote ‘mint’ on his ad.
I was spinning the wheels (I think 2002 404s since they have the black hubs) and there is a VERY small amount of wobble both front and back (like, less than 1mm, noticed it only when staring really hard at the brake calipers), is this something I should be concerned about? I’m not sure how well carbon rims can be trued, sorry for the newbieish question.
The size felt about right (me and the previous owner have the same inseam, he’s 1 inch taller than me), I will take a spin on it next week but I think it should be ok… in some ways I was worried about this as it seems that a lot of fitter tend to put my body type on 55cm rather than 58cm frames, but it felt ok: just a tad more stretched out on the hoods than my road bike but just about perfect in the aerobars.
Oh well, if the stars align the right way I’m going to end up with this bike, which will definitely be an additional reason to train as it’d really suck to be the ‘crappy cyclist with the nice bike’ we so often joke about :)
I’d recommend you take a hard look at the frame sizing. I’m 6’0" with a 34.4" inseam, and a 55cm P3 fits me perfectly- If anything I could go down a size, but definitely not up. FWIW, I ride a 58cm road bike too.
thanks for the reply: I will do some more asking around regarding the fit in the next few days (I’ll make a decision next week), my inseam OTOH is a smidge under 34’ so yours is 0.5in more at the same height, maybe that could have something to do with it (you have a shorter torso = work better on a smaller frame)?
OTOH I guess it also depends from how people like to be set up on their bikes: on the P2K with the seatpost at 74 (?) degrees the frame felt a tad too big, but with the seatpost at 78 it felt just about perfect (there is only a cm or so of clearance between my knees and my elbows when in aero, on my road bike there was 0 clearance and it kind of bothered me, I felt too scrunched up).
Anyways I guess we’ll see: ideally I would want to go with this bike to the local tri-shop and see what the fitter says, but obviously it’d be hard to trust that their opinion is completely unbiased… I still sometimes wonder, though, I mean, aren’t we getting a bit too anal in terms of exact-to-the-millimeter frame fitting? While yeah, I wouldn’t want to be on a 51cm frame or a 64cm frame, the differences between a 58cm and a 55cm p2k shouldn’t be so huge as to be a make-or-break proposition. That or maybe I’m being too naive
If the owner is willing to let you take it out for a spin, you might want to ask if (s)he’d be wiling to let you take it to take it to a fit specialist just to make sure it’s the right size. He might want a deposit or something, but as long as it’s refundable I’d definitely look into that. Then call Greg @ Tri-Action and have him go over it at the same time as he does your fitting. If it’s the right size and he okays it, you’re good to go with plenty of peace of mind. If not, the time spent and price of the fitting/inspection will have been a sound investment in preventing you from making a much more expensive bad one.
