OK, so I may have opened a can of already opened worms, but I really need some help.
I do have the money to dish out and get the carbon, but I want to make sure that it will help me to some degree. I am a good rider, only riding a Trek 1000 and finishing in the top 10-15% of the bike in all of my tris.
I plan to do IMUSA 2006 so I’m lookin for a new toy, now that i cant use the trek for the IM.
I assume the step from the road bike (trek 1000) to the dual would be very signigicant to me…would the next step to the P3 Carbon have similar gains?
What can I expect going from my road bike to either of these tri bikes??
You’re talking a huge difference in price between a Dual and a P3C. The Dual frame will probably be 95% as fast as the P3C. You pay an awful lot extra for that last 5% of performace. The big difference is how the bikes are spec’d and the carbon ride of the P3C.
On a dollar to performance ratio the Dual is the obvious winner, but if money is no object go with the P3C.
Either bike will be a significant step up from your Trek.
the transition from road to tri bike geometry is usually a big gain for most people, but then again this is assuming that you like riding in a steeper tri geometry… you might want to spend $20 or so and find an old Profile Fast Foward seatpost on ebay, pop it on your trek and see if you like riding steep. Granted it takes a while to get used to and the road bike will probably corner like crap set up steep.
For me it’s night and day, crit, road racing, general riding I like my road bike but for time trials or tris I’m a slug holding sustained high speeds on my road bike. bump me up to 80 degrees and I fly.
I have a P3sl and seriously the only main differences between a dual and a P3c are that the P3c looks a lot cooler. It might also be marginally more comfortable but that’s probably pretty minimal. If you have the money go for the carbon but if that’s a concern, get a dual and pimp it out with some fast wheels, choice aerobars and a comfy tri saddle. You can always upgrade framesets in the future if you really need it. Maybe consider a P2k as well, but anything above that and you’ll be hard pressed to find much of a performance advantage.
I went from a Giant TCR Zero to a Dual and have pimped it out to my liking and love it. I had the money to go up to a P3 but I liked the ride of the Dual. I did have the chance to ride both bikes for a day and to be honest I just could not justify the difference in price versus the ride quality and comfort. You could not do wrong with the Dual. Great amazing bike for the price.
FWIW - The place where I get my stuff sells Cervelo and the owner of the store has a P3 tricked out and loves it but the part that made me think that I made a great choice is that his wife has a tricked out Dual and says it is the best bike she has ever owned. She always finishes in the top three in her age group and could have had any Cervelo she wanted.
I went from a Trek 1200 to a P2K. At St. Anthony raced on the Trek and averaged ~19 mph, bought the P2k and raced it within a week of purchase at the Miami-Man oly distance (May). My average speed went from 19 to 21 mph. Both are flat courses, yes SA has a bit more turns, but it is the best comparison I can come up within a timeframe where my condition can be argued as been the same.
No one on this forum aside from Perhaps Bjorn NEEDS a P3 Carbon. You’ll achieve pretty well all you need with a Dual. Seriously, if you are not going to be going 5:15 on the bike and running 3:15 off the bike and in contention for a top 10 position, the difference between a Dual and Carbon will mean nothing within your age group. Save the difference and take your wife/girlfriend on a nice trip. This will buy you more goodwill in prep for LP2006 and have a better impact on your overall performance than buying the P3C. Alternatively, sell the delta to Niger, where kids are dying of hunger today.
Just look at the T1+T2 times at LP. Across the board, most people suck. They’d be better off practicing their transitions and spending the money on other things than buying a P3 Carbon.
If a P3 is good enough for Zabriskie to win Giro TT’s don’t you think that the Carbon is overkill for a mere age grouper ?
Sorry, I know that there are guys on this forum that like toys, but I’ve always been of the opinion that you buy the bike that matches your performance…but that is just me.
What if I want to be right around 6? What bikes can I have?
Seriously. I generally believe the whole bike matching performance thing too. At least for me. Buy whatever you want, but I’m not so secure in myself as to ride a 6:10 on a P3C. I’m also not made of money.
Nah, the bike will do sub-5:30 all on its own, don’t you know that from posting here?
<< This will truly be a stretch >>
Yeah, you were wicked “slow” this year. You shoulda been on a Huffy - hahaha!!!
Real difference between the 2 bikes - major bling factor, and probably a handful of seconds over 40k, mostly due to significantly reduced weight and drag of your wallet.
For the few beanos more, I’d probably go P2SL vs. Dual. That’s just me, YMMV.
PS - why can’t you use the Trek for an IM?? I bet a surprisingly large # of people do just that…
