I received my pee five six back in June 2012. I kept my P2C as my training bike so the P5 was a race-only machine. It was fantastic.
But I only got to ride it about 6 times. After a race in May 2013 I found myself with hamstring, glute, and lower back pain. 1.5 years and many doctor visits later, I am still unable to train. It’s some combination of high hamstring tendonitis, piriformas, sciatica, blah blah. See a new doctor and you get a new diagnosis. I am NOT giving up on being able to do triathlons again, but it will likely be a while (at least 2 years) before I am able to compete at the elite-amateur level.
Given all this, help me think through the economics of deciding what I should do with my P5-6? The options are:
Sell it. Why keep a depreciating asset on the wall doing nothing? By the time I’m ready to do triathlons, the same money will allow me to re-buy something just as fast, or faster. There’s NO point to keeping it.
Keep it forever. I might do triathlons again, and it’ll be a fast bike for many years to come.
Something else? Anyone want to rent a fully decked out (with Hed disc w/powertap) size 56 P5? Um… yeah and don’t crash it, thanks.
I received my pee five six back in June 2012. I kept my P2C as my training bike so the P5 was a race-only machine. It was fantastic.
But I only got to ride it about 6 times. After a race in May 2013 I found myself with hamstring, glute, and lower back pain. 1.5 years and many doctor visits later, I am still unable to train. It’s some combination of high hamstring tendonitis, piriformas, sciatica, blah blah. See a new doctor and you get a new diagnosis. I am NOT giving up on being able to do triathlons again, but it will likely be a while (at least 2 years) before I am able to compete at the elite-amateur level.
Given all this, help me think through the economics of deciding what I should do with my P5-6? The options are:
Sell it. Why keep a depreciating asset on the wall doing nothing? By the time I’m ready to do triathlons, the same money will allow me to re-buy something just as fast, or faster. There’s NO point to keeping it.
Keep it forever. I might do triathlons again, and it’ll be a fast bike for many years to come.
Something else? Anyone want to rent a fully decked out (with Hed disc w/powertap) size 56 P5? Um… yeah and don’t crash it, thanks.
if you need the money or are worried about the dollar$ being tied up, then sell it.
if you’re not worried about the dollar$ and thing or want to return to tris or riding a tri bike, then keep it… I mean, honestly, how much better are Tri bikes going to get in the next few years.
Just sell it. Buy another one cheap in a couple years when, if ever, you get back into triathlon. By that time, you’ll get one cheap because the p6 will be out (coming out next season actually, though who knows how long before anyone gets one) and the p5 prices will have tanked. If you don’t care what other people think of you and want to still ride sometimes, sell it, buy a used p3 w/ aftermarket aero bars and be 99% as fast.
I would keep it to. It’s a tangible sign of your commitment to overcome your injuries and return to the sport you love. You are going to make it, and that beauty will be waiting for your return. I think it would be more meaningful to come back on a bike you love, one that’s been with you through this, than to recover and get on a new bike.
Matto, hold on to the bike! I bought my P3 back in 2008 after a great season which ended with some glute pain. Then hamstring, then sciatica, then low back, then multiple doctors and shots and treatments and… 2 years of pain, frustration and no racing.
There will be an end to it once you figure out what the root cause of your symptoms is and fix it. Don’t assume you are headed for back surgery. My resolve, which I came to after reading every thread about back, hammy, glute issue on the web was a psoas stretch (among others).
I’m not a doc, but from my experience, stretch your hips, strengthen your core, especially your glute’s. Look into lower cross syndrome, get some deep tissue massage.
Keep it. Whatever bike comes next won’t be faster by enough to worry about. They’re likely to pursue rider comfort, storage and nutrition integration, and build/maintenance simplification. The P5-6 is just a very fast bike and there’s not much fruit left on the aero tree.
You’ve had the bike, you know it’s in good shape… it’s beautiful… look at it and use it as motivation to rehab.
Your injury sounds a hell of a lot like a herniated disc. At least your symptoms sound a lot like mine, spent a lot of time in physical therapy treating those symptoms when it was originally thought to be a piriformis type injury.
Keep it. Any improvements in bike technology in the next 5 years are likely to be incremental, and seeing it hanging up there will keep you motivated to get back into the sport.
I kept a 2006 QR Lucero hanging on the wall from 2009-2011 without using it. Drove the wife nuts, but always reminded me that once we got through that period of our life (children, jobs, injuries) I’d TT or tri again. Am sure I could buy quite a bit of speed improvement now, but the amount I train these days I quite like being on a bike that isn’t cutting edge, and my position on it is great so I reckon I’m not giving away much to the people I see on uberbikes with non-uber positions.
If you love the bike, keep it. When I’m asking questions like this it’s because what I want to do and what I think I SHOULD do are in conflict. F*ck “should”… figure out what will make you happy and do that. You’ve got enough to worry about simply getting your body right. What’s going to be more motivating when you are ready to ride again? Climbing on a familiar, beloved bike? Or a bright shiny new one?
