TRI BIKES

DUAL

Nothing about the Dual keeps you from landing on the podium of a world championship race. At $1650 (Ultegra 10-speed) this is probably the least you can spend for a bike that can make that claim.

What’s most notable about the Dual? Cervelo’s geometry and seat post features allow a rider to achieve the position he or she wants, and the saddle, aero bars, and related ergonomic elements lend substantial comfort as the bike is spec’d out of the box.

P2 SL

There are lots of things I like about Cervelo. Such as this bike’s price. The very first thing you notice is that it’s not $2499. It’s $2500. How cool is that? A company that doesn’t try to horse you around with a “$omething-99.” You’ve got to honor that.

And then there’s, well, the price. For $2500 you get a bike that you could put underneath three quarters of the pros in a grand tour, and it’d be better than the hoity-toity bikes their teams are given by their hoity-toity sponsors. Why? Because Cervelo knows how to make a bike, and the P2 SL is a mature, tested, retested, tri bike that has ninety percent of what its sexy carbon monocoques have.

I mean, think about it. Great geometry, tubes with minor diameters of 28mm or so, faired rear wheel, micro-adjustable chainstay, aero seat post and tube (with a clamp that functions!), hardy, scratch-resistant paint, Dura Ace, and FSA’s show-stopping SLK MegaExo crankset.

So, the question is, what’s keeping you from buying it? We'll answer that for you. This bike is a victim of Cervelo’s carbon success. So many people are reaching up and grabbing that brass — er, carbon — ring at the $3600 and $4500 price points, that $1100 to step to the next level is just not enough differential. But for those who’re anchored in the mid $2000s and need to buy a podium-worthy bike stop shopping, you've found it.

Plus, there’s a little secret about the P2 SL that not very many people now. As of this writing, and unless things change, the P2 SL is actually a more adjustable bike than either the P2 or P3 Carbon. The P2 SL’s carbon post has more forward adjustability, and for those who ride in excess of 80° of seat angle, the P2 SL can get you into a place you may or may not be able to achieve with Cervelo’s all-carbon bikes (mind you, the P2 and P3 Carbon are have as much forward adjustability as anything in their respective classes, they just aren't quite as adjustable as this aluminum Cervelo).

The P2 SL is the poster child proving out our belief: carbon bikes are all the rage, but mid-$2000 aluminum is where the value is. Whether it’s a Felt S22, QR Tequilo, or P2 SL (and other bikes fit into this category), this is where bang and buck collide. Perhaps no bike is a better example than the one written about here.

P2 CARBON

Versus its glitzy sister, the P3 Carbon, the P2C’s taller (by 2 centimeters) head tube means its slightly more relaxed fit makes it arguably the more appropriate bike for certain riders. It’s hard to imagine a bike with more value packed into a $3600 price. Its 10-speed Dura Ace shift system and Visiontech front end means no upgrades are required. Slap on a set of race wheels and you’re ready to win Kona.

P3 CARBON

There are two kinds of riders in the European peleton these days. Those who enter timed races wondering how much time they’re going to lose, and the greedy bastards knowing they’re going to eat chunks of time out of their contemporaries.

For some reason, you just know that when the CSC team mounts its P3 Carbons, they are as a group squarely in that latter category. Funny thing, on paper you wouldn’t have thought so much of this team, two or three years ago. Certainly there is a reason Ivan Basso, Dave Zabriskie, and Bobby Julich became better time trailers at the very same time they mounted their new Cervelos. Certainly their prowess in the team time trial had to do with elements other than access to these bikes.

On the other hand, who’s going to bet that the bikes had little or nothing to do with their success?

On thing is apparent: these athletes look much better riding their P3 Carbons than do most of their competitors on their respective bikes. It’s not an issue of style we’re talking about, but how comfortable, powerful, and aerodynamic they appear. This is of course the sort of thing one would expect when a time trailer mounts a bike made by a company who makes timed race bikes for a living.

The P3 Carbon has everything you’d want: carbon monocoque design, internal cabling, a rear wheel faired with that curving seat tube (basically, a design that gives the rear wheel a bigger legal fairing), and micro-adjustable chainstays. But, then, this is the same sort of thing you got with the P3 SL, right? Well, yes and no. A close examination of the two bikes illustrates that the P3C not only has sleeker lines, with weld beads now gone, the aspect ratio of its tubes, and its seat post, is much sharper. The tubes are both longer (front to back) and narrower. This bike barely splits the wind.

With its Dura Ace (sorta kinda) groupset, the bike prices out at $4500. What, other than a set of race wheels, could you conceivably ask for in a bike?