Quintana Roo announced today the V-PR, an exciting and capable new flagship tri bike. “Luck is the residue of hard work,” is the old saw that came to mind when contemplating this bike, because – as we shall see – QR made decisions years ago that recent history has validated.
This is a superbike but, in keeping with QR’s philosophy, it lets its strategic partners do what they do best. QR doesn’t build handlebars or hydration systems but with this particular bike it did nudge its partner manufacturers toward some design modifications you’ll see in the V-PR.
This is not a rewarming of the PR series; the frame is an entirely new mold, one-piece construction; no bonded joints; no common sub-assemblies. QR took a pretty hard look at everything about its heretofore best tri bikes and asked (itself) what might be done to make them lighter and slipperier.
Weight
Some of the details of the carbon fiber used in this bike were revealed to me but I’d like to know more before I spout off in an area in which I’m barely literate. Suffice it to say that the frame is light and, one assumes, passes fatigue testing. (On that latter note, one hallmark of this brand is the rarity of product failures all the way back to its 1987 inception.) The weight of the bike is shown in the chart below compared to those in its competitive set.
This is kind of a big deal for QR because it had not been thought of as making particularly lightweight bikes. Not boat anchors, mind you, but not featherweights either. While I can pretty easily get a road bike down to 16 pounds and a gravel bike to 18 pounds, it’s hard to get any tri bike under 20 pounds, complete, because there are handlebars on top of handlebars. Anybody hoisting his or her tri bike onto the roof rack knows this.
Therefore it’s a particular achievement getting this bike, with all its surface area, to under-20-pounds complete and, perhaps with a little work by the end user, somewhere in the 18-and-change pound range. This new frameset – when you take the associated frame parts, like the seat post, fork and so on – is a whopping 25% lighter than Quintana Roo's PR6 frameset.
Aerodynamics
This is going to take some explaining. Here is a chart below prepared by the folks at Quintana Roo. As you probably know this chart represents the aero performance of this bike in a sweep, and by sweep we mean wind blowing on a bike from one side all the way to the other. This gives us a sense of how the bike will perform in a straight-on wind as well as sidewinds.
The bike used for comparison’s sake is the very capable Cervelo P5 Disc. Of course it’s assumed that the bikes are set up exactly alike, and that the competitor’s bike is set up honestly. I was assured, when I asked, that every attempt was made to make each bike as fast as possible.
The units here are “watts” and of course watts are not the units measured in the wind tunnel. Rather, it’s the force applied to the scale on which the bike sits, and that scale records this as does your bathroom scale: in grams or pounds. It’s referred to as drag, as in, so many grams of drag. The units here are the result of a solved math problem that translates units of drag into the amount of power it takes to overcome that drag. But still, the watts shown here don’t make a lot of sense if you just look at the watts without context. It certainly takes more than, say, 85 watts to ride any bike at 30 miles per hour. In this case, what QR has done is remove what it considers the power needed to overcome the mass of the rider. What remains is the power it takes to overcome the mass of the bike.
If this is an accurate depiction, you see (of course) that most of the force you apply to the pedals is used to overcome the mass of our bodies. But also what’s removed is the power required to overcome rolling resistance. The 65, 75, 85 watts it takes to propel this bike at 30 miles per hour in this chart is really just what is required to propel the complete bike – sans rider – through the air. By removing all other equal factors QR is attempting to zoom in on just the differences between the bikes.
What QR is saying here is that its bike is about 13 watts faster than the P5 Disc depending on how a bike is configured, and how much time is spent riding in sidewinds, headwinds, etc. Also, this is at 30mph, which is sometimes criticized as an unrealistic speed but is nevertheless the industry standard.
Fit & Handling
One hallmark throughout this brand’s history is fit. But it’s more than that. This brand assumes its bikes are going to fit most people most of the time. Not all brands meet that benchmark. To throw a lasso around what this brand actually tries to achieve: QR’s bikes are designed to handle well, throughout all the phases and positions of a tri bike ride, once you are fit properly aboard them.
As to fit, here are some charts below that show the fit ranges. Immediately below is a chart that is used to demonstrate the ranges if you buy a V-PR with a more standard style Vision TFA aerobar. Again, a little explanation if I might.
The terms stack and reach as used in this chart do not have the precision I would like, but I will decode and we’ll be fine. The rise and run from the bottom bracket to the back of the armrest are the metrics here. These are the metrics asked for by Ian Murray and Eric Reid, the curators of our Fit Assistance Threads on our Reader Forum, as well as the guidance given by Trek on that similar thread helping users choose their correct Speed Concept. Many thousands of bikes have been purchased off the guidance given in those threads and one hopes that more and more of us become literate in those particular fit coordinates.
Take me, as an example. I’m about 6’1” and the rise and run from the BB to the back of my tri bike’s armrest is about 650mm and 470mm respectively. If you chase this down on that chart above you’ll find I can actually fit on as many as 4 sizes of this bike, and that’s because there is so much adjustability in the Vision TFA aerobars that I can make a frame fit me that’s clearly too small. The two that fit me best are the 54cm and the 56cm. I would be one of these. You might argue that these are too small for me and you’d have a point, because I ride a 58cm road bike. But you should consider QR’s sizing convention. QR and Cannondale (in the case of the SystemSix road bike) each size their bikes with their frame stack measures. I would ride a SystemSix road bike in size 58 (it has a frame stack of 58cm); and I would ride a QR V-PR in size 54 (it has a frame stack of 54cm).
The way this bike is most likely to get purchased is with the Vision TFE PRO handlebar that you see in the bike images here. That’s the sexy full-length armrest, and throughout 2022 you’re going to see more and more of these kinds of bars roll out. The fit chart for this is just above, and it’s a different fit chart because each aerobar makes the bike fit differently.
These charts above are the general overview of the size run. Each bike size has its own discrete page that shows exactly how you'd set up your V-PR to match your fit coordinates. You can see the pages for each size V-PR built with the Vision TFA bars and you can see the pages for all sizes built with the Vision TFE PRO.
Let’s talk about these rectangles, because they make a difference in how these bikes will handle. The left and right limits of each rectangle refer to how short of a cockpit you can make with this bike size and these aerobars, and how long the cockpit can be. As you see, the range is massive: more than 10cm. You don’t want to take advantage of that whole range. The bike is made to handle well if you’re closer to the center of that fore/aft range. You’ll want the front wheel of your bike not to be too far in front of you, nor do you want to be too far in front of it. That’s why, when you look at these rectangles, you can easily spot “your” bike.
You don’t want to your spot on this chart to be at the very bottom of a rectangle because you’ll foreclose on your ability to lower your pad position if you choose to do so. If you’re too high in that rectangle you’re buying too many pad pedestals and not enough bike. Besides, if you have all those pedestals that means the pursuit position will likely be way down there, too low for effective control and comfort.
The front center on these bikes (BB to front wheel axle) is a bit longer than what you typically see in bikes this size. The 54cm size has a front center of 431mm versus 425mm, which is what you tend to see on tri bikes of this size. I like this, because QR has always had nimble steering, which I prefer in a tri bike, and that bit of extra front center makes the bike just a tad less nose-heavy.
Frame Features
Remember when I referred to luck, the residue of hard work? QR introduced, many years ago, what it called Shift technology. The thesis is an asymmetrical frame design that shifts the air from the drive side to the left side of the bike. This all happened years before tri bikes moved to disc brakes. The really fat left side chain stay that is the obvious feature of Shift tech is a tailor made rotor fairing.
The storage box has been redesigned. While the idea of the red blinker as part of the box was a good one, it kind of violated what appeared to me to be a QR doctrine: don’t manufacture in an accessory category unless you intend to compete straight-up in that category. QR doesn’t make wheels, saddles, aerobars, hydration systems. It has now backed out of the light business.
But the box has taken a step forward, not backward. In previous designs the box had to slide all the way up to exit its mount bracket, and this often meant taking off the saddle bags or rear hydration to remove the box. The new box no longer fixes that way, but it is still solidly attached. The box is also size-specific: different box sizes mate with different frame sizes.
Yes, QR relies on brands like Vision and Profile Design to manufacture for them products like aerobars and hydration systems. But QR has gotten a bit bolder on these parts, and has proprietary parts made to modify production pieces to fit their frames. If you look closely at the Profile Design Aeria Hydration – my favorite front hydration system – when deployed on the V-PR you will see parts on it that you won’t get when you buy this as an aftermarket hydration system. Those parts aren’t better or worse; they allow the part to integrate seamlessly with this bike.
Likewise, you may see some aerobar products now or in the future that you don’t (yet) find in any catalog.
The seat post topper hardware is not hard to wrangle, as tri bike seat post designs go, and QR has a good wedge mechanism for affixing the post to the frame. Yes, you’ll want to use carbon paste but, no, you don’t need to sweat your seat post sliding down under pressure.
Sales & Shipping channels
Here is another area where QR made some decisions in years past and luck and fortune have favored this brand. I don’t think it’s a huge secret that QR has gradually moved to consumer direct. It maintains relationships with select retailers, but this brand’s inertia is all toward consumer direct. Events conspired to bring QR to where it is. First, QR drafted in the wake of Canyon. QR selling directly to you would have been a lot harder were it not for Canyon’s explosive success in this sales channel.
Second, QR decided to bring paint and assembly stateside. This wasn’t luck, of course, this was an affirmative act taken by this brand to best accommodate its customers. Third, there is a new shipping paradigm that you may not have seen yet but it’s here and its coming... like a freight train: It’s boxless, complete bike delivery. Imagine Tri Bike Transport, just, instead of from your LBS to your IRONMAN race it’s from your manufacturer to you. This is how you’re likely to get your QR bike nowadays. It’s also how you’re likely to get everything from a Wahoo KICKR Bike to a Ventum and others but, like I said, this is a freight train and enterprising manufacturers will take a hard look at this delivery motif before it leaves the station without them.
Here is one manifestation on this. QR has also announced today its Fit Ready program. Remember that reference above to our Reader Forum Fit Assistance threads? Our guys tell you what size of bike to buy once you tell them your fit coordinates. QR has taken this a step further. If you then give QR these fit coordinates, it’ll build your bike to those coordinates. The cost is an extra $250. You may think, “heck, I can put in pedestals myself; I don’t need to spend $250.” And you may be right. But here’s one thing that’s always kind of been a bugaboo in our business, and hearken back to those fit chart “rectangles” above.
Go to the far right hand corner of one of those rectangles. The bike can’t really fit there unless there’s enough hydraulic housing. This means that an appropriately fitted bike almost certainly has too much housing (because a complete bike has to have all the cable and housing to accommodate a bike at the far end of the range). QR can build this bike with the right amount of housing, if it knows your fit coordinates. With other bike brands, once you adjust the bike to fit you either have a lot of extra housing or you have to decable the bike, cut housing, new olive, new barb, rebleed.
That drawing above lists the metrics QR wants you to give them, and they'll build your bike exactly to this spec. That chart is part of a fill-in form QR will send you as part of the Fit Ready program.
I’ll be writing separately just about Fit Ready, because it’s going to place either a little or a lot of pressure on bike brands (depending on how important this feature becomes in the marketplace) to match this service; and to deliver the bike boxless, complete, set-up and ride-ready. My instinct tells me that the bike fitter network may have a part to play in all of this.
The V-PR will sell complete for prices between the $8000s and $12,000s, depending on spec. The frameset is a hefty $5,350. Better just to buy the whole bike.
QR has a crackerjack configurator on its site that shows the prices of bikes, and automatically updates the pic of the bike to show the config you’ve chosen. This bike is available for order now, and you would get delivery in about six weeks. Why the wait? Remember, they’ll paint the frame as you want it painted; they’ll assembled it with the parts you want; to your fit coordinates; and deliver it boxless and ready to ride at your door. All that takes a little time.
