- I'm gonna tell you about the P2.
Under your crotch.
That is the most prevalent, most winning.
Sup Trainiacs.
Since I announced that I would be riding the Cervélo P2
about a month and a half ago
that I was set up with from my boys and gal
over at Alter Ego Sports here in Winnipeg.
Everyone's been asking, hey Taren
how do you like the P2?
Should I get a P2, where can I get a P2?
Tell us more about the P2.
So today, I'm gonna tell you about the P2.
Now that I've got, I would say somewhere around
500, 600 kilometers in it
and I did a race that went really smashingly.
I can confidently talk about the P2.
Particularly in relation to the five year old P3.
I want to say that it's a five year old.
And that puts a lot of what
this current 2016 P2 is into perspective.
Let's do it.
Now, this here, like I said
a 2016 P2 with Shimano 105.
I have Alto C59 wheels on
that are made for 28 mil wide tires.
And the 59 is like a deep section wheel
but not so deep.
It's not like a full Arrow wheel.
It's more like an Arrow road wheel.
I've got the ISM, I want to say Arrow.
ISM road saddle on here.
And other than that, it's basically entirely stock
besides the accessories that I've put on
with the bottle cage
and the Garmin 520.
And in relation to the old P3 that I've got
there's a bunch of notable features
that I'll take you through.
Now the cockpit up here
is basically identical.
You've got a fair bit of adjustability.
Forward, backward, and the width of these pads here
for your elbows.
Now, what you give up
with this bike, that you don't get with a high end bike
is a huge amount of integration
where the stem and the headset here
all looks like one piece
and all of the cable routing is internal
and you get a nice, clean aerodynamic cockpit here.
You're not gonna get that with entry level bikes.
Frankly, you're not even gonna get that with a lot
of second tier bikes like current P3s.
Does that mean that you're not gonna be able
to get the adjustability that you need?
Well, it might.
But typically not, for most people
this set up is gonna be just fine.
The one thing that I wasn't a fan of with this
it wasn't the fit, it wasn't the comfort
it wasn't being able to dial in a good position.
It was actually the thinness of the handlebars.
Just identically to my P3, it's a very thin handlebar.
I don't have big digits here.
But it's a thin handlebar
and riding so much road lately
over the last few years
I like a nice, meaty grip
that I can latch onto
and kinda move my hand around
and rest upon here
so that when I'm riding through the city
I've got a lot to grab onto.
You don't have that here.
You've got a very basic handlebar.
Now coming over here, down to the headset area.
This is a significant departure
from all old P3s that I have particularly
and this is a new feature.
That this area, say right in here
is very built up.
On my P3 I want to say that from that little triangle there
it's not as filled in as it is here.
So you have, if you look at it from the side
just a huge amount of aerodynamics
coming from one of the biggest windbreaks
on the entire bike
and it's gonna be able to wrap around that
and be more aerodynamic.
It's in a tear drop shape here at the back.
And we've got a tear drop shape
almost all the way down.
It flattens out now at the bottle.
The P3 did not.
But this allows it to be apparently
more aerodynamic with a bottle
on the down tube than without.
You've also got a slight cut out
on the down tube around the wheel
so that you've got more aerodynamics there.
And basically, this entire section
all here, will function in the wind
as one piece.
So you get a very, very aerodynamic front section
even in this entry level tri-bike for Cervélo.
The next major detraction from the P3 that I have
is that the bottom bracket here
is massive compared to my P3.
And we're seeing that with almost all bikes.
Road bikes, tri-bikes, huge, huge bottom brackets.
And why they're doing that
is that it's more stiff in the bottom
where you're putting a ton of torque on
with the cranks
and that stiffness in the bottom bracket
is gonna transfer over to the rest of the bike.
So that more of the power that you're putting into
the peddles goes into forward motion.
Other than that, the seat stays
and the chain stays are basically identical
to the old P3.
And more or less identical to the current P3.
The current P3 has better components
better brakes, better shifters, better crank.
I believe it has a bit of a different lay up
in the carbon, how its put together.
Something that is new with this P2
as opposed to my old P3
is that this back edge is blunted
as opposed to the tear drop shape that we see here.
It's flattened out.
And apparently, that works a little bit better
in the cross winds
whereas a pure tear drop
is the most aerodynamic
right front on.
But fact of the matter is
that wind tends to come from the side
and the side, so that blunted edge on the back
ends up making it overall, more aerodynamic.
You know, overall, how does it feel?
It feels great, there isn't anything in here
that I haven't been able to completely dial in
with the same geometry
that I was able to dial in with my old P3.
It feels maybe just a hair stiffer
while at the same time being
just a little bit more compliant it's called.
Compliant is about comfort.
That's how beat up you feel going over bumps
for hours on end.
And what I've found is that
this feels just as stiff when I stand up
to put power into it
or I start really hammering on the peddles
for like, a five or 10 minutes above race pace interval.
Feels really stiff.
And like, there's a lot of power transfer
coming from my peddles.
But, I don't feel nearly as beat up
as I did on the old P3.
And that's what a lot of the technology
is trying to get towards.
That's the ideal bike.
A really, really, stiff bike
that is also a very comfortable bike.
Now what are the things that I don't like about it?
Well, frankly if I'm spending a ton of money on bikes
and we already, in my case
this bike build is getting to the 5-6 thousand dollar range.
If I'm spending that kind of dough
I might as well, in my opinion
go into like, the 9-10 thousand dollar range
and get a whole lot more integration.
Because I've already gone through that first road bike.
The first tri-bike.
The upgraded road bike.
It's kinda just a matter of like
I want something newer and better.
And in my case, that's things like an integrated cockpit.
Integrated nutrition pouches.
Integrated storage cans, maybe behind the seat
or on the down tube.
But frankly, is this a bad bike?
No, not at all.
It is actually a very good bike.
And you know what, I always tell people
don't go with the entry level Shimano 105s
on whatever bike you're getting.
And I'm not saying that
because the entry level Shimano 105s
are a bad component system.
No, I'm saying that strictly because I think
that Ultegra is better value for your dollar.
And you'll have better resale value
when you go to sell that bike.
But it's not like if all you can afford
is an entry level tri-bike with Shimano 105
you're gonna get a bad bike, no.
All bikes are awesome bikes these days.
And basically, the entire thing that I want
to get across here, why I'm comparing it
to the old gold standard P3
that is the most prevalent, most winning tri-bike
I think in all of history
is that now, you can get basically a better bike
than that absolutely phenomenal, prolific tri-bike
at an entry level price point.
Pretty good deal if you ask me.
Does that mean this is my dream bike?
No, does that mean that this bike
should be under your crotch?
Someday in the future, absolutely.