Best Performing Bike - 2008

I am new to the sport and decided to upgrade to a tri bike after using a road bike for my first duathlons and triathlons.  After reading a lot of opinions on ST, BT, and various magazines, I narrowed the field down to the Felt B2, the Cervelo P2C, and a Cannondale Slice 3.  The Slice wasn't exactly raved about much in the sources I tapped, but the LBS had a 2008 they were willing to deal on.  I rode all three yesterday back to back so I would notice the differences from one bike to the next.

 Cervelo P2C - Tough to beat, no question.  Outstanding value, rode like a dream.  One little factor tipped me toward the B2 and that was some concern I had about the FSA Gossamer crankset the Ultegra model came with.  Cervelo gives you a better crankset on the DA model for $3,000, so I figured that would be the model I chose if I went with the P2C.  One other very minor factor, I wasn't crazy about the red color you are stuck with on the DA equipped P2C.

 Felt B2 - This bike was on sale at a LBS for 20% off since it was a 2008 model.  This put the price squarely between the Ultegra P2C and the DA P2C.  It came with the FSA SL-K crankset that has had 'issues' in the past that allegedgly have been addressed.  The bayonet type fork is nice and the bike handled as well as the P2C, maybe a bit better.  In general, since the B2 started at a retail price point of $3,600, it came with a bit nicer components including DA front and rear derailleurs, shallow aero wheels, nicer base bar and aero bars, etc.

 Cannondale Slice 3 - Very lightweight and I think it would have been a great handling bike, but the base bar and aero bars on the bike I rode just didn't agree with me at all.  I felt so unstable going down a hill at about 22-23 mph that I wasn't willing to get into the cups.  I couldn't hold a nice straight line when getting in and out of the aero position.  In general, I just couldnt get comfortable and I felt like the whole front end would have needed to be changed out for me to feel confident.  However, it was the lightest of the three and probably had the highest quality frameset.  With my wheels, this bike would have tipped the scales at around 16 lbs!

Longer than I intended, but this tri bike thing has been a major project for me.  I decided on the B2 and can't wait to pick it up on Saturday after the bike shop gets the aero bars I want installed (same bars as the P2c).  I have suffered with back pains on my road bike that persist even after careful adjustments by the LBS.  This really hindered my running performance.  I have been working on strengthening my back and standing up on the bike more to get rid of the problem.  Hopefully I will see some improvement in upcoming months.

Greg

I decided between P2C and Orbea.  There are no Felt guys in the area so it was between those two.  I think the Orbea was equal in all aspects.  But the P2C just seemed to have the best value for the $2500 Ultegra mix.  I couldn't be happier with that bike!

P3C is a nice bike (I've ridden one) and, and I appreciate hyperbole on the internet as much as the next guy, but maybe because I have have yet to drink the Cervelo kool-aid, I'm forced to ask this simple question- what are all the bikes from all other companies that are copied from the P3C?

Cervelo may or may not have been the first to design the seat tube cut-out to follow the rear wheel all the way up to the chain stays, but you see that design now on almost all the other brands top of the line tri bikes. You didn't see that on Felt, Specialized, Cannondale, Giant etc just a few years ago.

Please mom, can I have one... '08 or '09  Scott Plasma Limited with a Zipp 808/1080 set-up.  I currently ride a QR Tequilo, which I enjoy...but if money grew on trees.... Come to Papa!  I have tried this bike on and WOW -  light, comfortable feel... I was doing warp factor 8 sittin' still! Just think what it would do in a race!

PC was an obvious choice for me after months of deliberation.  The main reason came down to "bang for buck".  As we all know triathlon is a very expensive sport and thus I am always trying to walk that line of performance and cost.  This line led me directly toward the p2C.  I opted for the Dura Ace version since it is my second tri bike purchase and didn't want to be looking for upgrades 6 months later.  For about $3k I got a bike that has wond Kona (twice) and holds it's value extremely well (as I know i will eventually upgrade even further).