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Cervelo launches P- and PX-Series bikes

Earlier this year Cervelo launched a new version of the P-5 and the new P3X – today they’ve announced new lines to complement those bikes.

In March we were on hand as Cervelo announced a couple of new bikes – the new P5 disc and the P3X – and were suitably impressed. Today Cervelo has announced new lines to complement those new bikes, making a bike similar to the P5 more attainable for most people, and offering a new PX line up that takes the P5X and the P3X to a whole new level.

Cervelo will be rebranding many of their lines over the next year – in triathlon that will mean we’ll see a “halo” bike in the P5, with a series of bikes with that same frame but with different components called the P-Series. (In other words, we won’t see a P3 any longer.)

The PX-Series won’t have a “halo” bike – the P5X and the P3X are being phased out and we’ll just see a couple of different options of the PX-Series. Since it’s so tri-specific, and we also had the most time to ride the PX bike, we’ll start with that one.

The PX-Series Dura Ace Di2

PX-Series

When the P5X was announced a few years ago, it was a revolutionary new tri-bike. The bike was designed with the idea of being able to carry all the stuff most 70.3 and Ironman athletes take along with them, without sacrificing any aerodynamics. The bike was also easy to take apart and had its own specially designed bike case, making it a breeze to travel with, too.

While the bike was an aerodynamic rocket, it was heavy and wasn’t the easiest bike to climb with.

The P3X addressed those concerns – it was lighter and noticeably stiffer, so it felt much better for climbing, but was even more impressive in terms of handling. But with the P3X you lost the split bar that made it easy to take apart for travel.

The new PX-Series brings back that split bar, which improves aerodynamics, and retains all the other benefits we saw in the P3X. It’s also available in a much more upscale package. Basically it’s everything we would have wanted the P5X to be from day one – the Cervelo engineers took people’s input and everything they learned from the initial P5X concept, and have put it into an impressive bike that is:

  • 16 percent lighter than the P5X frame
  • 8 percent stiffer
  • 9 g more aero than the P3X
  • 15 percent stiffer at the bottom bracket

We’ll be offering up a detailed review of the PX-Series over the next week, but in our two-weeks of riding the new bike we’ve been more than a little impressed. Our tests have included a Tour de France climb up the Col de Avoriaz in Morzine and some of the epic climbs around Nice and the bike has performed admirably.

The PX-Series is available in a couple of different builds:

  • PX-Series Dura-Ace Di2 with DT Swiss Arc 1100 62/ 80 mm wheels – $15,500
  • PX-Series Red E-Tap with Zipp 404/ 808 Firecrest wheels – $15,500
  • PX-Series Frameset – $7,300
The P-Series Ultegra Di2

The P-Series

While the P5 is certainly an extremely popular triathlon bike, it’s also Cervelo’s flagship time trial bike, the one used by the company’s sponsored professional cycling teams. It’s the fastest bike the company makes – as long as you’re not trying to load it up with tons of water bottles or gels.

The new P-Series will offer many of the impressive characteristics we saw in the new P5 at much more affordable prices.

The new P-Series will replace the P3 – this will be a bike that utilizes the super-aero P5 frameset, but offers some different components. Thanks to the frame, compared to the P3, the new P-Series will be:

  • 9 percent lighter
  • 26 g faster (bare)/ 18 g faster (loaded)
  • 18 percent stiffer at the bottom bracket
  • 30 percent stiffer in terms of torsional stiffness
  • Offer interchangeable cockpit options (as opposed to the integrated cockpit in the P5)
  • Come with SmartPak 400, Aerobottle 500 and a rear bottle mount

The new P-Series will come in a number of different builds:

  • P-Series 105 with Vision Team 30 wheels – $4,300
  • P-Series Ultegra with Vision Team 35 wheels – $5,700
  • P-Series Ultegra Di2 with Vision 55 TC wheels – $8,600
  • P-Series Force E-Tap with Vision 55 TC wheels – $8,600
  • P-Series Frameset – $3,300

We’ll also have a more detailed review of the new P-Series bike for you over the next few weeks.