Triathlon - 650C...good? bad? neither?

alright...

i'm on my search for a '07 tri bike closeout. well...my two fav's are the orbea ora and the cervelo p2c. i've found good deals on both. BUT...i'm a short guy with even shorter legs. my roadbike is a 49. well...i found out the p2c in 48 rides on 650c wheels. them are smaller, right? is that good or bad? i use to be a performance car hobbyist...when when getting new rims, bigger was better for a few reasons...potentially greater stability...and a final drive ratio that allowed for potentially greater top speeds. (but bad for low hp cars because of higher mass, higher rotational mass) i'm assuming this holds true for bikes as well. also...won't my choices in tires/rims be limited? not to mention...if i need new tires, my LBS might not have them in stock!!!!!

so isn't 650c wheels a bad thing?

but the deal i found on the p2c is really great so i'm still considering it. my LBS has a orbea ora on sale BUT it's 51...the fitter is going to have me come in either tomorrow or the day after to see if we can make that work for me or not.

if i decide against the p2c and the ora doesn' fit...my last ditch, spend-lots-of-money option, is the '08 specialized transition expert. the 'S' size has the geometry of a 51...but the fitter at my LBS thought that if the ora doesn't fit, based on the numbers he see's, the transition still might.

*sigh* being short sucks...i have this problem finding good pants too!

There's nothing wrong with them...especially if the bike that fits you requires them. A friend of mine is the California State Champion (Over 50 - Road Race AND Time Trial) and he rides on 650's. They don't seem to slow him down.

Another good thing about 650c wheels is that you can find full disc or deep dish wheels for alot cheaper than their 700c counterparts over on EBay.

The worst thing you can do with a tribike is try and "make it fit" If the P2c fits then get it. I ride 650s on my Dual (size 48, I have a really short torso) and have never noticed it to be slower than my road bike which is 700. Problem with the road bike is I couldn't find anything in 650 when i was looking would have been nice to be able to swap wheels between the two.

I see you picked up the p2c, congrats. That is a sweet bike.

Because this is a particularly relevant topic (for me), I thought I'd add a couple of thoughts and observations:

The main issue here, as far as I can tell, is the ability to get into a low position. Most 700c bikes have fairly tall head tubes, which make for achieving an appropriate drop from the saddle to the aeros difficult.

I'm relatively short. At 5'7'', and I seem to be right on the edge of the 650c/700c line. I ride a 48cm Orbea Aletta with 700c, and I'm lucky to *just* be able to achieve the drop for a decent position (or so my F.I.S.T. guy claims) on that frame. However, it's no question that my 5'4'' fiancé needs to be on her 650c frame in order to get aero...

My only real gripe about my bike is toe overlap. It's a non-factor for racing situations, but can be annoying when I'm farting around the parking lot.

To the OP, I think you made the right decision on the p2c. Now go scour ebay for a good deal on wheels.

edit: As always the case for positioning issues - Slowtwitch is the authority (http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadings/product2007/tribikes/tribikesmall.html#Anchor-There-49575) on advising short people for aggressive positions.