RecceDG

If you continue to think your point is valid, I don't think you really do get "what I am trying to do".

Holy crap! I think I have ridden with these guys!

I'm 90% sure that they were at this year's Grand Bend to London MS Bike Tour. The son and I traded pulls for a while at the end of the ride. He's actually pretty quick.

DG

WHOOOSSHHH...

Don't you ride one?

renton

Yes indeed.
Weird that you mention Trek and BMC. My first and current bike is a Trek and I'm getting a BMC today!

Terry66

So, I am talking to a guy on a sport hybrid about how he was planning to get a bit more serious about his riding. Said he was thinking about becoming a bike "snob" and getting a Trek.....amazing how newbies perceive the market.

I think the reason Cervelos are so popular in your area might have something to do with your LBS. I know in my area, we only have a couple LBS. One carries Trek and the other carries Cannondale/Giant. Those are the brands you see most often in this area. When I ride about 50 miles south of here, I see a lot of Specialized, Cervelos and Felt as those are the brands the LBS's carry in that area.

I think it is obvious Cervelo build some awesome bikes as does Specialized, Trek, etc.

kwakster928

I don't think they are that popular where I live. I see a lot of Specialized, Cannondale, Trek, Fuji, and Giant. The one of the club ride I do, I am the only one with the Cervelo. I think the popularity has more to do with where you live and what the LBS carries.

One thing that led me to buying a Cervelo was the original Soloist frame. It was the first so called "aero" bike with the airfoil down tube. They looked just so cool looking at from far. CSC boys winning some big races and heavy advertising did push me to edge to buy one. It was a great bike. Super stiff and responsive, and fast. Before I had my Cervelos, I rode Trek 2200. It was a world of difference between the frames. When I was about to switch to a carbon frame, I test rode a lot of bikes. I kept coming back to the Cervelo one way to the other. I like it, I love the bike. That's why I ride the Cervelo. It has to be one special bike to make me switch. However, I still think S5 is just god awful ugly.

joe_5700

That looks a lot like a transition at a duathlon or triathlon. They always seem to be grouped together on bike racks. It is like they are a special clique and not to be placed next to other bikes. They are also very recognizeable. I always know how many Cervelos are in a particular race. I cannot say the same for any other brand and I do not know why...

Soloist Assassin

They are awesome bikes. /thread

hyhuu

Woa! Some of the bottles and bottle cages also matched.

misterha

These guys are a local group in the DC, MD, VA area that my friend rides with, he rides a cannondale guess he was excluded in the picture

patentcad

Like nut job up there said, they're great bikes. It's really not much more complicated than that. There's no World Cervelo Fred Conspiracy, even though some of you would like to think there is.

DUHI4GOT

I researched and test rode a few brands, Cervelo, Giant, Scott, Specialize,Cannondale and Trek. At the end of it all and with a Budget $12K I decided on aR3SL and a S2. Coming from a Cannondale Six13 I noticed an increase in my averagespeed and overall comfort. No regrets sofar except for the money, I wish they were equipped with better wheels. Personal preference or not

eja_ bottecchia

Well said.

z90

Denial is exactly what I would expect from a secret member of the WCFC.

patentcad

Busted.

RecceDG

Eddy Merckx is an outlier, and nobody else in his era was on aero stuff either.

Or in other words, imagine how much faster he would have been on a modern aero bike.

Except that 10 km/h average speed increase is NOT small - in fact, it is ENORMOUS.

This is where our everyday familiarity with motorized vehicles is so misleading. Gas motors make tons of power and so large swings in average speeds are very easy. Humans make very little power - even outliers like Merckx and Armstrong - and so large changes in average speed are actually very difficult to achieve.

Here's an example: the world record marathon average speed is 20.42 km/h. Guess what the world record average speed for a half-marathon is?

21.6 km/h.

Let's drop the distance to 1600m (1/26 of a marathon) World record average speed? 25.96 km/h

To get a 10 km/h average speed difference in world record times for running, you have to drop the distance to 400m (33.34 km/h)

And the problem is not the physical top speed of human feet. Usain Bolt's 100m record is 37.58 km/h. It's that no human can (yet) maintain that kind of power output for that long.

In fact, the improvement in average speed over the history the TdF is SO LARGE that the primary cause for it is better ROADS, not better riders or better equipment - there just not being enough potential for that scale of improvement in either riders or equipment.

Go do a ride where you average 30 km/h for an hour - that's pretty easy. Now do one at 40 km/h. Most people here can't do it, and for those that can, it's a huge effort.

DG

roadwarrior

Looks like Inspector Clouseau.

Soloist Assassin

I did the same thing. I was riding a Trek at that time, that I still ride now. I test rode selection of 12 high end bikes. After two years of convincing myself not to buy it, I finally broke down, and bought a Soloist Carbon. Two years later, and I am very happy with the purchase. The frame may have cracked, but Cervelo got a warranty replacement S2 in my hands quicker than I could of imagined. It is the best bike I've ever ridden, and I've ridden a lot of really nice bikes.

Commodus

Pfft. That's cuz they're a bunch of freds.

I can do 40km/h for, like, entire MINUTES at a time.

WhyFi

I wish that I had descents that long around here.

Soloist Assassin

That's only just under 25mph. Not that big of a deal.

Hida Yanra

fify

Commodus

Shush you. I'm trying to subtly convince everyone I'm fast.

surgeonstone

It's a mystery.

Hida Yanra

see my previous fify.

I can do 40k/h for quite a long time, but my baseline isn't a typical commuter/enthusiast either.
So, for the sake of argument, say 50k/h vs 40k/h.
One I can do without a massive struggle. (TT bike, flat road, appropriate gear... not such a problem)
The other isn't something I'd even dream about.

WhyFi

I see that 'planes aren't the only things that go over your head in flyover country.