winter project
 

so for those of us who live in slightly less than perfect climates (i'm sat here in chicago and the summer has most defintely disappeared) the competitive season is over for the the year

Other than the rigorous trianing schedule :) my off season plan is to pick up a frame and build a new bike for 2006 (i'm currently on a 631 steel jamis, 105 all round, AC 420s, forward seat post and tribars, which has been great for the passed two years, but i have the yearnign for more).

Here's the two frames that i have ridden (and loved) :

Cervelo P2K
Guru Cron'alu

so you can see the price i'm looking at for a frame, i know that skydive would say guru all the way cause he rides one, but any other opinions, experiences or recommendations would be really appreciated.

I have my favorite as do many others - but it may not be for you.
It's real simple - THE ONE THAT FITS YOU THE BEST and meets your performance goals/expectations.

If it were me (and I knew that Tri's or TT's were in the cards for the long term) I would buy a little more frame than I need. I would do this for one simple reason - to have growth for the future. My next investment would be in the drive train components followed by Bike fit. You sure don't want to be in a frame that was "on sale somewhere" resulting in a poor fit which directly relates to your comfort and performance. I have seen people way too many times in the wrong frame, with a 75mm stem and a piss poor seat position to compensate for a top tube length that was too long - or in general frame geometry not matching your body and/or riding style. I have also seen many in a fit that was so bad - because they were trying to get into the lowest most aero position possible that it compromised their T2 and Run segment of the Tri.
Last would be wheels, seat, stem, seat post, bars, cages, etc.... This way you could grow and upgrade parts as your skills and ability improves. You could swap one part for another for that special carbon component you had your eye on in an effort to save weight or the cherry on the cake thing.

heh, I'm doing the old new bike routine too right now. MN here, so similar climate to Chicago. No winter riding, only a little running... have to find an indoor pool that I like. blah.

My current ride is a Trek Y-Foil. Because the frame hasn't been made for a while now, and they are getting more and more rare, I want to cut back the miles on it. So I bought a Klein Q-Pro XX frameset on EBay. Got a sweet price. Will swap my Ultegra stuff from the Trek to the Klein and build that up as my road bike. At the same time the Trek will get new 105 components and a tri/tt specific aerobar setup. I'm going with 105 components because I won't be doing as many miles on that bike, so no need for way more expensive Ultegra or DA parts.

i'm kind of with you with the choice of 105 for my Tri bike, same rational cause to be honest the wegiht difference makes no difference and i've never had a problem with 105 performance.

get yourself a fluid trainer, i plan on spending many winter hours sat on my enclosed porch keeping my legs fresh for the spring.

I did. It just arrived on Saturday. Ordered from Performance Bike. They have them on sale, plus I used that 20% coupon floating around here. :)

Still have to figure out where to put mine. We do have an enclosed porch, but it gets damn cold out there, and no security at all on the crappy old door on it.

I've been building a bike each of the last 4 winters as sort of my off season project. Not much winter riding done around here in Northern Minnesota. Anyway, last winter I picked up a new Cannondale Ironman 800 frame off of ebay and built it up with 9sp. Dura Ace. I too agree spending your money on a great frame and worry about the high end components later. Do your homework and make sure the frame is the right fit for your ridding style. It will take you a half a season of riding before you have the bike set up to fit your ridding style anyways and with ebay being a great place to pick up and get rid of bike components you can do some experimenting.

Well I ride Cervelo, and love them...props to you for picking two Canadian companies.
Guru will custom build your frame for a extra couple hundred dollars(2-300), worth it if you plan on keeping the frame forever, they have a bad resale value.

With that being said, My vote goes for whatever is for you, price, size ect. For me I would go with the P2k, it looks more aero dynamic, I dont know if it is or not.