I want a new tri-bike for under $2,000 and my finalists are:
1) Cervelo P1 - $1,700 (LBS)
2) Felt S22 - $1,550 (LBS)
3) Kestrel Talon (Regular or SL) - $1,500 or $1,900 for the SL (www.bikesdirect.com)

I understand very well how important fit is and I have ridden both the P1 and S22 a few times this past week. I've read every review available on the web for each of the 3 bikes. I will use this bike for Sprint Tris, Olympic distances and a Half IM once a year (I train on a Serotta road bike right now). The Cervelo has many fans for obvious reasons, the S22 rode great as well, the Talon is full carbon and seems to a great value for the price point. I am looking for candid opinions from people who are experienced riders on what bike you would choose and why. Thanks all, I appreciate your feedback very much.

I would get the P1 since I love my P2 SL. Felt seems to do well with entry level tri-bikes and seems to get good reviews. The Kestrel is bufugly...at least in the pic they have on bikesdirect. What is up with those aero bars?

I've also been looking and if you can spare a little more money, one bike that's really caught my attention is the new B16 by felt. I don't remember the component spec but it's a carbon frame from the same mold as felt's top of the line DA model.

P1 a good al frame will be much better than a bad carbon fiber one

Theres nothing Bad about the other 2 choices....

I don't get this cult like following of Cervelo... I like their bikes too but they aren't the be-all-end-all of everything triathlon and all else is crap in comparison.....

ride them....it helps a lot