New(ish) Tribike project...
Never say never... I have to admit that I've always been seduced by the Ventum... I've had my trusty P5 for almost 6? years now, having gotten a great deal on them when Shimano moved Di2 to 11 speeds from 10, my LBS was stuck with a bike and offered me a great deal. I love bikes, and love creating new projects. Like potato chips & guitars, you can't have just one! That said, knowing the Ventum really isn't any faster than my P5, I backed away from some serious conversations with the Ventum folks after meeting Diaa at the Ventum booth at IM Boulder where I was spectating before doing the Leadville 100 MTB in 2016.
in fact in 2017, I embarked on upgrading my P5 from the 10spd Di2 that had some faulty wiring issues with 11 speed SRAM Etap.
@John Withrow started pinging me as he often does on his new toy when he contemplated building a Ventum, which he detailed in this thread.... At the beginning of his pursuit he had Identified a used frame on Ebay and backed off of it to do a new bike from Ventum directly. That left me to look at the frame that was in my size. I decided to throw it up to fate and sent the seller a low ball offer. I guess he was happy to have any offer and he hit my bid. So Gulp, I now had a Ventum frame...
JW & I spoke a bit about the build, unlike him I wasn't going for the 1x though I thought about it, I decided I was going to do this right, but cheaply at the same time. From my P5 we brought over my Dash saddle, race wheels, SRAM etap drive train with Ceramic Speed Oversized Pulleys and Rotor Crankset. The only things I needed was a cockpit and a new Ceramic Speed Bottom Bracket. The cockpit was the area of the most discussion with JW and I opted for the new mono riser bar from 51 Speed Shop.
For the P5, I loaded it back up with a new out of the box (but 5 year old) SRAM Red Mechanical Front & Rear Derailleurs with mechanical carbon RTC shifters, the original Rotor 53/4X crankset, the original saddle & training wheels and will shortly be putting that bike up for sale (Size 54 if anyone is interested!)
After collecting all the parts after a few months, I shipped everything up to Todd Kenyon at TT Bike Fit, a great EN sponsor. Todd has worked with me over the last few years refining my fit on the P5 and he consulted with me on the parts, cockpit and how it would all fit me. It also helps that Todd is a Ventum dealer and owner so he knows the bike well!
I drove up to RI yesterday to finish the fitting and it was really not necessary. Todd had my fit perfectly dialed in that I wouldn't have known what bike i was on if my eyes were closed. Stay tuned for a video of the bike and the parts to be posted by Coach P who stopped in to see the bike since we were in his backyard.
here's a couple of pics. The great thing about riding a new bike is that just as when I got the P5, I felt unworthy of the bike and needed to up my game.. So back to the trenches and the diet!
Comments
And it matches our kit!!!!
That's a damm sexxy bike if I do say so myself! And that 51Speedshop cockpit is so sleek! Very nice build, and likely a bargain since you were able to use a tin of your old parts. Now you definitely better start training harder!
Which Dash saddle do you have? Been contemplating one of those for a long time now.
@John Withrow Note the pics above don't have the Dash saddle in it, I really don't know as I purchased it used off of "the facebook" - probably the best place to find bike & bike parts bargains!
watch for my next post on matching this bike to our kit!
Been following @John Withrow and now your @scott dinhofer bike builds. Both builds are finely tuned and detailed. It's been a fantastic educational experience to follow what you've done and the methodical and analytical approach you've both taken. I'm in the market, but need to convince the spouse first. I ride a 2010 Cervelo P2 10 speed mechanical - yup; I'm a dinosaur but trying to make the case that the bike costs under 50 cents/mile. I'm a size 58, otherwise I would seriously consider your (@scott dinhofer) P5 that you'll be putting up for sale. Anyway, question for @scott dinhofer : did you consider the new P5 disc? Any fundamental reason for not going with that? I'm trying to make the case to the spouse for a new P5 disc with the oversize ceramic pully system and ceramic bottom bracket with the tilted riser system of P3X that will last another 10 years, but don't want to go down that path if you've found anything fundamentally negative, especially riding the old P5 (I know @John Withrow also rode the old P5). Thanks!
@Tony Ledden - all good questions
first off, I considered nothing. I decided a few years ago that my P5 is a great bike, and it is. I dismissed disc bikes because I have a great 404 front & 808 rear as well as a Zipp Disc (as in solid disc wheel) rear. If I went with a disc bike, I'd have to make a new investment in wheels. I think that my net cost of this upgrade given the used frame and cannibalizing of my P5 parts is probably under $1500(no I didn't leave off a zero). This would assume getting $3k for my P5, if I do better, then the net cost was extremely low.
If i were to buy a new bike from scratch, I'd be looking at the Canyon, the new P5disc with the P3X cockpit, (that is one sweet bike), the other bike i love with is the Pinarello Bolide, but that will require a mortgage or two. I am also a big fan of the Scott Plasma's.
I think at the end of the day, ANY top end bike is going to be close enough to others on aero, it's always going to come down to the engine... That P2 of yours is a great bike(that was my 1st tri bike), but the current P2 modeled on the P5 without the front fairings is pretty great bike for the money.
@scott dinhofer - great feedback! Thank you for the renewed hope. I'll likely go with the P3 with Di2 - about $6K. The Di2 will be a game changer for IMMoo, I can still use my Zipp 404 front / 808 rear race wheels as well, and still have $ to put my last kid through college and maybe retire some day.
@Tony Ledden - if you are not set on a particular bike or setup, you might figure out what bikes you fit best & troll Slowtwitch classifieds, Facebook groups (Tri 'n sell it & Online swapmeet) and see if you can find a really good used bikes. You can likely get a di2 version of my P5 with race wheels for under $5k.. or a P3 which is a fantastic bike for the money for a bit less... takes a lot of checking in..
@scott dinhofer -- great ideas - thank you for the guidance on trolling the classifieds. Never really knew where to start with that. I guess I may need to suck it up join Facebook, but definitely more likely to get spouse approval going the used route.
@Tony Ledden I absolutely looked at the P5X and a new P5-disc (which technically wasn't out yet when I bought my bike). I was in a similar situation as @scott dinhofer where it would be an expensive p.i.t.a. to replace all of my wheels. I currently have rim brake sets of FC303's, FC808's, and a Zipp Super-9 solid Disc Wheel. I didn't think the trade-off of a heavier and less aero bike was worth it to have better braking power. The Pinarello is super sexxy, but also super $$$$$ and ultimately didn't fit me.
I think the biggest change you will see with a new bike is going with electronic shifting. And if you're buying an off the shelf new bike, I'd go all-in and get the new SRAM E-Tap AXS 12 speed.
But if you want Bang for the buck, you can find a REALLY REALLY great bike on Slowtwitch, Facebook (which I don't use either), pinkbike.com, or eBay (which is my site of choice). For WAY less than the $6k you were talking about, you could nab a mint condition used Di2 P5, or used <insert super bike name here> electronic shifting bike. So start poking around, make sure you know what fits you and buy the bike that will be awesome for the next 5-7 yrs.
@John Withrow — thank you for the push. Started looking this afternoon. Already see a P5-6 on the slow twitch forum that could work. Wow, there really could be something out there — can’t use that as an excuse. I guess the truly hard part of this will be figuring out what to bribe my spouse with so that she OKs the bike!!
Tony - the right way to do this is to know what you want... even watching the bikes that aren't right size is helpful, you can reach out to seller after it's gone and find ask what they got. when the right bike pops up, you have to know in your bones, it's the one.. and jump on it! feel free to PM me if you want to have a call to discuss..