Blue is back! We detailed a few weeks ago (here) how Blue Competition Cycles was signing new athletes, but we didn’t go into their 2014 lineup. It is no secret that Blue has gone through some huge changes these past 12 months – so we are extremely excited to see them bringing their Triad line back to the market in 2014.

Blue is bringing three flavors of its Triad to market in 2014 – the SP, EX and SL. The SP remains the entry level Triad. Spec’d out with SRAM Apex, it has the same front and rear triangle of the EX and SL, but uses a conventional fork and stem. You also get the internal cable routing, and hidden rear brake of the EX and SL. At $2,650 it is aimed squarely at the entry level carbon tri bike market.

The SL continues to be the king of the Triad line both in features and in price. With the SL you are getting the Blue’s Nose Cone Aero Fork and Triad SL specific aerobar and integrated stem (in lengths of 80mm-120mm). You can opt for either a Red22 build ($6,784) or Dura-Ace Di2 ($9,010).

The EX may fall in the middle in regards to price, but we believe you get the most bang for your buck here. The EX uses the SP frame and nose cone front fork. The key difference from the SL now being that the SL specific aerobar and stem are not included (a standard 31.8mm aero-bar is included and the integrated stem is available in lengths from 90mm-120mm instead) and the SL gets a higher modulus carbon. Force 22 ($3,922) and Ultegra Di2 ($5,830) are the build options and while you can get the Force build with Blue’s famous (or infamous) floral pattern; we would go for the Ultegra Di2 build – when it comes to triathlon groupsets, it’s hard to beat electronic.

Blue is bringing three strong options to the market for 2014 and we could not be more excited. If we had our choice we would be going with the EX. You get the SL frame (which contains most of the features we have come to expect in super bikes (hidden rear brake, integrated fork, internal routing) at a price point under $4K. Some may criticize the lack of a hidden front brake, but swap out to a TriRig Omega and you will get most of the performance without the headaches. Blue is coming back strong in 2014 – and we are already excited to see what 2015 will bring.