Until recently the Cervelo P3 was the king of Kona – not Cervelo alone mind you. But the P3 by itself was the most ridden bike at Kona. So a successor to the P3 (and its frame mate the P2) is not something that Cervelo could take lightly. So when we attended the launch of the P5\P3X earlier this year we naturally assumed that it was time to see the boy that would one day be king. Instead we got the P3X which was unexpected but in a very good way. Well today its time to meet a possible future king. And instead of splitting the kingdom between two households (the P2\P3) we get a single new bike. Meet the P-Series.

The Cervelo P-Series

The P-Series is Cervelo’s tt\tri bike for the masses. The bike we expect to see by the boatload (planeload?) in Kona. It retains the standard (non integrated) cockpit of the P2\P3 as well as gets build options all the way from 105 mechanical to SRAM AXS electronic. Most importantly for some it is 100% UCI legal.

The P-Series is influenced not just by the recently released P5 but the new S5 as well. Up front the headtube and nose have been sculpted to best resemble a bayonette fork without the complexities typically associated with it.

The seat tube’s shape is referenced \ borrowed from the S5.

One of the things we like with Cervelo’s strategy with the P-Series is that you get a true race ready bike. Items like a bento box, downtube bottle (borrowed from the P5), and rear seat hydration mount are all included. On higher spec builds you also get a Vision front mount hydration bottle.

We appreciate these aren’t just thrown on as well. Cervelo included a cable cover that fully integrates with the bento box to create a clean and seamless look.

One surprising aspect of the P-Series is that on some of the lower level builds there is a Cervelo branded saddle. We haven’t gotten ride time on it yet so our thoughts are limited. But it is a semi split nose design telling us that Cervelo knows their intended audience.

So is it faster, lighter, stiffer (as compared to the P3)? Yes, yes, yes. The P-Series is 9% Lighter, 141g than the P3. Stiffness wise it is 18% stiffer at the bottom bracket and 30% stiffer torsionally.

Finally the all important aero. Compared bare bike to bare bike (no boltons) the P-Series is 26g faster. throw on a bento box and 550ml round bottle and its 18g faster. Or go with a bento and aero bottle and its 54g faster (the aero bottle saves 36g on the P-Series.

Our one nitpick so far on the frame is the cable from the cockpit to the front brake. There is enough data to show that this kind of cabling can cause noticeable drag in the wind tunnel. In this day and age we think Cervelo could have done a little better with cabling here. Possibly running it through the fork crown.

The Builds

For 2020 the P-Series will be available in 4 builds plus a frame kit. With the lowest starting at $300 above the current price of the P2 ($3,200 vs $2,900).

The chart above covers the major points but there are a few items to note. The mechanical builds get mechanical disc brakes (TRP) vs the hydraulic offerings on the electronic builds. With mechanical you also get a Zipp cockpit and Cervelo branded saddle.

The electronic offerings get a Vision cockpit and Prologo Dimension TRI T4.0 saddle.

The frameset will retail for $2,500.

All builds will be available in one of 3 color ways.

Geometry

Wrapping Up

As you can tell by the images. We have a P-Series at AeroGeeks HQ for testing. We haven’t gotten a chance for saddle time yet – an unfortunate by product of Hurricane Dorian – but are excited to get some. Will this be the king to replace the P3? Only true saddle time will tell. But the mix of builds and the additional bolt ons are a great step in the right direction. Make sure to stay tuned to AeroGeeks.com for all the latest details and our complete coverage of the P-Series as well as the latest from Cervelo.