Cervelo P3 versus P5

The P5 is a pain to work on due to the hydraulic brakes. It's a nice bike, but quite frankly, I would much rather have a P3 with electronic shifting. P3 Ui2 would be my choice. The difference between ui2 and di2 is minimal. And the savings may allow you to get a pair of race wheels (or at least a chuck towards race wheels)

Thanks for your insight.

I'm actually trying to choose between several models that are more or less in my price range. So the the main difference between all these bikes is just the quality of the shifters?

(i) Cervelo P3 Dura Ace 2015 (£3,000)
(ii) Cervelo P3 Ultegra 2015 (£3,300)
(iii) Cervelo P3 Ultegra 22g 2016 (£3,300)
(iv) Cervelo P5 Six Dura-Ace 22g 2014 (£3,500)
(v) Cervelo P5 Six Dura-Ace Di2 22g 2014 (£4,500)
(vi) Cervelo P3 Ultegra Di2 2015 (£4,500)
(viii) Cervelo P3 Ultegra Di2 22g 2016 (£4,500)

Btw, when you say race wheels do you train with them or just use on the day?

The P5 and newer P3 are not that far off each other aerodynamically. The P5 is one of the fastest bikes out there and when you start looking at wind tunnel white papers from various bike manufacturers, you'll see that they usually use the P5 as their main comparison. But I don't think you're giving up all that much with the newer P3 - you can see a lot of P5 concepts integrated into that design. And as mentioned above, it's way easier to work on and travel with. I don't have any direct experience with the P5, but people I know who have them tend to complain about the hassle of working on them.

Dura Ace components are "nicer" than ultegra but I'm not sure you'd ever really notice that much of a difference. Not too sure why the P3 Dura Ace is cheaper than the P3 Ultegra, but all other things being equal that makes that decision pretty easy. The big question is whether you went electronic shifting or not.

And generally people train on training wheels and save their expensive race wheels for racing so they don't get too beat up/damaged.

FWIW I don't think electronic shifting is worth it, so my choice would be the P3 Dura Ace and a set of race wheels. But if you want the fastest bike without any other considerations, the P5-six is it.

Not mentioned yet is whether or not you know for sure that both of these bikes will fit you properly.

those are strange prices
Option 1 should be more expensive than option 2
£1,500 between option 1 and 6&7 is a lot. I bought brand new Ultegra DI2 everything from UK sources for less than half that.

Biggest difference between the P3 & P5 is the aerodynamics of the front bar. If you plan to travel, I would go with a P3 for the reasons Jan mentionned.

That's great, thanks very much.

The P3 Dura Ace 2015 was on sale from £4,200. Hope they have my size!

Any suggestions about which race wheels to go for?

Bang for the buck (or pound), it's hard to beat Flos

Or if you're in Europe the rough equivalent would be SwissSide.

Thanks again!

I think I'm going to go for the P3 Ultegra 22g 2016.

Anyone know how SwissSide compared with Zipp 808 firecrest Clincher’s? They seem to have good reviews.

this is probably the closest you will find to aero data
http://www.swissside.com/853/