Kona: First Couple of Days

So for the past week I have been on a "business trip" to Kona to watch the Ironman World Championships. Needless to say the race was AWESOME.

The first thing I did was unpack the bike and go for a ride. The main roads in Hawaii are smooth as glass. I took some back roads up in the hills and saw the numerous coffee farms. I bet there is a coffee house every 800m in Kona. The roads are steep when you are going inland. Nothing like riding 10-15% grades for a couple of miles to make your heart jump out of your throat.

A nice short ride I did one afternoon: http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/hi/kona/931345118895

ARGON 18 E-114

Next on my list was to check out the bikes!!! FUN! FUN! FUN! First was the Argon 18 E-114.

I went into this one not sure what to expect. I have heard it was heavy and havent seen a lot them on the roads. Anyways the guys at Argon 18 set me up and off I went down the Queen K.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised by this bike. I would definately look into getting one. It rode smooth as silk, accelerated quickly, and handled great. What more can you want in a bike?

I have heard that the weight of the bike is a bit on the heavy side. I didnt feel it. I think the bike has a stiffer rear end than most other companies ( I include cervelo) and this extra stiffness makes up for that. I think that if you are the gear masher type then this is the bike for you!

Fuji D-6

Next on my list was the new Fuji D-6. I was able to sneak in a ride before Matt Reed so technically I rode a D-6 before he did. HA! The Fuji had a lot of similiar ride qualities as the Cervelo P3. Since its a new bike I won't go into aerodynamics, but keep on ride quality. It was nimble and quick. I wasnt able to get my fit perfect since i had to ride a 56cm opposed to a preferred 54cm. Overall though I think Fuji is on to something and am interested to hear from the public once these are on the sales floor in Febuary. The "hidden" rear brake was interesting enough and the cable routing for the hidden front was well thought out. I heard another company commenting on how they were going to mimic Fuji's front brake cable routing on future bikes. I will go into this on a different post so check it out there.

Cervelo P4

This bike was the one everyone wanted to test ride. I kept this one for last. I will admit that secretly I went into this ride very skeptical of just how good and different it would be from a P3. I felt it was probably going to be a glorified P3. I was WRONG. The P4 is way better than the P3. Within about 30 seconds I could tell this bike was the SH!T. Its hard to pinpoint what it is that makes this bike so much better. It felt more lively, accelerated quicker, and overall just felt faster! I told Phil White that whatever number he had in mind for the first production run is going to be too small. Once people are ablt to get on one they are going to understand why Cervelo is the number 1 bike at Kona.

More details to come...