Cervelo OR Pinarello

Hi,
Considering buying a Cervelo Soloist or a mid-range aluminum Pinarello. Does anyone have any opinions on these frames (assuming both are built with the same components)?

Thanks very much for your opinion.

 

Cervelo passed the 'tough' EFBe fatigue test in Germany

http://www.efbe.de/defbefrm.htm

Click on "English version" then "Road frames New 06/2004", and check out all those Cervelos!! This is what brought Cervelo to my attention. I know the test probably isn't perfect, but I can't help but be impressed by the performance of all these frames

 

Ever consider Cannondales? Very well priced and competitive with any auluminum frames out there. For what it's worth, the CAAD 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 all passed the EFBe 1300 fatigue test in the "Top Performance Sport Frame" category.

 

I must agree with you I will go with cannondale, Pinarello is overpriced for what you get these days or buy an Opera, Cervelo looks nice but don't have the cannondale ride (even if I don't like that much aluminium).
regards

 

Pinarello's MSRP is hihg, but if you take advantage of places like Competitive Cyclists close outs, you can get some steals.

 

Pinarellos are too much $$ for an alu frame

 

Spoken like someone who has never ridden one.

 

Hmmm, true!!

I'm in Australia, and in my opinion the prices here are rediculous.

I could be wrong, but how does this sound:

Pinarello Prince SL with 10 sp Chorus and Ksyrium SL2:
$9690 Aus dollars, which is $6691 USD

Prince SL, frame only: $5770 AUS = $3984 USD


Pinarello Dogma, 10sp Record, Campag Bora wheels:

AUS $10990 = $7589USD

all this is too much for me

 

Both the Cervelos & the Pinarellos are great bike brands with excellent designs. (Far better design work than Cannondale IMHO - no silly OVER-oversized tubes).

 

Exactly. And whoever mentioned above that you 'don't get Cannondale's ride' on a Cervelo.... uh, dude, that's a good thing. My Soloist rides nearly as smooth as my carbon C40, and a HECK of a lot smoother than any C-dale I ever test rode.

 

Those prices are outrageous. I mean dont get wrong, Pinarello's are never cheap, but jeez.

A 2004 Prince in Start Red, with full 2004 Record, and Neutron Wheels comes to 4421.00 US dollars. At Competitive Cyclist.

With Chorus and Protons its
3663.00

All of those prices are VERY Competitive with say a Cannondale with Record, like a Six-one-three, or an Optimo.

With an SL its 5048 and 4563 Respectively.

I think I have about 3100 in my Prince, and 1800 in my Galileo. My best riding buddy has a CAAD7 and it rides fantastic, but it is certainly harsher than either bike. By that I mean more of the road buzz is transmitted, but it not equally more feedback.

The Cervelos are great bikes, I am looking fr a nice Soloist frame to use for crits, and TT's.

 

Those Ausralian prices I posted are recommended retail, so I dunno if anyone actually pays that much, but still, it's enough to put me off.

 

Sheesh. I should get into the bicycle import business to Australia. Those prices are outrageous. Fly over to the Old Country and buy one yourself, and throw in a nice vacation and good food... you will probably come out ahead anyway!

Pinarello frames are very nice, but they are riding the Petacchi 'thing', and here in Italy it takes FOREVER to get one of their frames (the ran a special on Pinarello in an Italian bike mag recently, and they essentially said that the US is their biggest market, so I guess priority goes to sending frames across the pond).

If you want an excellent Italian frame (I don't know much about Cannondales or Cervelos so I will not comment), why don't you look at some of the other big names... De Rosa (my ride! ) Bianchi reparto corse, Fondriest (truely exquisite frames) etc. Lot of nice stuff out there... maybe a bit less popular than Pinarello, but just as much bike!

I agree with the other posters, however - if you are dead set on a Pinarello family frame, get an Opera. Functionally the same thing for less $$

 

All those frames are also expensive down here, although Bianchi bikes are almost reasonable

Check out some Australian De Rosa prices:

Frames only!!

........................... Aus.$..........USD......EURO

De Rosa King......$6499.00 = $4488 = 3760
De Rosa Kron.....$6499.00 = $4488 = 3760
De Rosa Titano...$5999.00 = $4142 = 3418
De Rosa Dual......$4490.00 = $3100 = 2558
De Rosa Merak...$3999.00 = $2761 = 2279
De Rosa Macro...$3190.00 = $2203 = 1818
De RosaTeam.....$2200.00 = $1519 = 1253

 

The "Pettacchi" thing just happened. I would say a more likely reason for their popularity is thirty plus years of victory at the highest levels of competition, along with some of the best engineering in the "classic" bike market. The Opera stuff is very nice as well, however its a different animal. Opera exists to allow Pinarello to try things outside the mainstream of their bread and butter business which light stiff aluminum frames. The only frame that is similiar to another in Pinarello's line up is the Giorgione, whch is Scandium with Carbon stays, however if you are looking for a bargain there, youre barking up the wrong tree, just that frame in US Dollars is 2799.00 compare that to around 1800 to 2000 for the Prince. The Giorgione has externally butted tubes which the Prince doesnt, this makes it a bit lighter, perhaps a bit stiffer. Fakta seems to like them, bear in mind that Pinarello makes few bikes free. Unlike Giant and Trek who pay riders for the time, Pinarello still sells frames and services to most teams, (as do most Italian bicycle companies, to include Colnago and DeRosa.) Where you referring to the Pinarello Opera? which a is a steel frame with carbon stays, it is also a popular bike with the pros. But it is also 2400.00.

Anyway, I dont work for them, I just happen to like them, and I enjoy riding mine. You should get what fits and what does it for you. As a proud American, part of me wants to ride a Cannondale, and someday I may., though my next bike is looking to be a Pegoretti.
Cervelo is a nice ride. It has a lot going for it, not least of which is some fantastic engineering to go with its budding race heritage. I admire a company that isnt trying to sell to every wanna be Lance/Barney in the country, and builds a pure racing machine, ala Pinarello, Cervelo, DeRosa, and others.

 

I stand corrected. I am obviously very much 'out' of the market pricing. Apologies to the OP and thanks to nutbag and angrydave for setting me straight!

I will go check Italian prices for some of the big brands and get back to you guys (just for curiosity).

We learn something new every day, LOL.

 

I'd be very interested. I'd look them up myself, but my Italian is, well.....er.....um..........ok, I can't read any of it.

 

Ok, here goes with the official frame prices. My experience is that, if you have a relationship with your LBS, no one pays full price (I paid Euro 1200 for my planet frame set because it was a 2003, for example, getting close to Euro 300 off). BTW, this is off one of the biggest bike magazine sites in Italy. Unfortunately, neither Colnago nor Pinarello prices were listed. But here are De Rosa and Wilier frames, just to give you an idea:

FRAMES ONLY!

- De Rosa -

Neo Primato Euro 1150
Macro Euro 1350
Cuore Euro 1393
Corum Euro 1432
Planet Euro 1550
Merak Euro 1750
Dual Euro 2000
Titanio Euro 2453
King Euro 2850
Titanio 6.4 Ti Euro 3300

- Wilier -

Alpe D'Huez Euro 1000
Angliru Euro 1201
Sestriere Euro 1235
Mortirolo Euro 1436
Izoard Euro 1789
K2 Euro 2083

If you want to spend more time there yourself, the web page is:
http://www.ciclismonline.it/edisport/ciclismo/listino.nsf/main?OpenFrameset

Italian translation for the choices you must make...

Seleziona... (select)
bicicletta is, well a bicycle
telaio is a frame

Raggruppa... (group by)
Tutte means all [types of bikes]
strada is road

Ordina per... (order by)
marca is brand
prezzo is price
categoria is category [of bike]

I am still looking for official Pinarello and Colnago price lists...

 

thanks

 

The distributor in the US for Pinarello is gitabike and they have US MSRP posted,

for Colnago it's trialtir-usa
and they also have US MSRP.

Obviously I can't speak for worldwide. I agree though, noone who buys a bike like that pays retail.