This really is a silly question... Of course you need 2 bikes... or 3 or 4 or hell even 5.

LOL. Okay, assume I can afford 2 at the most. And the cost of the second will be affected by continued ownership of the first bike.

That's a tough dilemma to be in, but I think you should keep the road bike. It sounds like a pretty sweet bike. Plus if you sell it to buy a better tri bike, you'll never be able to get as much $$ back as you have already put into it. What about waiting a season and getting a tri bike then? Or getting a basic tri bike now and then upgrading the frame later?

I think if you sell the road bike, you'll regret it later. One awesome bike and one OK bike > two slightly-nicer-than-OK bikes. Plus you can always upgrade frame, wheels, etc.

Accept the fact that it's an illness and you are infected for life. The only cure is 5 bikes. I have one for rain, one for nice days, a cross bike (paid for it today, should have it next week), a tri bike and a mountain bike. All I need now is a cruiser or a lowrider.

Karma

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Dave Stark
dreamcatcher@astound.net
USAC & USAT level 2 certified coach

[reply]This really is a silly question... Of course you need 2 bikes... or 3 or 4 or hell even 5.[/reply]

TGL and Karma are correct. Just get the tri bike (and you don't need to blow $5K on one), keep the road bike and know that in the future you will "need" a cross bike, a mountain bike and maybe a fixie or track bike if you live near a velodrome.

clm, 3 bike stable

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

I have had a Computrainer for a few years now, but have only been on it a few times. The main reason is that I only have 1 bike. What does that matter? Well, for one thing it takes about :45-1:00 to get the thing set up correctly. And I don't want to waste that much time f%#$ing with it. If I had a second bike I would just leave it connected all the time.

Ever had a blow out? Not just a flat. Ever had gearing issues that you just can't seem to straighten out? Ever wrecked? These and other "mechanical" issues make having a second bike a good idea. That way, you don't miss any traing.

I ride in the aero position ~99% of the time. Up hills, down hills, in the wind, through traffic, etc. If you are more inclined to ride on the hoods for any or all of those situations, some of your training rides may be better suited for using a road bike.

as the owner of 14... you are asking the wrong person...

g

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greg
www.wattagetraining.com

Let's see... One road bike. Check. Second road bike with PCs that's on the trainer in a semi-permanent state. Check. Track/single speed bike. Check. Tri bike. Check. Mountain bike (that's basically unrideable). Check. TT bike that's ALMOST put together. CHeck. THat males 5 right there. And I'm scanning ebay for what will be the frame of my new commuting bike...

N+1 BABY!!!

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Some are born to move the world to live their fantasies...

https://triomultisport.com/
http://www.mjolnircycles.com/

Road bike
Tri bike
'cross bike
Mt bike (never ridden anymore, 10 years old, not worth getting rid of)
Fixed gear (old road bike, cost maybe $100, rest was parts laying around)

I am in dire need of a new road bike. I have set the seed in my wife's mind.

Bottom line,

Get another bike.

The kind of handling skills I'm going to have to learn on my lovely new tri-bike, I'm glad I've still got my old road bike for group rides. And my mtb with road wheels for getting about town. And my knobbly tire mtb for getting messy.
You WILL need your road bike - and you'll definitely regret losing such a sweet machine, if you sell it. Search your feelings: you know it to be true.


.

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"I'm going to stick to my sardines" - Cassidy
"Others took their lemons and stood up and walked." - Kestrelkerri
"I will never know quite why I set out on the run. I guess because it was next." - Nachocheese
"No, just to people on the Forum. My athletes are the control group." - Paulo Sousa
" Actually, I am naturally an Asshole....not unlike the way you are naturally an idiot." IRONLOBO

You're talking in generalities, but I don't think you can expect much calid input without specifics. The magnitude of the planned tri-bike purchase, value of your road bike, and the size of your wallet has to come into play here. For example, if you can afford a $4500 tri bike, and selling your road bike would net $500 an allow you to spend $5000, then forget it - keep both. You can get plenty of tri-bike for $4500. OTOH, if you can only afford to spend $1000 on a tri bike and selling your road bike will get you up to $2000 than you may get a different answer.

I'd say that you're most likely to wish you had both bikes when all is said and done.

With a top shelf road bike like that, you will never get anything close to what you paid for it back out. Do not sell it.

If you are short on cash, some Jammer bars will make it into a fine tri bike on the short term. If you have some money to spend, buy a used tri bike off of here or ebay. You can get almost every bit of performance on a $500 tri bike with a used set of race wheels that you could out of a $5000 dream machine. Get a frame that can go steep with 105 or Ultegra (9 or 10 speed) and some training wheels. Pay some $$ to get it set up professionally. Buy a H3 front and a wheelcover. You will be all set. Improvements from there will be almost all placebo.

do you like your current road bike? do you ride it often?

if you answered yes to either question, you shouldn't sell it.

if you are completely indifferent to your current road bike and never ride it, then yeah, sure, go ahead and sell it. (although an earlier poster is right- you probably won't get much for it compared to what it cost you & what your new ride will cost you). -charles

Hmm. That is a bit of a dilemma, but your thought processes seem logical. Here are some additional thoughts to add to the pile:

• When newer triathletes buy a road bike from us as their first "real" bike, they do usually return within 2 years to purchase a triathlon bike.
• When newer triathletes buy a triathlon bike from us as their first bike they almost never purchase a road bike from us. Those who do, seldom seem to use it and we tend to not see them on the group rides they mentioned they planned on doing if they did buy a road bike.

You may be a different bird, because you have road riding background. I'm constantly struck by the number of times we'll say to a fellow or girl we know fairly well, "Hey, join us this Sunday morning for an easy ride out to the island to show you the routes and try some group riding..." They are always polite and accept the invitation but seldom ever actually show up. I'll ask them why they don't show up if they are regular customers and they tell us thing like, "Oh, my schedule doesn't allow it- I couldn't get out that day." or they say they are concerned we would ride too fast (we wouldn't) or they voice concerns surrounding not having group riding skills. Some of these concerns are valid (schedule, skills) some are less so (we'd never invite riders on a ride and then go out and ride too hard for the group).

The bottom line is: The use of a road bike is largely contingent on the availability of group rides.

If you can't/aren't willing/don't have the skills to/can't find people to/are afraid to get involved in group riding then the road bike seems like it has become just a step on the way to getting a tri bike.

When I ride in a small group of riders I am compfortable with I almost always ride my tri bike. When I ride a group ride with more riders with whom I want to be a little more familiar before I am comfortable then I stick to the road bike.

I like having both and I get use out of both but I enjoy my tri bike more. It is simply faster and more comfortable.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Clm has it right but for mathematic purposes the formula for determining the number of bikes you actually need is always n+1 where n = your current number of bikes:)

If you read Slowman's recent article on proper riding technique for tri bikes, then you may have noticed that you don't necessarily need a tri specific bike to compete in triathlons. With a road background, you may be faster on a road specific bike especially for shorter races such as the sprint or olympic distance races. I know this may get me banned from SlowTwitch, but I ride a road bike with clip-on aerobars and a profile-design fast forward seat post (with behind the seat bottle holders <gasp>). Don't get me wrong, I am saving for a tri bike, but it is just not happening right now. I guess my point is, you know you will use the road bike and I am assuming from your post (I could be wrong) that you are just starting triathlons. Why not give it a season to see if you are really into the sport and then save for a tri bike you really want? Just thoughts and please don't ban me for riding a non-Cervelo, non-tri specific road bike.

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~Jeff Good

To give a little more detail. I can afford a $2000 ($2500 tops) tri bike if I keep my current bike. I figure you can add $1000-$1500 to that if I sell my road bike (conservative guess, but a substantial loss for me regardless). I currently ride my road bike an average of 150 miles a week (indoors and outdoors) and love it. I used to do triathlons about 10 years ago and remember how much I loved it back then so I am not afraid that I won't like the sport. Buying used bikes on ebay scares me a bit. I have been looking at the classifieds here, but haven't decided what I am going to do yet, which should be obvious given this post.

There are very good tri bikes for under 2k. Since you have sram you can use shimano cassettes so wheels will be compatible. Keep the road bike - selling them is too disappointing and it's good to be able to go for a nice cruise (can't do that as well on tri bike).

If you've been lurking on the forum you will have seen a lot of discussion on how to get a very fast bike out of your budget, cervelo duals usually come up in those dscussions. I think Felt S32s rate too but am not so familiar with them

Keep your road bike. Buy a Cervelo Dual.

Cervelo P2SL for that amount of cash, keep the road bike like others have said. With those two bikes you better be a canuk? lol

tfun~

2 Zipp 2001 TT bikes

2 Trek road bikes (5200 and 2300 on the trainer)

2 Trek Mtbs (8000 police model and Y-22 full suspension)

That about covers all the riding I do, plus some to keep it interesting.

You can never have too many.

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Paul

I started riding a normal "road bike" 25 years ago, but when I started tri, I pretty much only rode my tri bike. Mostly because I rarely rode with a group. Now I am buying a new road bike for the first time in 20 years and hope to find some good group rides. Understand that IMO a tri bike has one purpose only--to allow you use aerobars to the max extent and achieve an aerodynamic position. If you don't plan to end up with a nice flat back and low front end then just race tris on your present bike.
Chad

With you going 150 miles a week on your current bike my $.02 would be DO NOT sell that bike. You're obviously enjoying it too much to part with it.

As others have said, there are plenty of tri bikes available for $2k to give you the best of both worlds. If I were in your shoes, I'd actually buy a Cervelo Dual in the Ultegra configuration for $1500, then stretch to that $2500 number by adding a set of Flashpoint race wheels or used Zipps. That would give you a pair of VERY nice bikes that you could not blame for keeping you off the podium.

I like your thoughts about the Dual Ultegra with some race wheels. I'll have to stop by my local LBS and see how the Dual fits. Hopefully they have my size.

carbon soloist.

switchtotri,

Many suggest your first bike should be a road bike. That you should first learn how to ride a road bike before embarking on learning how to ride a tri specific or time trial bike.

Now there are a number of triathletes who question this wisdom.

However, If you enjoy cycling, you will have more opportunities to ride on a road bike and you will be more likely to ride in groups and socialize while riding (lots of fun compared to the loneliness of the solo rider). Another side benefit is that riding in groups tends to force one to challenge their fitness more than riding by ones self. The net result is that their fitness improves significantly more than if they only engaged in solo rides on their tri bike.

Becoming part of a road bike group or club also makes it a harder to blow rides off or find excuses not to ride. What happenis is that the group rides become the priority and the rest of your activities get prioritized behind the group ride. The net result is that you end up riding more than if you left your riding to only solo rides.

Now here's the funny part. Find a triathlete who started riding a road bike with a group of roadies and almost universally they will tell you it was the single greatest thing they did to improve their fitness (speed) on the bike and improve their bike handling skills.

Now likewise there are any number of triathletes who have never ridden road bikes on group rides with roadies and they will almost universally tell you you don't need to!

Go figure. The choice is yours.

In reality, the difference in equipment level of your tri bike if you buy one bike (a tri bike) vs keeping your road bike and getting a second bike (a tri bike) will have much less impact on your performance in triathlons than if you keep your road bike and get a tri bike and ride that road bike on group rides.

Its a little bit of the mantra: "you can spend $2,000 on some aero wheels (equipment) and see a small improvement in your performance but if you invest that money in your "engine" versus equipment you will usually see an improvement many times greater than the improvement you would have seen by investing in equipment instead of the "engine."

Personally, I would recommend you consider your road bike an investment in developing your cycling "engine" for triathlon. But I'm biased. I'm a roadie who owns 4 bikes: 2 road, 1 touring, 1 time trial. But I do ride with a number of triathletes on road bikes who ride on our group rides.

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Ben Cline


Better to aspire to Greatness and fail, than to not challenge one's self at all, and succeed.

Samantha Mcglone killed it last year on a Platinum. Keep the bike and do a couple of races, then make a decision.

I will keep you all posted. The search and decision process begins today.

Sadly, you are right. I can't imagine trying to get by with one or even two. Road bike , tri-bike, mountain-bike (geared), Fixed-gear, mountain (SS)....I'd say five is minimal. Good thing there is no velodrome nearby or I'd need a track bike too.

keep the road bike, a) you are likely to not get "true" value for it, b) 2000 is plenty and will get you a very nice tri bike c) save the road bike for winter riding, d) when you give up tris again you will need something else to keep you in shape and sane. Bottom line is man cannot live on one bike only!

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__________________________________________________
Simple Simon
Where's the Fried Chicken??

You need a nice road bike for summer rides with your buddies, you need a winter road bike with fenders, need a tri bike, mountain bike, a single speed mountain bike, fixie, Cross bike and a bike for hucking. That should cover it.

BMan- you forgot the cross bike.....

Sorry was a bit distracted on Ebay. Damn, lost what I was bidding on. Oh well. It went for a hundred more than I thought it would.

I added in the cross bike. I can not believe that I forgot that.

I live in Phoenix, Arizona so no need for a bike with fenders. That lowers the bike count by one. I went over to Tribe Multisport (shameless plug for a great shop with people that don't make you feel like an idiot) over lunch and talked to Kevin, the owner. I am going to take my road bike in later this week and talk to him about options.

Options still run the gamut. At this point, they range from (1) tweaking my current bike slightly and having money for some really nice race wheels to (2) buying a $2000 tri bike and keeping my road bike to (3) trading in the road bike and going all out on the tri bike.

If you were only going to do triathlon racing and no road races and you had to choose just one bike, would it be road or tri specific?

No question - road.

I've been doing tris for over twenty years, everything from sprint to IM, and have never ridden or felt like I needed a tri bike.

Disclaimer - I have never podiumed, but I don't attribute that to the bikes that I was on.

If you were only going to do triathlon racing and no road races and you had to choose just one bike, would it be road or tri specific?

I would go for a road bike with shorty clipons.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

With the cross bike, you now have to get a fixed gear. The feel of spinning in the sweet spot of a fixie is pure nirvana. Little known fact about fixies: tattoos and piercings are only optional...

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I had the same problem years ago and just kept my road bike and am glad I did. You don't need a triathlon specific bike.

Think of it this way. How would Lance Armstrong perform in a triathlon, on a road bike?

You can likely improve your cycling a lot without going out and buying a new bike. Train yourself first and then worry about the bike.

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__________________________________________________

You sir, are my new hero! - Trifan 11/13/2008

Casey, you are a wise man - blueraider_mike 11/13/2008

Casey, This is an astute observation. - Slowbern 11/17/2008

Keep the road bike.

Buy some clip-ons, and ride the snot out of it for all your races this season.

At the end of the season, assuming yer still loving the tri lifestyle, then think about buying a new Tri bike (and still do NOT sell the roadie) IF you still feel like you want and/or "need" one.

There are many triathletes who kick ass on road bikes, the entire ITU world being one not-so-small example.


FWIW - when the time comes, you can get plenty o' tri bike for $2k. There is nearly no functional difference between a $2k tri bike and a $5k tri bike, other than the weight savings of your wallet being so much lighter for buying the latter. Buying closeouts at season's end is a good way to pick up a nice bike for less $, and you'll know much better what you want in a bike by then.

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float , hammer , and jog

"I live in Phoenix, Arizona so no need for a bike with fenders."

That does it. I'm moving south...

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Some are born to move the world to live their fantasies...

https://triomultisport.com/
http://www.mjolnircycles.com/

One of the options is to tweak my current position on my road bike, which is why I am going to take it in with me later this week. If that is possible, I can throw on some clip on aero bars and look at some race wheels. When tri season is over or if I have a long time between races, I can "convert" it back to a road set up and not have any worries. What do you think? It is so funny that I am stressing about this decision. The fact that I am in a position to make this decision makes me smile when I think about it.

Give it a couple of months, check Phoenix weather again and you'll remember why you don't live in Arizona. I've lived in Arizona all my life and every year I get two cycles of six-months amnesia. The first is during Spring/Fall when you forget about the summer and can't imagine wanting to live anywhere else. The second is during summer when you can't remember why in the hell you live in Phoenix. For those of you wondering, yes, there are only two seasons in Phoenix and winter isn't one of them.

That's pretty much what I did my first coupla seasons. I got fitted to my road bike w/ the clip-ons on it (which ended up being mostly just a good road fit that also worked just fine for tris, there wasn't anything crazy like a forward seatpost or downward stem for more drop or anything). I had some solid bike splits on the road bike, so it wasn't holding me back any.

Then I got some race wheels (used 404's via eBay). Zoom zoom!

Then went big and got a tri bike for this past season (I was able to "sell" it to the Mrs that 'cuz I was doing an IM I "needed" a proper tri bike, and I got a nice closeout on it, yada yada yada.)

(Then I went bigger still and got a PT for it. This is on the need to know basis for the Mrs. She doesn't, and never will ;-)


It definitely falls under the category of "happy problems" that you are currently having.
Ride on-
-M

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float , hammer , and jog

I didn't see the third option, which is to take the really nice bits off the road bike and put them on a nice tri frame. Then, take the left over cash and buy some lower end 10sp stuff to hang on the roadie, problem solved... and it's a lot cheaper than 2 really nice bikes. I also have 5 and a half bikes at the moment, but I'm a student- so I stretch my budget. You can always swap wheels until you get a set of nice race wheels, it's not convenient but will save you a bunch. You can only ride one at a time. There is always used, some people love to buy really nice bikes and proceed to sell them for lack of foresight.

I can afford a $2000 ($2500 tops) tri bike if I keep my current bike. I figure you can add $1000-$1500 to that if I sell my road bike (conservative guess, but a substantial loss for me regardless).

• So you can keep your road bike (that you love) AND get a decent tri bike = two bikes, many options for riding
• Or sell your road bike for a cooler tri bike and save maybe 1 minute more on a 40k TT

The former seems like such a better deal IMO.

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Don't hold back

What? I don't see that.

Yes, road bike for group rides. No argument there.

saying that if I didn't do group rides I wouldn't have a road bike is just nonsense. Depending on the terrain, type of ride (slow steady state, hill reps, etc) a road bike is by far the more versitile steed regardless of whether you're on your own or not. You can commute on your tri bike, but it doesn't offer the nessesary in-town handling and rideability to make it better than a road bike. Long solo rides can be done on either, and shorty clip-ons provide a good aero position for those times when you want an aero position.

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"Here's how you run a marathon. Step 1: You start running. Step 2: There is no step 2." - Barney (How I Met Your Mother)

So I went to the shop this past week and I am no closer to making the decision than I was last week. Apparently, we can "convert" my road bike given my current position, throw some aero bars on there and call it a day. That leaves me with just one bike though and it will be set up either in tri or in road.

Then my wife said something tonight that was soooo sexy I almost fell over. She said "quit your whining and get a tri bike with all the bells and whistles because I don't want you coming to me a year from now telling me you need a new tri bike because you didn't get the one you wanted or that you need new wheels." Wow! Maybe I have a little more room to splurge. Did I mention that I love my wife.

I survive with two, one cyclocross to ride in snow and really bad weather. and one TT/TRI-Training bike which's an alu-bike but I really like it. I aslo have a really nice road bike but it's supposed to be on sale :)

I would suggest that you teamed up with some tri-guys as your roadie group rides then you don't have to worry about **** **** from the roadies that you are riding a tt-bike. I ride every weekend with five other tri-guys all on TT-bikes, so fare we havn't had a single accident together and we have been riding together for over two years and we rarely do less than 90miles.

Dave

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__________________
http://www.nasvik.se

I have both, but did my first 7 years of triathlon on a road bike with clip ons. I did my fastest times on it, there is no need for a 'tri' bike, it is just a good excuse to have two bikes.

If the locals are telling you that "converting" your road bike is a good idea then I would re-think from where my advice is coming. Without a funky stem you will not be able to drop the front end low enough to really take advantage of aerobars and then you would need a forward post and the handling would be all screwed up, yadda, yadda, yadda. Not the best idea and always full of compromises.
By the way, your wife is right. Given than QR now makes their Kilo with a 78.5 seat tube, I would buy that bike up in a heartbeat for that price range. Buy the wheels off eBay for cheap. I would probably not even buy a new bike. You can find a LOT of nice tri bikes on eBay for half the normal price. I'm all about supporting the local shop, but there comes a point where you have to do what is best for you.
Chad

Holy crap! Go! Go! GO!!!! Quick before she changes her mind. Just go buy the damn tri bike already! Take the day off work tomorrow and BUY IT!


;-)