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Is a TT bike necessary for a IM?
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Is a TT Bike necessary for an IM? Will a road bike with aero bars work fine? I have a Fuji Transonic 2.7.
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Re: Is a TT bike necessary for a IM? [Tri_ing_it_out] [ In reply to ]
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No problem!

You might want small fit adjustments like putting your seat forward and seat post up if the course is flat and plan to ride aero a lot...and if theres time to get used to it

You probably want clip ons where the armrest is as low as possible (ie almost flush with your base bars)

You could look at moving the downtube bottle between your arms
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Re: Is a TT bike necessary for a IM? [Tri_ing_it_out] [ In reply to ]
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"Necessary"?

A road bike without aero bars will work fine. With aero bars you will probably be slightly faster (if you have a decent fit and are used to it) and with a TT bike even faster. There are no problems going on a MTB or a citybike, might even be more comfortable if that is what you are used to. It will just take you a bit longer.
Last edited by: Davidsson: Dec 10, 17 1:08
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Re: Is a TT bike necessary for a IM? [Tri_ing_it_out] [ In reply to ]
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Re: Is a TT bike necessary for a IM? [Tri_ing_it_out] [ In reply to ]
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Yes.

..and you need to spend at least $5K on it
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Re: Is a TT bike necessary for a IM? [Tri_ing_it_out] [ In reply to ]
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people ride long distances on road bikes all the time.

80/20 Endurance Ambassador
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Re: Is a TT bike necessary for a IM? [Tri_ing_it_out] [ In reply to ]
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Not necessary to have a TT bike for an IM. You will see plenty of road bikes in transition with and without clip-on aero bars.
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Re: Is a TT bike necessary for a IM? [Tri_ing_it_out] [ In reply to ]
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In general, road bikes often make fine tri bikes, IF you are willing to purchase a fit, a forward seat post, a proper tri saddle and clip on aerobars. The big problem with your Fuji is the proprietary seat post that is not replaceable by something like the Profile Design fast forward.

The ability to transform a road bike to a tri bike is roughly inversely proportional to rider size. The shorter you are, the better it works, because the easier it is to get the saddle suitably forward. (because as seats go up, they also go back). Under 5 and a half is usually no problem, up to 5'10" or so it is usually workable with maybe some position compromise, and as you get close to 6' and above, it becomes harder and harder to get anything resembling a properly steep tri fit.

That's not to say if you are 6 feet tall that adding aerobars won't be a sustainable and faster proposition. It just means you are going to be stuck riding slack, so you should look for aerobars that have good fore and aft pad adjustment, you may need a shorter stem, and you probably won't be riding as low as could on a tri bike. You would still almost certainly be 1-2mph faster when properly seat up.
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Re: Is a TT bike necessary for a IM? [FindinFreestyle] [ In reply to ]
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FindinFreestyle wrote:
In general, road bikes often make fine tri bikes, IF you are willing to purchase a fit, a forward seat post, a proper tri saddle and clip on aerobars. The big problem with your Fuji is the proprietary seat post that is not replaceable by something like the Profile Design fast forward.

The ability to transform a road bike to a tri bike is roughly inversely proportional to rider size. The shorter you are, the better it works, because the easier it is to get the saddle suitably forward. (because as seats go up, they also go back). Under 5 and a half is usually no problem, up to 5'10" or so it is usually workable with maybe some position compromise, and as you get close to 6' and above, it becomes harder and harder to get anything resembling a properly steep tri fit.

That's not to say if you are 6 feet tall that adding aerobars won't be a sustainable and faster proposition. It just means you are going to be stuck riding slack, so you should look for aerobars that have good fore and aft pad adjustment, you may need a shorter stem, and you probably won't be riding as low as could on a tri bike. You would still almost certainly be 1-2mph faster when properly seat up.

Oh interesting.. I have my bike fitted for me without the aero bars and things like that. I am also 5'6'', so I am like right there on the height scale.
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Re: Is a TT bike necessary for a IM? [Tri_ing_it_out] [ In reply to ]
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I have long legs/short torso, so this fit me very well.
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Re: Is a TT bike necessary for a IM? [kdw] [ In reply to ]
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kdw wrote:


I have long legs/short torso, so this fit me very well.

Nice! Can you walk me through what you did? it seems like you pushed the seat forward and got new wheels? Did you have to change the wiring? Have you ever heard of redshift? How much did you end up spending and the cost breakdown (if you dont mind answering)?
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Re: Is a TT bike necessary for a IM? [Tri_ing_it_out] [ In reply to ]
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I bought the bike in this config back in 2005...I think I paid $2K. I only added the H3 front for $300 from the ST classifieds and put the wheel cover ($80) on the rear. I've never heard of redshift.

I've since converted it back to a road bike and I did recable it when switching to sti shifters and drop bars if that's what you mean by wiring. I'd guess I have ~60K miles on it total and it is still going strong. If I ever go back to doing triathlons, I'd probably just switch it back to the above config.
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Re: Is a TT bike necessary for a IM? [Tri_ing_it_out] [ In reply to ]
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That Cervelo is an older model when they still had a flippable seatpost head to move the saddle further forward than simply sliding it on the rails. You can see how the very top of the seat post is doglegged forward in the pic. This feature made the soloist road bike into a very good approximation of a tri bike.

At 5'6", if you slide your saddle all the way forward, you are probably at about 75°-76° of seat tube angle, and that is better than nothing.
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Re: Is a TT bike necessary for a IM? [FindinFreestyle] [ In reply to ]
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FindinFreestyle wrote:
In general, road bikes often make fine tri bikes, IF you are willing to purchase a fit, a forward seat post, a proper tri saddle and clip on aerobars. The big problem with your Fuji is the proprietary seat post that is not replaceable by something like the Profile Design fast forward.

The ability to transform a road bike to a tri bike is roughly inversely proportional to rider size. The shorter you are, the better it works, because the easier it is to get the saddle suitably forward. (because as seats go up, they also go back). Under 5 and a half is usually no problem, up to 5'10" or so it is usually workable with maybe some position compromise, and as you get close to 6' and above, it becomes harder and harder to get anything resembling a properly steep tri fit.

That's not to say if you are 6 feet tall that adding aerobars won't be a sustainable and faster proposition. It just means you are going to be stuck riding slack, so you should look for aerobars that have good fore and aft pad adjustment, you may need a shorter stem, and you probably won't be riding as low as could on a tri bike. You would still almost certainly be 1-2mph faster when properly seat up.
The other thing that makes it easier for short people is that XS and S road bikes typically have much steeper seat posts out of the box...

I'm 185 cm / 6'1" and had a fairly easy time getting an aggressive setup on my road bike: - I've put less than $300 of mods into this bike. Less if you exclude the base bar, brake levers and shifters, but they're a big convenience both on the road and in the conversion process. No professional fitting required as long as you're not a mutant or injured. Just read some of Dan Slowman's fitting info (the Diamondback Andean fit calculator is helpful), work out what Pad X/Y is suggested, and do some measuring and calculating.

Getting low aero bars on a road bike is as easy as a) choosing clip-ons with a low stack height, and b) a really slammed stem. Mine is a 110 x 35° (upside down), and I could even go a fraction longer (some online information says go shorter. Don't). Maybe a Cinelli Pista 130 x 25°. You can ditch all the spacers under the stem (I still have 10mm) and often you can find a shorter headset bearing cap too.

But as said your seatpost may be a limitation. If there's a way to get it reversed, do it. Find a saddle with long rails that you can move a long way forwards, and also sit on the nose of. My ISM Attack is quite good for this; I'm sure there are others.

Of course, nothing wrong with just getting out there on a road bike!
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Re: Is a TT bike necessary for a IM? [Tri_ing_it_out] [ In reply to ]
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If you stand on the side of the road, at a large IM race, at about the 70 mile mark, you will see many people (50% and more of the firsld) riding full-on TT/Tri bikes with ALL the aero gear, riding bot up-right on the bike with their hands on the bull-horns. It's apparent they have been riding like this for some time, and most likely will most of the the same way to the finish of the bike.

When I see this, I wonder, why not just ride a road bike . . . as a road bike?

I'm thinking that if they are well fit on a road bike they would be 'better" off just riding it that way. I'm making the big assumption that back here people don't really care that much about time. The TT/Tri bike, even when ridden in an upright position, may be faster by 10 or so minutes - but in a 13 - 15 hr race, does this really matter? Wouldn't it be better to ride the bike in a comfortable position, that might allow you to run better?

I wrote a blog about all this a few years back. It proposes the blasphemous proposition that I've put forward above - to race an IM on a road bike, set up and ridden as a road bike! - http://stevefleck.blogspot.ca/...on-on-road-bike.html


Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog
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Re: Is a TT bike necessary for a IM? [FindinFreestyle] [ In reply to ]
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FindinFreestyle wrote:


At 5'6", if you slide your saddle all the way forward, you are probably at about 75°-76° of seat tube angle, and that is better than nothing.


Curious to know what size Transonic the OP has. At 5'6", I'm guessing a Small. If so, that bike has a native seat tube angle of 75*. With the seat all the way forward, you may be able to get an effective seat post angle near 78*. The Transonic is a pretty slippery road bike, too. This might be an "edge case" where the potential speed delta from road bike w/aero bars to a non-Superbike TT rig is pretty small.

"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"
Last edited by: gary p: Dec 11, 17 6:23
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Re: Is a TT bike necessary for a IM? [MattyK] [ In reply to ]
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MattyK wrote:
FindinFreestyle wrote:
In general, road bikes often make fine tri bikes, IF you are willing to purchase a fit, a forward seat post, a proper tri saddle and clip on aerobars. The big problem with your Fuji is the proprietary seat post that is not replaceable by something like the Profile Design fast forward.

The ability to transform a road bike to a tri bike is roughly inversely proportional to rider size. The shorter you are, the better it works, because the easier it is to get the saddle suitably forward. (because as seats go up, they also go back). Under 5 and a half is usually no problem, up to 5'10" or so it is usually workable with maybe some position compromise, and as you get close to 6' and above, it becomes harder and harder to get anything resembling a properly steep tri fit.

That's not to say if you are 6 feet tall that adding aerobars won't be a sustainable and faster proposition. It just means you are going to be stuck riding slack, so you should look for aerobars that have good fore and aft pad adjustment, you may need a shorter stem, and you probably won't be riding as low as could on a tri bike. You would still almost certainly be 1-2mph faster when properly seat up.

The other thing that makes it easier for short people is that XS and S road bikes typically have much steeper seat posts out of the box...

I'm 185 cm / 6'1" and had a fairly easy time getting an aggressive setup on my road bike: - I've put less than $300 of mods into this bike. Less if you exclude the base bar, brake levers and shifters, but they're a big convenience both on the road and in the conversion process. No professional fitting required as long as you're not a mutant or injured. Just read some of Dan Slowman's fitting info (the Diamondback Andean fit calculator is helpful), work out what Pad X/Y is suggested, and do some measuring and calculating.

Getting low aero bars on a road bike is as easy as a) choosing clip-ons with a low stack height, and b) a really slammed stem. Mine is a 110 x 35° (upside down), and I could even go a fraction longer (some online information says go shorter. Don't). Maybe a Cinelli Pista 130 x 25°. You can ditch all the spacers under the stem (I still have 10mm) and often you can find a shorter headset bearing cap too.

But as said your seatpost may be a limitation. If there's a way to get it reversed, do it. Find a saddle with long rails that you can move a long way forwards, and also sit on the nose of. My ISM Attack is quite good for this; I'm sure there are others.

Of course, nothing wrong with just getting out there on a road bike!

Really nice work. Is that a Fast Forward post or just your stock post flipped around? My eyeball puts that on the slack side of steep maybe 76° - 78° Which is about as much as you get at 6'1". Still, there it is... Proper tri saddle, properly forward, negative rise stem + aerobars. Road bikes can work.
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Re: Is a TT bike necessary for a IM? [Tri_ing_it_out] [ In reply to ]
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nothing is necessary, but it depends on yoy and your goals.

1. have you tried riding a triathlon bike? how did it feel? I personally feel a lit more comfortable on a triathlon bike than a road bike.

2. have your tried running after a long rife on a road bike vs a triathlon bike? one of the advantages i have heard besides being faster in the bike is being faster on the run with a more forward position on a triathlon bike.

3. what are your goals? are you doing an ironman to have done it or will you keep doing triathlons? if a one time deal, definitely do not get a triathlon bike. if you keep doing them on the other hand....

2018 Races: IM Santa Rosa, Vineman Monte Rio, Lake Tahoe 70.3
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Re: Is a TT bike necessary for a IM? [FindinFreestyle] [ In reply to ]
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FindinFreestyle wrote:

Really nice work. Is that a Fast Forward post or just your stock post flipped around? My eyeball puts that on the slack side of steep maybe 76° - 78° Which is about as much as you get at 6'1". Still, there it is... Proper tri saddle, properly forward, negative rise stem + aerobars. Road bikes can work.
Aftermarket post from China/ebay. 20mm offset, full rotating head. Not as far forward as I would like but it will do.

The bars have about 14cm of drop. I could get about 16 if I tried...
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Re: Is a TT bike necessary for a IM? [Tri_ing_it_out] [ In reply to ]
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no, not necessary! i rode several ims on my road bike even though i have a tri bike....the particular courses just favored my road bike. should be the bike that fits you best and is comfortable for long distance. have fun and good luck!
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Re: Is a TT bike necessary for a IM? [Tri_ing_it_out] [ In reply to ]
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Depends on your goals and your finances. If you want to finish, a road bike with aero bars is fine, with the seat pushed forward as others have said.

If you want to win the race, a road bike won't work because you aren't quite as aero and the geometry of a road bike doesn't set you up for the run as well.

You probably are somewhere between finishing and winning the race and so you have to figure out what it is worth to you. May I suggest a used triathlon bike at first? You can get a super good deal on a bike that is 90-95% of what you get in a new bike for 50% or less of the cost.

2018 Races: IM Santa Rosa, Vineman Monte Rio, Lake Tahoe 70.3
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