Think about the "purchase" differently. Think about it as a rental.

Buy a used bike on craigslist (preferably with crappy pictures but a good deal) - ride the bike for the season...

wash it up, take really nice pictures, and do some general maintenance...

Sell it for +/- 10% of what you bought it.

Its like money in the bank, but its money on the road.

Felt AR....... reversible seatpost awesome bike.

bestbikesplit.com can tell you

I rode a road bike in ironman texas after damage to my TT bike. Same wheels/helmet, pretty close position

I believe i gave up 8 minutes over 180km.

not great for climbing, I have tried one and as a climber felt climbed like crap compared to most.. would rather have a newer scott foil or canyon but not getting new road bike since mine is great.

yeah may get used cheaper one but just keep it since will need next year too.

Just pick up a used S5. When put in "TT mode", apparently it's as fast as a P4 (with equivalent positions). I used a Look Ergostem to get my bars in the right position.

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...20tt%20mode#p3761058

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

I don't have any problems climbing with my AR but I'm also not an extremely heavy person. Not saying you are. I don't know anything about the nw Scott foil but the old ones are freaking awesome. That's my only regret when I bought my AR. Should have bought a foil because I ended up getting a TT bike as well

Why did they ever stop making the P4 they could have simply changed a few things and kept a great platform

its a common complaint for the AR I have heard from many and unless its their upper end they are heavy and I am 135 lbs so I am not heavy.

My bike isnt as aero but its pretty solid, corners so much better and better all around bike IMO as well at 14.8 with not trying hard to lighten it


I cant switch mine to full aero front end since not enough time to do that and all the added stress bwtn the TT and the crit.

overall what I am debating is if I will loose that much time, none of my TTs are more than 25 min and generally only do 1-3 per year. Some Stage races are going to lemond style or just HCs so that is a part of it to. My road bike wont change well added clip ons is idea. I can borrow bikes but that doesnt always workout well.

Plus 100 on this !

No shame in using a road bike with clip ons. As long as you're aero and used to the position you should be fine. I've dropped some nasty bike splits on a roadbike with clip ons before I got my TT bike. Just make sure that you're in a position (used to it) that you can hammer out the power on.

Yep, exactly this. I had a good fit on my road bike with clip-ons. I had a FF seatpost and longer stem as well, I'm not all that faster on my TT bike, my fit on the roadie with aerobars may have been better.

sounds like swapping so much like FF post will not be ideal if he is using is a stage race, which means he needs to have it ready for a Crit or Road Race a few hours after using for TT when better to relax and recover instead of changing a bunch around and swapping seat post can add margin of error that isnt worth it. But you can for sure sit on the rivit and not change it and if there is room ton slam stem down may work well. Downfall is every time you shift you disrupt air to shift on STI. One thing is if you dont have electronic shifiting you can upgrade to that then put bar ends on clip ons and that would be a great way to do it all with one bike and make sure cables are clean. Still will loose time but make sure solid tire/tube combo which most still fook up

It takes me about 10 minutes to put my FF seatpost and clipons on. I have a marking on my seatpost so I can't get it wrong. It's about 5 minutes to go back to road mode.

yeah good point

Can also use the Redshift Dual position seat post to avoid having to switch. Moves the seat nose forward by 50mm (3-4 degrees effective seat tube angle), and up to maintain same seat-crank distance. Its heavy tho' (400g), and a bit pricey.

Or use a seat-post colar on both posts, so you just drop it into place and make sure its straight.