how about the best of both worlds?:

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Where would you want to swim ?

Thats a P2K with drops put on right?

I've heard handleing for a bike like that is crap.. how do you find it?

-dave

Hey slacker, nice clean bike but you really need to do something about those freaking weeds, you DO have time off now, dont you ;)

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I have horrible back problems but I have zero problems staying in an aero position for 180k. Why? Because I ride steep and because I train regularly in that position. Simple as that.....Gerard

Why would you do that?

A Soloist would not be a bad choice though.

handles like a dream. and the drops allow me to get especially low on fast and twisty descents.

how can the handlebar change the handling? the handling is affected by frame/fork design and body position, not the bar.

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Where would you want to swim ?

hey, those are plants not weeds!

no matter, it is all a frosty bit of snow now...

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Where would you want to swim ?

I know someone who had a setup like that which he used for the occasional crit.. and he hated it cause out of corners he said it was just stetchy..

but i havn't heard other opinion, thats why i asked

yeah, i understand.

i can't speak for anyone but myself. i think if you take a traditional road bike and put your body way forward via a forward seapost etc., it will handle poorly in high speed turns.

but if you take a P2 whose design incorporates a slightly upright seat tube with a long top tube, and set your seatpost with the seat clamp in the rear position, the handling is totally fine, i'd say perfect.

i am fairly particular about high speed handling (speeds up to and around 50 mph +) and this bike handles very well, as well as any road bikes i have ridden (british raleigh, pinarello, kestrel, guerciotti, etc.).

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Where would you want to swim ?

Tri-bike.

Go low and aero.

oh......and make sure you look fast.

That's what counts.

If you're only going to have one bike then I'd recommend a Cervelo Soloist because it can do both. I'm a P2K owner and don't get the drop bar idea. It might work for the poster but I've seen it done before and it didn't work properly for the guy I know at least. IMO, the Soloist is a much more logical choice.

Before getting a road vs tri bike ask yourself what else will you do with this bike and do you live in a flat or hilly area. If you want to do group rides, centuries, live in a hilly area, etc as well as tris then definately go with a road bike. If you only intend to ride solo for tri training and live in a flat area then a dedicated tri bike would be OK.

I'm of the school of thought that you should get a road bike first, ride with the roadies and learn how to ride and use shortie aero bars for triathlons. If you really like the sport then get a tri bike as a second bike, but keep the road bike.

For me it makes a huge difference. I time trial a LOT faster on a steep setup tri bike. My converted road bike was fine but handled crappy and it was a pain to convert back and forth. I'd even go with a tri-bike for shorter sprints as to me it's a definite advantage. I know some people who would disagree for good reason though so it just depends on your bike setup preferrences.

Bringing up an old post but relevant to me. I do 3-4 sprint/Olympic tris each year and trying to decide if a tri bike is really worth it. I currently ride a specialized tarmac and love the bike. I would keep it for training and buy another bike if it really made that much of a difference in a race. I’m guessing I should just focus on training more rather than buying speed?

It really depends on what it's worth to you.

Personally, I can ride 2-3 mph faster on my tri bike vs my road bike on similar wattage. On my tri bike, I can get into a much more aggressive, lower, and narrower position which drastically decreases my aerodynamic drag. Compare that to trying to ride aero in the drops of my road bike.

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Alex Arman

Strava

It depends.
You will be faster on a tri-bike.
Whether it's "worth it" is not something any of us can objectively tell you!
If you're just racing your previous bests and you're not bothered how you perform relative to others, there's no reason why you need a tri-bike. If you want to be faster regardless of whether it's down to your fitness or your equipment, then the a well set up tri-bike (assuming you spend most of the race in aero position) will make as much difference to bike speed as a significant amount of fitness improvement. It may also help you with the run if the new position helps your legs feel better out of T2. Alternatively you could try and reconfigure your tarmac with clip-ons and new saddle position but if it was me I wouldn't sacrifice my road bike, and it'll be a compromised solution anyway.

That’s what i was looking for. A good comparison between tri and road. So really 2-3 mph is a huge difference. Now if I can find a good deal!

I realize that it is more of a personal decision as to whether it’s worth it to me or not. I’m not a top performer and realize it just don’t have the time to train to be a top performer. A part of me thinks if I buy a tri bike that I’ll look like one of those poser guys who just tries to buy his way in.

You will almost certainly be faster on a rea tri/tt bike, but 2+mph would seem to be an outlier. I picked up ~ 1.5mph going from a road bike with zero aero aspirations (stick-tube aluminum frame with relaxed "endurance" geometry, externally routed cables on the down tube, brifters with side-exit shift cables, etc) to a modern entry level triathlon bike (2016 Orbea Ordu OME M30). That's worth about 3 minutes for me on a Sprint triathlon. Locally, 3 minutes is the difference between an ~85th percentile finish and a ~92nd percentile finish.

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

Seconds matter in a Sprint / Olympic. You will probably see more benefit (on a percentage basis) than long course as you are pushing a lot harder at the shorter distances. I can't ever remember seeing the guys in front of a sprint/Olympic on anything other than a expensive tri-bike.

yep... all the fast sprint guys are on TT/Tri bikes. I'm on one too, but I'm nowhere near the front :)

Yeah, 2+ MPH is certainly stretching it for me personally, at least just a bike not including helmet, wheels, clothes, etc. But it's definitely 1+ MPH faster. And if triathlon is the reason you ride, then I think it's worth it. If you enjoy cycling, and just do the occasional triathlon, then maybe stick with a regular road bike and get the best that you can from that. But there is no doubt you'll see minutes come off your time even with just the 1 MPH difference. I ran the number through a calculator really quickly, so I could be making a mistake somewhere, but jumping from 21 to 22 MPH on a 25 mile course is going to save you ~3:14. And that's certainly attainable by just switching position.

You'll definitely be faster if your fit is good. I go to USA Cycling events where there are road bike racers competing and what do they ride? ....Aero TT bikes!. If there wasn't much of a speed difference they'd be riding their road bikes. Those who don't own TT bikes either just ride their road bike or enter the road bike class known as Merckx.

Decreasing the frontal area is one of the most vital things to do in order to reduce drag which increases your speed. So if you were to look at your frontal area on the road bike vs a time trial bike you'll see the benefits right away.

I found a pretty good article here with tips on time trial racing.

FWIW I raced a few years on a road bike with clip-on aerobars with a great fit and the gains I was when I finally got a TT bike were not huge, maybe 0.5 mph faster. But that's because the frontal area was reduced by body position more so than a TT cockpit or aero frame.

+1 anecdotal data point from me. Going from a 8 year old Allez to a new Shiv Sport was somewhere in that 1.5 to 2mph difference--even considering that I used the identical pair of race wheels and tires.

While I did have some training improvements during the summer, I did a pair of sprint events that were on absolutely identical loops for both the bike and run.

Road bike: Mid June: 21.1mph for 12 miles = 34:35
Tri bike: Early August: 23.3mph for 12 miles = 31:30

The run was also better and I didn't have any calf tightness on the second one, dropping my 5k from 21:01 to 20:34.

So..even on a sprint, I believe the bike was a big help---and I'm not riding the Shiv slammed.

I don't have as clean of data for the Olympics I also did over the past season---but there was also at least a proportionate amount of difference there as well.

This all depends on your budget ,Olympic distance does not require a TT at all
Even the bigger ones can be done with a road bike

What Alex said!

For me, it's 21mph on the roadie and 25-26 on the Shiv for 40k (in shape) for roughly the same power output. But I'm also using a long sleeve skin suit, deeper wheels, a cover, aero helmet and aero gloves.

A 3mph increase in speed (22 vs. 25) is worth 7:47 in a 40k.

Only you know if that's worth the extra expense.

Depends how in to the sport you are. If you're all in then a tri-bike is the only answer, just do it. If you're an all over the place only for a couple years person then stick with a road bike with clip-ons will suffice, unless money is no object then just get all the best and baddest stuff you can find.

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I still lapped everyone on the couch!