I sold my tri bike the day I stopped doing tris (2013) Its been road bike or mountain bike ever since. I always thought a tri bike was good for only one thing - triathlons, whereas a road bike is much more versatile.

Echoing what lots of others have said. I have a road, tri, gravel and mountain bike and they are all fun for different reasons and in different situations. In a race there's nothing more fun than getting down on the aerobars and dropping the hammer, but I prefer my roadie for most of my training rides, group rides, etc. It's easier to handle and safer where I ride - suburban areas with plenty of cars, stop lights, etc. If I lived in an area with quiet country roads I'm sure I'd ride the TT more often and find it more enjoyable. This time of year it's all about the gravel and mountain bikes for me, and I can say for sure that the most fun I've ever had on a bike has been on my mountain bike.

I started out on a road bike when I started doing triathlons back in 1981, then I put on some DH bars around 1989 but then I got my first Kestrel tri bike specific in 1992. Since then I have had a number of different triathlon bikes but I have never ridden anything else these last 27 years and I have done many 200 mile hilly rides on them and all sorts of other riding I just enjoy being on the tri bike, not saying it is better or worse than a road bike just something I have gotten used to over the years and I feel I can handle it well in most conditions.

Tri bike for me, but that's partly because it is the better bike. I'm not doing group rides so no issues there. For really long days I like the tri bike position even more.


With limited time this summer, this was how I trained. 2-3x/week, 10-mile loop, either threshold+ intervals or threshold the whole way. Fitness/results were not bad compared to years when I did significantly more mileage. Having Strava benchmarks to chase was also good motivation.

I use my tt bike because it is faster and more fun to tinker with the tech.

For riding/training enjoyment I use my roadie. It is just more fun to ride. Handles better, corners better, etc., etc.

I only do a significant number of rides on my tri bike when preparing for a race. After my last 70.3, switching back to my roadie for training felt so good!

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I live just north of San Francisco and we have some good hills and rollers and a 3000 foot climb up to the top of Mt Tamalpais, so lots of riding options. My buddy and I both love riding our TT bikes, if it's just the two of us, we'll take the tt bikes for 90 mile ride with 5000 feet of climbing and average just over 20mph https://www.strava.com/activities/2804479105. We have a ton of fun chasing each other or taking turns pulling. I ride a 2019 Parlee TTiR and my buddy rides a Trek Speed Concept.

When we ride with a larger group, we'll usually ride our road bikes, 2017 Parlee Altum R for me and trek madone for him. Although sometimes we'll show up on group rides on our TT bikes and just pull the group along. They love it cause they get PRs, but also hate it because they have to work harder than we do.

I definitely love riding the tt bike more than the road bike, it's just so fun to be able to go so fast, plus as someone else said, the tt bike just looks so cool. Shown here in race mode with the disc wheel, otherwise I use zipp 808 front and back.

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I'm not normally a fan of black bikes because almost everyone in my area has them, but that is a really sweet looking ride.

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The more people I encounter the more I love my cats.

Road. I feel much safer with riding on the hoods with the brakes right there vs in aero on the tri bike. My tri bike I just using in season. Rest of the year it’s road and gravel bikes.

Always a road bike unless I am actually racing in a triathlon or a time trial

Another thing to consider is individual bike position, if your position is aggressive on tt and a bit more relaxed on road bike in my case, TT bike will never feel as good as the road bike. Did most of my training on TT bike last season since I was long course focused, but I am trying to mix it up now and trying to see if I can use road bike a bit more to build volume indoors.

TT/Tri bike vs Road Bike is like the difference in a Ferrari and a Mercedes. One is built for speed, and fun to rag on, but if you're going to spend a lot of time on it, the one built for that is much more enjoyable.

Not saying many road bikes (or Mercedes) aren't capable of high performance, just that the dedicated "go fast" model makes different compromises than the one designed for a more general purpose.

I self-identify as a recreational roadie that prefers to use my tri bike about 9 out of the 10 times I head out. I do have a really nice LOOK road bike with SRAM etap that I use if I do join an occasional group ride or I go on a hillier course.

In fact it was odd when finishing a chilly ride yesterday a triathlete in the parking lot asked me if I was training for one of the upcoming events. No Sir, I replied. And you are out here on this cold day by yourself with a tri bike, he asked? Yes, Sir, I replied.

To be honest I wasn't sure why it was a big deal. I typically ride alone on a flattish to low rolling hill with very few traffic stops. I prefer to be in aero in a steady pace for long blocks of time. The Felt IA is more fun to me.

All my friends ride road bikes (or slowly swap to TT before events) so it’s mostly road bike for me.

We have lots of short punchy hills and I can hammer hard, better, on road bike

However, I always LOVE the 6-8 weeks leading up to state TT where I spend a bunch of hard longer efforts on the TT. This time of year my FTP always goes up and all shorter power intervals plummet.

So for me, it depends on what part of the year I’m in. The roadbike is an everyday ride, the TT is a special treat for me

I don't think many of them realize how much of a PITA they are being. Or, maybe their way of speaking is just ingrained because of their constant proximity to other obnoxious dip$#!T$.

I was reluctantly on a ride with a young one only because he was a good training partner and we coincidentally met at the beginning of our rides. We stopped to rehydrate and another cyclist on his tri bike went by.

Young obnoxious dip$#!T: "Hey, look at that clown on his tri bike. This ain't a triathlon Hahahaha."
Me: "Well, maybe he is training for one. There are a lot of them coming up in this region."
NeeeeeeeeeYown!

Young obnoxious dip$#!T: "Yeah, but he was on the hoods, not in the tuck."
Seeing that he simply in his zone...
Me: "Well, this part of the bike path is narrow, there are a few people walking around and this section is rough as f$#% due to traffic, I think he is just being cautious."
NeeeeeeeeeYown!

Young obnoxious dip$#!T: "He's wearing black just like all the other people around here."
Trying to get him out of the zone but knowing he loves wallowing in that muck...
Me: "Well, maybe his favorite clothes are dirty from Yesterday's ride. Maybe he is wearing black because that is about all the stores sell around here. Maybe he just isn't a colorful guy."

Young obnoxious dip$#!T: Looks at me as if I have an arm growing out of my head.

I really wanted to tell him "Relax man. Not everyone does things the way you do." But then I realized that if he was that stupid at that age then there was no use trying to get him off that path that was ingrained by decades of practice.

Me: "Let's get going. I'm going to push it until my cutoff, so if you pull away from me no need to wait for me okay?"

He pulled away easily so I let him go, then pulled off the path early and took a different route home. I bet to this day he is still just as self-absorbed as ever, probably has fewer friends than before, and probably wonders what is wrong with others that makes them not want to hang out with him.

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100% road bike is more enjoyable to ride than a tri bike (unless all your rides are closed to traffic and non-technical... in which case, fill your boots with a tri bike). I own both.

100% agree! It's great to be able to be able to stretch out on the aero bars. I don't do this in traffic when I'm in town or on a group ride, but for long solo rides out in the country, I'll take my tri bike every time.

I get in a lot of miles on my road bike too.

And either one beats the heck out of riding indoors on a trainer.

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Training tri on a bike path? Surely hope just cutting across town. I wouldn’t dream of doing dedicated rolls on one.

Diffuse that with “meh, hopefully just cutting thru”. But, that would beg the question of why are YOU pegging it training on a bike path?

Just sayin.

Not my preference, but I do use a multi-use path on most Sundays. Used it yesterday and yes there are a few congested areas at some of the common parking areas, but a few miles from those and one can really open up the engine for a solid TT type pace if desired and not have to be concerned with being mixed in with traffic. At least decent enough for me. I will count it as training :-)

Yesterday 40 Mile / Time total 2:13 / Time moving 2:12 / Goal endurance / TT type pace / 90+% of the ride in aero / IF: 0.78 / VI: 1.07
L1: 23% 30:07
L2: 29% 38:26
L3: 23% 30:18
L4: 15% 20:28
L5: 7% 9:03
L6: 3% 3:53
L7: 1% 1:33

Not all bike paths are the same. I do prefer to drive north of the city and be on the open road on Saturdays. With the colder weather (and in extreme heat) there are a lot less people.

If you saw the path you would think it is the perfect place to train on a tri bike. 40km of a 4-5m wide path with no cars or traffic signals, very few cyclists and very little elevation change.

Here is EXACTLY why I am pegging it on a dedicated bike path....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZGwj3v3uLo

This guy tried to ride through an event where it was clearly marked to get off the bike or turn around. He started at the 19km marker and was headed to Tokyo Bay, and where he stopped was probably 13km more to the Bay, and when I ride it (weekdays), there is about 1/10th of the traffic you see in his video likely taken on a weekend or late afternoon.

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The more people I encounter the more I love my cats.

Fun??? that is a loaded question.

To me its a matter of the terrain, traffic, safety. If its really hilly, in town, or in a group a road bike is inherently more fun for me because I'm not stressing about safety as much and can enjoy a conservation. If i'm solo riding outside of town training will its my TT bike.

My Tri bike puts more of a smile on my face then my road bike.
Not that there is anything wrong with my roadie (2017 Cervelo R5, mechanical ultegra)
Buuuuuut, I love riding my Tri bike more (up until recently 2015 Felt IA Di2) even for group rides, hills etc
Only road the roadie when conditions where bad - wet roads etc, but the new love (2019 P5) means that I probably wont ride the roadie at all. 'Cept maybe on the trainer when I cant be bothered taking the rear wheel off....