I have been racing on a road bike (no aero bars) and am interested in doing more long course tris. The problem is that riding more than 3 hours on my road bike really beats me up--sore butt, sore arms, sore trapezius--you know the drill. I will never be fast. I just want to get comfortable so I could go a long time without pain.
1) Someone advised me that if comfort is what I want, get a Softride. I have been leaning that way.
Recently, though, I am getting some contradictory advice from one of the better LBS around here that a) softrides are over-engineered so you will need to be a good mechanic to ride one and you will have a heck of a time should you want to ship your bike ina bike box and have some LBS put it back together and b) unless you are a really good pedaller, you will waste a lot of energy bobbing.
2) They advise a better option if strictly comfort is the goal would be to get a tri bike with good aero bars (for the comfort rather than the aero advantage), preferably a steel bike, and get a round tube bike with a carbon fork.
I have found the ST crowd to be expert at all things bike related. What should I do? I only ride about 15-19 mph depending on the race length so I am not needing more aero stuff. I just want to be comfortable.
What kind of bike should I get?
1) Someone advised me that if comfort is what I want, get a Softride. I have been leaning that way.
Recently, though, I am getting some contradictory advice from one of the better LBS around here that a) softrides are over-engineered so you will need to be a good mechanic to ride one and you will have a heck of a time should you want to ship your bike ina bike box and have some LBS put it back together and b) unless you are a really good pedaller, you will waste a lot of energy bobbing.
2) They advise a better option if strictly comfort is the goal would be to get a tri bike with good aero bars (for the comfort rather than the aero advantage), preferably a steel bike, and get a round tube bike with a carbon fork.
I have found the ST crowd to be expert at all things bike related. What should I do? I only ride about 15-19 mph depending on the race length so I am not needing more aero stuff. I just want to be comfortable.
What kind of bike should I get?