Road bike.



Compare a road bike to a SUV and a Tri bike to a 1 seated race car. You can use the SUV in a race (though its slower) but you cant bring the kids to school with the race car. A road bike can be used for commuting, training, group riding, riding into town for a cofe and triathlon racing. It might not be perfect for all these applications but its very versatile.



The triathlon bike is useful for one thing only: Going hard in the aero position. This means racing and fast training. If you are strong enough to pedal 150-200 Watts or more while training basic endurance stuff, it might be applicable for long stuff as well. With 100 - 120 Watts - which is the beginners or runners wattage in fatburning mode, a triathlonbike - if fitted correctly will not work. This is, because too much weight is on the saddle and not enough on the pedals. And also the aeroposition is not the most comfortable for the back.



Now you can adapt a tribike for long slow riding (putting the aerobars very high ...) but thats disgusting.



In my opinion a tribike should always be your third bike - the first one being a road bike, the second a mountainbike and only the third one a tribike.



The muscle stuff is, that for triathlon, hard riding is said not to stress running muscles so much if in the tri-position.



About your choice, the Cannondale IM 600 is NOT a tri bike - its a rather strange multisport bike - keep away from it. It wont work as a road bike and it wont work as a tri bike. The r600 is great, though I would buy a felt for more value for money. Many Ironman Tris have been won on road bikes so really no problem with that - and if you love Tris and get faster you can later buy a tri bike and use the roadbike for training.

Always, always get a road bike if it is your only bike. The road bike is far more versatile. andling and only useful for tri and nothing else. Comparing a tri bike to a race car and a road bike to a SUV is a bit extreme. Tri bikes aren't that much faster than a road bike if you add aero bars to the road bike.

You can make a road bike almost like a tri bike by putting the seat forward on the rails and using a neutral seat post for a 75/76 degree multi-sport position. If you really like tri then get a tri bike, but always keep your road bike. The Cervelo Soloist is a good example of this concept.

IMO, too many newbies without cycling experience are buying tri bikes too early and the bike shops are too willing to sell them to them. These riders are dangerous and don't even realize it. Get a road bike, join a roadie group, learn the basic cycling skills, do a few tris and then later get a tri bike.

[reply]Always, always get a road bike if it is your only bike. The road bike is far more versatile. andling and only useful for tri and nothing else. Comparing a tri bike to a race car and a road bike to a SUV is a bit extreme. Tri bikes aren't that much faster than a road bike if you add aero bars to the road bike.
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I agree. YOu may find out you have an urge to try some bike racing or atleast doing the local training crit and thats much easier to do when you have a road bike. If you find out that after a couple of years your only going to do Triathlons then buy a Tri bike. I saw way too many people in the triathlon club in college buy tri bikes as there first bikes. Many of them later wanted to try road races and weren't able to.

Matt

 "saw way too many people in the triathlon club in college buy tri bikes as there first bikes."

Did a sprint tri/du last year with a large field of 350 or so. There were a number of crashes. I had a couple of near incidents. Got cut off by a couple of idiots and was passing another guy just as he reached back for his water bottle, swaying across the road in front of me. It was so whacko out there I'm not sure if I'll do that event again. Some of these people can be quite fast but usually come in to tri from a running background and jump from a $200. mountain bike to a full blown tri bike. They then only train solo instead of riding with roadies and never become good cyclists. I also fault the bike shops for not trying to first talk them into purchasing a road bike, but then I guess "the customer is always right".

I understand the bike shops - its a business. If I stock road and tribikes I try to talk a customer into buying tris. Why? Less competition and steeper margins. You can get a decent roadbike for less than 1000 USD and a very good one for less than 2000 USD.

You need at least 1350 for a decent tribike and about 2500 for a very good one. Now quite obviously this has nothing to do with cost, but with competition. With tri its easy to be the only one in town, with roadbikes there is always competition.

I understand it from a business point of view. If a customer comes in bound and determined that he/she wants a tri bike as their first bike then the bike shop would be foolish not to oblige the customer since they'll just go elsewhere. My point is that the majority of newbie triathletes would likely be better off getting a road bike before a tri bike. The bike shops should mention this but if the customer still wants a tri bike, then like I said "the customer is always right".