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Home > Forum > Triathlon Forum > Any Creative Ideas on Converting a Tri to Road Bike?

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Any Creative Ideas on Converting a Tri to Road Bike?
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lakerfan
Jun 16, 19 12:54
Post #1 of 13 (1520 views)
Here's my situation:

I built up a very slightly used 2016 BH Aero RC with new Ultregra Di2 (R8060) components and Zipp Vuka Aeros last year and then immediately had an accident that's forcing to quit racing. The nature of my injury doesn't allow me to get in the aero position but I can still ride. I can't seem to sell the bike which is essentially brand new for a reasonable price so I'm thinking of converting it to a road bike. I just don't want to dump more money into it since I probably spent >$5k just getting it to this point.

Now, I can buy some R8050 shifters and swap out the bars but I was wondering if there was something creative I could do with new R8050 shifters and my existing Zipp Vuka basebar. I suspect the easiest and most cost-effective thing to do is just buy R8050 shifters and road bars and then sell the Vuka Aeros and the TT components but it seems like selling anything these days is next to impossible.

I'm probably overthinking this but any thoughts here? I'm just so tired of dumping more money into bikes which seems to get me so little in return.

Thanks, Chris
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Re: Any Creative Ideas on Converting a Tri to Road Bike? [lakerfan] [ In reply to ]
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Morelock
Jun 16, 19 13:40
Post #2 of 13 (1485 views)
well, you could remove the extensions/hardware and mount the shifters onto the pursuit bar if you wanted. People did that for a few years before aerobars really became "a thing."

Really though, assuming you can reach the drops/tops/hoods, you'll be much better off just putting some drop bars on it.
My Blog - http://leegoocrap.blogspot.com
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Re: Any Creative Ideas on Converting a Tri to Road Bike? [lakerfan] [ In reply to ]
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jroden
Jun 17, 19 7:04
Post #3 of 13 (1281 views)
You might be better off just buying yourself an affordable aluminum frame and transferring the useful parts over and selling the rest. Putting aero bars aren't you a bike with a time trial geometry won't work very well from a fit standpoint and you'll end up with a bike that's kind of overloaded on the front end and handles like crap.
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Re: Any Creative Ideas on Converting a Tri to Road Bike? [jroden] [ In reply to ]
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lakerfan
Jun 17, 19 8:16
Post #4 of 13 (1238 views)
jroden wrote:
You might be better off just buying yourself an affordable aluminum frame and transferring the useful parts over and selling the rest. Putting aero bars aren't you a bike with a time trial geometry won't work very well from a fit standpoint and you'll end up with a bike that's kind of overloaded on the front end and handles like crap.

Yeah, not an issue or concern with me at all. Of the 10s of thousands of miles I've ridden, 90% of them have been on a tri bike so I can't really relate to this concern at all. I've actually never understood how and why triathletes complain about tri bikes handling like crap since it always seemed like such an easy problem to solve, i.e., they should be riding their tri bike way more often.

To be honest, I'm probably more comfortable on a tri bike than a road bike (in similar positions).
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Re: Any Creative Ideas on Converting a Tri to Road Bike? [lakerfan] [ In reply to ]
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bloodyshogun
Jun 17, 19 8:26
Post #5 of 13 (1222 views)
Sorry to hear about your accident.


Do you have DI2 shifters on breake levers? Maybe just take of the aero extensions, slide the seat back to a normal road position, and make the bike this one https://www.tririg.com/...n_X_Light_Bike_Build ?
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Re: Any Creative Ideas on Converting a Tri to Road Bike? [jroden] [ In reply to ]
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Anton84
Jun 17, 19 9:10
Post #6 of 13 (1188 views)
jroden wrote:
You might be better off just buying yourself an affordable aluminum frame and transferring the useful parts over and selling the rest. Putting aero bars aren't you a bike with a time trial geometry won't work very well from a fit standpoint and you'll end up with a bike that's kind of overloaded on the front end and handles like crap.

+1. My exact experience with converting a tri bike to road bike. Even though I could kind of adjust my coordinates by slamming the seat back far enough, the bike felt twitchy as heck.
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Re: Any Creative Ideas on Converting a Tri to Road Bike? [bloodyshogun] [ In reply to ]
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lakerfan
Jun 17, 19 10:24
Post #7 of 13 (1148 views)
bloodyshogun wrote:
Sorry to hear about your accident.


Do you have DI2 shifters on breake levers? Maybe just take of the aero extensions, slide the seat back to a normal road position, and make the bike this one https://www.tririg.com/...n_X_Light_Bike_Build ?

Great, now I feel like an idiot as that seems to be a dead-simple and very logical solution. My only excuse is that I have single-button shifters so that option didn't necessary come to mind. I would just need to swap those for two-button ones.
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Re: Any Creative Ideas on Converting a Tri to Road Bike? [lakerfan] [ In reply to ]
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Tom_hampton
Jun 17, 19 10:40
Post #8 of 13 (1129 views)
Hey, Chris.

It was just a few days ago that I was wondering how your recovery was going. Sorry to hear that racing is off the table, but glad to hear that you can still ride.

Good luck!
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Re: Any Creative Ideas on Converting a Tri to Road Bike? [Tom_hampton] [ In reply to ]
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lakerfan
Jun 17, 19 11:48
Post #9 of 13 (1071 views)
Tom_hampton wrote:
Hey, Chris.

It was just a few days ago that I was wondering how your recovery was going. Sorry to hear that racing is off the table, but glad to hear that you can still ride.

Good luck!

Thanks, Tom!

I'm doing fine. It was more of a mental recovery than a physical one (aren't they all?). I still train to stay in shape but intensity and frequency are a bit different these days. Happy to be in the position I am as I've spoken to many others who are much worse off.

Thanks again, Chris
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Re: Any Creative Ideas on Converting a Tri to Road Bike? [lakerfan] [ In reply to ]
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Discus
Jun 17, 19 12:56
Post #10 of 13 (1028 views)
You could also configure the di2 to shift front chainring automatically and then you dont need different shifters..
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Re: Any Creative Ideas on Converting a Tri to Road Bike? [lakerfan] [ In reply to ]
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NordicSkier
Jun 17, 19 13:09
Post #11 of 13 (1014 views)
lakerfan wrote:
I'm just so tired of dumping more money into bikes which seems to get me so little in return.

Sorry to tell you... this isn't going to change.

Maybe take up golf? Golf clubs last a long time right?
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Re: Any Creative Ideas on Converting a Tri to Road Bike? [Discus] [ In reply to ]
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lakerfan
Jun 17, 19 13:41
Post #12 of 13 (982 views)
Discus wrote:
You could also configure the di2 to shift front chainring automatically and then you dont need different shifters..

So, along those lines, does full synchro shift actually work well?

This was my first bike with Di2 and got to ride it for a whole week and then I had my accident. Therefore, I have very little experience with Di2. I've heard others complain and say they prefer two-button shifters but everyone complains to a certain degree so I don't know how legit those complaints are.
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Re: Any Creative Ideas on Converting a Tri to Road Bike? [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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lakerfan
Jun 17, 19 13:44
Post #13 of 13 (980 views)
NordicSkier wrote:
lakerfan wrote:
I'm just so tired of dumping more money into bikes which seems to get me so little in return.


Sorry to tell you... this isn't going to change.

Maybe take up golf? Golf clubs last a long time right?

I'm sure you've seen the price of a typical green fee. That might actually be a more expensive sport than tri, which is really hard to believe.
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