You don't have to spend a lot of money on a bike to do triathlon and have fun. My first two years were on an old 12 sp and by the time I was finished with it, the old bike could do 95% of what any new bike can do.

Suntour would be the old friction shifting system. I actually liked them. They are not compatible with today's components so you would have to replace them completely, but why bother. They are not as modern as todays' STI or even a downtube index system but they had a couple of advantages. 1) easy to repair 2) you can drop down or up a few chainrings at a time instead of having to click thru each gear individually.

I would recommend moving the position of the downtube shifters. Kelly Bike Company makes a "take off" braket that places the shifters near the brakes. I can shift almost as well with these as a modern STI system. Another option is that Profile makes a mount for some of their aero bars which allows you to move the downtube shifters on to the aerobars. Do a google search on the net for these products and you'll find them.

If this is a 12 sp, you can make it into a 14 sp very easily by replacing the 6 sp freewheel with a 7 sp. Suntour, Shimano or Sachs are all compatible. All kinds of them can be found cheaply on ebay.

You can pick up a used front aero wheel on ebay. To have a cheap rear disc follow ebay for a set of CHaero disc covers. John Cobb tested disc covers and found the problem was that they didn't seal well enough at the rim of the wheel, thus letting air in behind the disc. The dollar solution that he never tried is to use black electrical tape around the outer circumference of the rim. Let it adhere just to the rim edge and not interfere with the brake pad. Problem solved and if done right this will easily last the duration of the race. Sure it's heavier than a new Zipp disc but it likely will cost you only about thirty bucks instead of a grand.

Get clipless pedals and shoes. An absolute must.

I would recommend keeping the road geometry rather than trying to fiddle with a forward seat post on an old steel bike.

For aero bars Profile and Syntace both make a good selection. Lots of good used ones on ebay.

Remember that it's mostly the engine. Also it's a lot of fun doing up an old bike and then beating guys on brand new expensive tri bikes. My first tri bike as described cost me a few hundred dollars. If you then fall in love with triathlon, after a couple of years do what I did and then spend big money on bikes. But be ready for the shock when you find your new bikes aren't a whole lot faster than that old clunker!!

Just to add to the previous info. These are two methods of moving the downtube shifters to a more tri friendly position. The urls for the Kelly "take off's" or the Profile "swift shifters" are here:

http://www.profile-design.com/...ries_swiftshift.html

http://wwwkellybike.com/2nd_xtra_takeoff.html

good to know. Thanks.


RoadTri Geometry: Hmmmm... Is this gut feeling or experience? It seems easy to modify, just time consuming to "dial-in".



What are you calling "old clunker"! It has at most 15 miles on it. That sucker (after the clean and lube i gave it) looks like it came off the showroom floor! It's hilarious though. The color scheme looks like it would fit into one of those 80's teen movies (Brat Pack - esque).

Thanks again for the thoughts cerveloguy.

There are some problems with trying to convert a road geometry to a tri one. Road bikes are designed around about 73-74 degree seatpost while tri bikes are around 78 degrees. Read Dan Emfield's articles about this in the Slowtwitch bike section.

With my old steel bike, I ran something very similiar to the "big slam" position. This was described by John Cobb to mimic the riding position of some of the Euro pros. Essentially, jam the seat right back, lower an inch below normal, slightly shorter stem and shorter "big slam" aero bars (identical to the Profile Jammer GT bars). This is described on this url. Read the three articles in the technical section and then another about this on Dave's Page.

http://www.bicyclesports.com/...robars/slambars.html

My next bike was a Giant TCR. The compact frame leads itself better to a forward rider conversion than most road bikes IMO. I used a Profile forward post that put me at about 78 degrees. This was very unsatisfactory as it was too much weight in the front making the bike wobbly in strong winds or high speed descents. However, this bike works really well at 75-76 degrees, which incidently, some people feel is the best for producing power. At first I just jammed the seat right back on the forward post or moved it right forward on the normal post. Recently I purchased a new on the market M2 Racer Power Module seat shifter. This seems like a better solution as it allows a variable seat position, even allowing to shift on the fly. Can't wait until the snow melts and I can test it out. For some tri courses this bike will still likely be my weapon of choice.

Now I also have Cervelo P2K as a dedicated tri bike in the tri riding position. I know one guy who also has one and runs it as a road bike at about 74 degrees with drop bars. Makes no sense to me.

You just might be in luck. I think that I've got a fair amount of older Shimano 7 speed components. I know that I've got a freewheel or two, possibly a derailler and bar end shifters. I also have an old J-disc that is made for a 7 speed freewheel (with an american classic hub) as well as a pair of Sun tubular rims laced to American Classic hubs that will work with a freewheel. The wheels are a 24 spoke front and a 28 spoke rear with wheelsmith bladed spokes. It might take a little bit to scrounge the parts together, but you can definitely walk away very inexpensively with some retro gear in good shape.

Post here or send an email (jbmarshtx@hotmail.com).

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Brandon Marsh - Website | @BrandonMarshTX | RokaSports | 1stEndurance | ATC Bikeshop |

My first bike in 1990 was a Centurian Ironman Expert (with a Dave Scott signature on the top tube .... did he ever ride this bike?). It came with Suntour GPX components and I managed to find grip shifters that worked on it. I still ride it as my indoor bike and foul weather bike. I always found that the components adjusted pretty much the same way as my Shimano on my newer bike? If not, try taking it to a bike shop for a tune up and they can probably fine tune the shifting for you and not charge too much.

burns. you have lucked intoa very nice deal. the club fuji from back then was the prototypical "budget racer" - a bike that was inexpensive and down a couple clicks on the swank-o-meter from the derosa's and rossin's and whathaveyou of the day but in truth gave little or nothing to them in quality performance. if your suntour stuff is index/friction i would suggest just popping it into friction. early suntour "accushift" stuff required a chain with a more laterally flexible side to side character, and even new bikes often lacked the correct chain - you cannot get one now for the most part. if you leave it in index it will work ok, but will make noise and chatter - will not snap into gears under power like bikes do nowadays ( no ramps and such on the cogs) - and generally drive you nuts in comparison to modern stuff. in friction it is all good, as suntour power-ratchet friction shifting was the best ever made. i would resist the tempation to go after cheap trick 7 spd stuff for that rig - exotic trick stuff from 20 years ago is the very definition of throwing good money after bad. enjoy that old classic as you found it. if you must do SOMETHING to it put some PC's on it, or turn it into a fixed gear.