If you really want to do decently in triathlon, you want to have a frame and cockpit that is tri focused. It puts you in a more aero position and in a better position to run well.

That said, you can do pretty well on an aero road bike with some clip-on aero bars and 60-90 deep wheels. Many bikes today have the capability to fit wider tires, and some of the aero road bikes can fit 32-35's, so you could even do some tame gravel riding.

The Ridley Kanzo Fast is a bike I'd consider if I was a bit into gravel riding, but wanted only one bike that could also be used on the road, and then add some clip-on bars for the odd tri.

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I have a draft email for this exact reason! will copy/paste my current idea:

Frame: Scott Plasma RC TT M/54 (28mm tires max)
Road Handlebar/Stem: 37.5mm AeroCoach Ornix handlebars, 120mm THM stem
Aerobar: Uniquo Custom (rudy's, vincent's) with 4cm additional pad reach/x provided by the custom bar
Road/training Wheels: Syncros Capital SL 40mm, 25mm ID 1,170g
Tri Wheels: Revolver Troika Max 3spoke front and Revolver Assym Turbulate disc rear
Seatposts: two Scott stock seatposts. 20mm Setback road post with Wove Mags saddle, 0mm setback tt/tri post with Wove V8 saddle
Shifting: Sram Red XPLR shifters, rear derailleur, 10-44 Red cassette
Crank: 175mm 3T Torno crankset with 54t chainring made by Digirit
Powermeter: Speedplay powermeter pedals
Brakes: Hope RX4+ brake calipers, Revolver AEROTO rotors


This set up is unique in that the road set up will have a steep sta, long stem, low stack.
The Tri set up is also very far forward with the Uniquo Custom bar allowing for a much further forward pad reach/x.
Would want to use quick connect hydraulic lines and would have to find a way to make that pretty easy and painless for quick handlebar changes.

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wovebike.com | Wove on instagram

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...er_aerobar_P8023918/

Ironman,Ultra's,Bikepacking,commute,grocery shopping,etc,etc,etc....
Almost any decent bike can do it with some imagination and the ability to ignore the smart-ass comments on the road.

I did IM whistler on a cervelo S2 with clip ons. Barely used the clip ons as the position was, well, shit.

It's really not that big of a deal. I beat a lot of people on super expensive tri set ups, and got beat by others. You're just out there against yourself.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

I recently did a 70.3 on a road bike with ITU style shorties because I wanted to enjoy the course rather than race it.
I had some mechanical issues and lost some 10-15 minutes and found myself more backwards than I normally am. I've eventually found myself passing lots of people on top of the line triathlon bikes, many of them weren't even using their aerobars most of the time.

ITU style shorties make it easier to keep your road bike position and have some aero benefit on the bars without having a big and heavy setup that is going to be an aero penalty when not being used.

Using proper clip on aerobars comes with a few problems to be solved. The main one is that to get the best aero position you typically need to get your body more forward hence you'll be giving up a good road bike position. And if you want to transition between the two positions it requires a lot of work.
It is obviously an option to have clip on aerobars but keep your road position. You just need to make sure you can hold the aero position and that it isn't stretching your back too much. If it isn't comfortable, the shorties might work better.
Another concern is that integrated handlebar stem combos (or cockpit style handlebar) don't necessarily allow installing clipons. Some brands have their own system for that use case but then you're limited to what you're chosen brand provides

On the other hand, with the current trend of higher, long reach positions I'm starting to think that a good fast triathlon position on a road bike should be possible without compromising too much.

My thirty five year old miyata 912? I bought from somebody who did ironman on it the late 1990s. I used it as a tri bike and to bike around Toronto go to school etc .

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Search the site for Cervelo P2 road bike conversion (I think? Maybe Desert Dude wrote it?). That with aero bars and you're probably all set.

Apparently can also be done with a P3 and raced in crits:

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As I understand it, you’ve got two main issues, assuming we ignore the actual aerodynamics of whatever bike you pick: getting your seat tube angle steep enough, and getting a front end with a stack low enough.

I bought a 2012 Venge about five years ago with the intention of using it for road training or Oly distance races. I planned to swap out the S-Works aerofly bar for something like a Zipp service course bar, and use under-mount Vuka clip-ons - the stack on these is 37mm (above the mount) so they’re about as low as anything I could ever find. I wasn’t too worried about shifting in the extensions. I never ended up doing it but it always seemed like a decent compromise to me.

If you look at Vision’s new MAS bars, I think it’s the 4D road bar that has very low-profile extensions that are removable, so if you’re not needing them you just unbolt them, super clean.

Canyon also used to have a clip on for the aeroad but I think they stopped making them. I think you could do a lot worse than that bike, in terms of all-around capabilities.

This is why I suggest above to use a TT frame. I list a THM stem and I'd actually run it +6 degrees for a tad more stack, and I'd prefer to run a steeper seat tube angle anyways.

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wovebike.com | Wove on instagram

Tarmac SL7 or SL8 with a TriRig AlphaOne bar and SRAM AXS. With the wireless shifting, it's easy to just add or remove the monopost (with the extensions attached) in 2 minutes. Easy to use super aero deep rims for a triathlon, or the frame has the clearance to use wider tires for offroad.

Personally, my "one bike quiver" is my Dean titanium gravel bike but that is not used for triathlon racing. It is, however, useful for any type of recreational riding as well as road racing if I switch the wheels out.

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Thats freaking awesome!