I have a cyclist friend who'd been riding a TT bike frame, set up as a road bike. He's an excellent cyclist (not a triathlete). I'm not sure why he had the TT frame to begin with but it worked well for him.

Rode with him today on his new Affinity Road Bike -- his comment was he was amazed at how much better it handled.

I just bought a new bianchi road bike after a solid decade plus only riding my TT bike. Amazed at how much better it handles and climbs, but again it's a better, newer, more expensive bike overall. So it could just be that.

Anyway, my point is you can probably ride just fine by converting your TT to a road bike, but it might not handle as well as a road frame would. If it gets you riding more, I say do it.

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Sell it and buy a dedicated roadie

My road bike is a Kestrel Talon-X which has similar geometry to a TT bike. It handles well and I've done 70+ mile rides on it. Maybe you can compare frame geometry of TT bikes compared to some of the newer aero road bikes and see if there are any major differences.

The Talon is actually a pretty conventional road geometry, and will fit and handle like a conventional road bike. Most TT/tri bikes have a longer reach and front-center, lower stack, and shorter chainstays than the Talon...

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As mentioned, you can do it from a practical standpoint (i.e. you can put on a drop bar and brifters, and shift the saddle position) but the result will be a bike where the geometry and weight balance are off (so the bike will corner and handle poorly...slack headtube angle, rider weight too far forward). It will also generally be heavier than a road frame.


Rideable? Yes. Anywhere near ideal? No.

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I recently did this to my now retired TT bike. It’s not my daily driver and definitely slammed but not uncomfortable either. It’s fun to rip around on and feels quick. I’ve grabbed a few Strava PRs on it.

I just converted my Planet X Stealth into a road bike and I do enjoy riding it. It only has a 76 degree seat angle so that isn't a huge issue, my main concern is the lower stack height and shorter top tube.

Edit: I guess the one thing you could do is see if your LBS would do a bike fit and let you know if it could work. I would just bring a set of brifters and use the handlebars/ stem they would have for bike fits.

I converted 2 Cervelos P2C frames (pre 2015, 51cm, 160mm stem, 35/39 cm handle bar) and recently a Cervelo P3C (2019 frame, 51cm, 140mm stem, 38cm handle bar) into road bikes.

Although these bikes are somehow extreme all handle nice, my wife and I use them for criterium and road racing! Cornering is nice, not nervous like many dedicated criterium bikes, more stable, I like it. With light rime brake wheels, weights are 7.1 – 7.3 kg race ready, thus not heavier than these brand new super can all do road bikes but for halve the price.

One, maybe big drawback, the bikes are not comfortable, much load on the arms. I wouldn’t use it for a race that takes longer than say 3 hours. But my wife has no problems to go for a century with hers. If you are uncomfortable in TT position on a TT bike I suspect, you will be uncomfortable when you convert it to a road bike.

Those are some long stems, don't think I've ever seen 160mm. I imagine that has to have negative impact on steering.

No

Planet X stealth has the front end geometry of a road bike. I bought one to ride as a road bike some years ago.

I converted my Cervelo Dual (yeah that old) into a road bike by simply reversing the seat post, adding drops (and raising them). It's amazing how much easier it is to ride drops, and real brake hoods. As far as is a road bike easier, I think the real answer is that a road bike position is easier. This is assuming you don't intend to race or impress anyone...:0).

Yes, absolutely it will work. I know because I have ridden and trained extensively on several tri bikes this way, and even did very well in some olympic distance races with such set ups. The bikes ride great on both flat and technical courses. Heck, Cervelo used their P-series carbon tri frame with little modification as a track bike, so handling is great.) Tri frame geometry is stable and very predicable especially if you keep your body's fore-aft position moderate (i.e., forward but not extremely forward, but also not extremely rearward). The only caveat might be if your existing TT bike is sized very small (relative to your body size), then getting such a set up might mean a very big saddle-to-handlebar drop (or a lot of steering tube spacers).

But many riders have used similar set ups quite successfully, even professionals that have won difficult and prestigious triathlons.

If it helps, there is a short write up here about the how/why such set ups might be good for certain riders:
https://www.darkspeedworks.com/blog-triathlonbike.htm

And we have a bike gallery of drop bar tri and TT bike set ups here:
https://www.facebook.com/...mp;ref=page_internal

Give it a try and report back ...

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Genuine question: what makes the front end geometry different on a road and tri bike? Only difference between my PR5 and Stealth is the head tube length/ stack. I just assumed that was due to the trend of higher stack in modern bikes.

I thought about doing this with my cervelo P2 and I’m glad I didn’t. I bought a used trek Domane and the ride is way less harsh on the road bike. I imagine a tri bike would serve just fine if you changed it over to a road bike, but I don’t think you’ll get the true road bike experience from it. Different tools in the toolbox, it’s nice to have a proper tool for the job.

A road bike will have 55 to 59mm of trail which makes the bike react quickly and predictably to steering input. That is useful while riding in groups, taking corners and descending mountains where you often need to transition from right to left (or left to right)

A tri bike will have 59+mm of trail which will make the bike easier to ride in a straight line which is good for riding solo for long periods and on courses that have many long straight legs. I've seen some tri bikes with 68mm of trail which makes them go really straight and resist turning but most newer bikes I've investigated are nearer 60mm. To me, too much trail also makes a bike dive in a middle of a tight turn which may be why some people say it's difficult to make a tight 180 degree turn on a tri bike.

Trail is a combination of head tube angle and fork rake. Steeper head tube angle and/or more fork rake = less trail. Slacker head tube and/or less fork rake = more trail. It's a delicate balance that affects the character of a bike.

Edit: Wheelbase, front/center and chainstay length make a bike handle different as well

Just to contribute a little to what others have been saying, I rode a TT frame as a road bike almost exclusively until recently. (2009-2017) It was pretty fun, I even won a couple of P1-2 races around AZ on a converted Speed Concept, at the time it felt like cheating. Most recently, I've used a Scott Plasma 20 which worked fairly well and had a shorter top tube and longer head tube, for a triathlon bike, which helped. The reason I've stopped is because the integrated nature of the newer "cool" bikes makes a road conversion difficult, and also in general aero road bikes have gotten SO aero that I believe most of the advantage is gone. When I rode the new Madone at the end of 2016 I realized it was probably a better bike for almost all the mass-start racing out there, prior to that I felt a TT conversion was faster for me in all but a very hilly road race. Road bikes do handle significantly better, and are lighter. Also, with the speed concept and Shimano pedals I easily clipped a pedal a few times in criteriums, when I didn't think I normally would, you have to be careful with those low bottom brackets. (I think Cervelo P-series have fairly high bottom brackets in comparison) After having done it a lot, I really do appreciate the handling of a good modern road bike. You aren't really going to beat a S Venge Disc or a Cervelo S5 disc overall IMHO. 8 years ago, riding 29mph in a breakaway, I bet a speed concept with aero drop bars and 808's, might save 40 watts over a conventional setup Madone at that time.

I'm not aware of any standard road bikes with front ends that long and low. The S has a 386mm reach, that's getting into 54-56cm territory on a road bike. And those road bikes would have a stack at least several cm taller than 497mm. The 405mm reach on the M is right up there with most 60-62cm road frames. In order to get an M to fit like my current 54cm road bike, I'd need about 80mm of spacers and a 10mm shorter stem (but I'd also never be able to move the saddle back far enough)...

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I was referring to the angle of the head tube and fork rake and not stack and reach

Edit: stack and reach is about sizing where head tube angles and fork rake is about handling

Thanks for the response. Your explanation, plus the other geometry differences towards the back of the bike, does make sense in my experience. First thing I noticed on my PR5 was how it just wanted to go straight vs the Stealth.

But there isn't really a "road" offset/angle and a "tri" offset/angle. There have been quite a few tri/TT bikes with trail in the mid to high 50s, and plenty of road bikes with trail in the low 60s. My current road bike has 61mm of trail, my tri bike has 60mm. A few years ago, a 54cm Cannondale Synapse had higher trail than a 54cm Cervelo P2. What makes a tri bike a tri bike isn't just the trail, its everything else as well: a geometry that allows for a good aero position, and a geometry that properly distributes the rider's weight when in that position. The longer reach, which is a major factor in the fit aspect, also contributes to the weight distribution, because it dictates a longer front-center (although I guess one could argue about which is the chicken or the egg).

On my current bikes, the bike with the lower trail and shorter wheelbase (tri) is also the more stable bike. If I were to set up my road bike so that the fit was identical to my tri bike, it would be even less stable. And if I set up the tri bike to match my road position, the handling would be really poor. If you're only looking at trail, you'd think the opposite...

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Thank's Mate!

Your experiences run counter to mine and what I've read about the subject. Perhaps there's another element I/we've overlooked.

I'm not going to comment on Stack/Reach because that's a matter of fit and choosing to convert a tri bike to a road bike that doesn't fit doesn't make any sense.

I have ridden many road bikes with 60+mm of trail and they all steer like a truck. It's very common in small road bikes for manufactures to kick out the head tube to increase the front/center and it ruins the handling so I have a lot of experience finding combinations that work. The road bikes that have trail under 60 all ride responsively.

I have also ridden and owned tri bikes that have more and less trail.

47 Felt DA 65mm - very straight and stable
48 Felt S32 68mm - very straight and stable
48 Felt IA 60mm - quick handling but not as twitchy as the NP2
Cervelo P2 59mm - very quick handling
Cervelo NP2 59mm - quicker than the old P2
Planet X Stealth XS 56mm - way to twitchy for me for a tri bike but good for road

Road Bikes
Orbea Diva 57mm - very responsive
Trek 2200 58mm - very responsive
Cannondale R800 56mm - quickest steering I've had
Felt F5 48 59mm - OK but not as quick handling as the Orbea in the Georgia Mountains.

I've tried with no luck several Specialized and Scott road bikes. They work really well in the 51-52 cm sizes where the trail is 58ish but go to a small and the trail is 68 and they don't work well.