My personal opinion is to buy and train and race on a tri bike if you are only racing triathlons. I have been racing triathlons for 15 seasons and have never owned a road bike. I am curious why you would get a bike for this year to do 6 1/2 IM races and then another for the 2 IM races the year after. If you get the right bike this year then you won't need another one.

Thanks for the feedback. To answer your question, because I simply love the toys! I have a somewhat smaller budget this year than I would want to spend on a bike set for IMs, must have a new bike this year, and I know I'll be dying to get a new one next year. :)

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"...it should be swim, bike, run, cage fight." - el fuser
"I noticed that I am in your sig line! Wow! That's s first for me. Thanks." - Fleck

Your Cannondale is a bird in the hand. Keep it, and get the tri bike this season. Then you're set for races this season and next season.

Hard to go wrong with a Cervelo, or even the Cannondale Ironman tri bike.

If you want to go upmarket a bit, I highly recommend a Yaqui - it's a bit more 'spensive, but Ves makes a great bike, even in the stock sizes. Plus you can call him and he'll help you spec it out the way you want it, for as cheap as possible. One word of advice: do what he recommends. He's been right every time for me and my training partners (we are the unsanctioned "Team Yaqui"). www.yaquiusa.com

If you shop on your own, and find yourself between two sizes, I would go with the smaller frame. It will be more rigid, and easier to set up with a more vertical seat tube angle, which you may be interested in as you progress through the season.

Lastly, if you're doing so many races, train solely on the tri bike, and stay low. It's hard to race in the aero bars if you don't train in them. Train like you race.

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

Thanks for the advice. About the hills here though - is a tri-bike really all that bad for hill training?

Tilden

Tilden,

Just get a Cervelo like me and P3BL and you can ride with us all winter. ;-)

(And, Justin has hooked us up with a discount on them.)

clm

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Tilden, el guapo knows of what he speaks! You already have a road bike...why two? Ves Mandaric really knows his triathlon geometry and materials...he makes wonderful bikes. To answer your next question; No, Triathlon bikes don't have to be slugs going uphill. If it's built right, you can stay in an aero (or at least semi-aero) position and continue on up the hill in a similar fashion to how you ride on the flats. If you have the right saddle, you might even be comfortable scooting back on the saddle a bit and changing your hand position on the handlebars to generate a bit more power when going uphill since aerodynamics don't matter so much at low speeds.

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

Okay, the results are in and the new bike has been ordered! Thank you all for your help. I talked to a bunch of people and the split was slightly in favor of the tri bike, but my coach still said road. So in the quandry I went to my neighborhhod tri store (Transition Sports in Okaland - I am not affiliated, just like the shop!).

I gave them my sad story and they had quite the solution: the Kestrel Talon. The seat post modifies to both seat angles, I use clip ons till the season gets really busy then go over to bars/horns. SHould be pretty sweet. The bike feels like it weighs 2 ounces while riding yet feels solid.

So, there you go! Thanks again for the help!

Tilden