One bicycle that bridges the gap between tri bike and road bike. A bike that can use aerobars but is also at home on a club ride.
This is the bike for the person doing their first tri and also doing the local charity ride. Up until now, the versions we have seen have left me pretty cold. They were huge compromises and the bikes were, well, i hate to admit this, but “dorky” looking.
Felt’s new 2006 T23 shows a lot of promise. It may not be the bike many people on this forum buy, but it may be the bike many people on this forum *recommend *to their entry level friends who come to them for bike advice.
It comes out of the box with Profile shorties, has a nice component kit (Ultegra 10) and a cool, nicely made Carbon/aluminum frame with aero carbon fork. Bonuses include Shimano wheels, carbon/aero seatpost (won’t make a guy faster but people like them) and a compact crank- which may be just the thing for someone at this level.
I wager we sell a lot of this bike this year. It is the bike most new athletes are looking for.
Looking at the road bikes, I like the look of the F55 - you seem to get a lot of bike for $2099. Felt seem to have a pretty competitive line up this year.
Here is a question I always ask when people talk about “entry-level”. Why should an entry level tri bike handle any differently than a “good”, “advanced”, choose-your-word tri bike. I had a couple of tri bikes before I bought my present Yaqui and frankly, I would have loved the Yaqui as a bike to start off on. It is totally stable, carves downhills like a surgeon and had all-day comfort even though I ride it at/about 83ish degrees.
Personally, I think the problem with many tri bikes stems from their poor handling qualities. A tri bike doesn’t need to be quick. In fact, when your object in most tri’s is to go as fast as you need in a straight line you don’t want it to jump around.
Why should an “entry level” bike have drop bars and shorties? Why not tri bars and bar ends? I don’t even ride my road bike anymore because I love the “never have to think about it” handling of my tri bike. If a tri bike is designed well then a new rider should be just as safe and comfortable riding bullhorns and regular aerobars as they are on drop bars with shorties.
What is wrong with rebuilding a classic road bike into a tri bike, with reversable seat post (or Profile Design Fast Forward) and a shorter stem ? Isn’t that a good compromise ? I ask this, because I am rebuilding mine right now…
I did exactly that but you can only go so far - problems I encounteed:
FF seat post and short stem - arms looked right with lots of 90deg angles but weight was so concentrated over the fornt wheel my handling bordered on dangerous.
FF seat post and back to original stem - still too stretched out.
Ongoing - headtube is just too tall to get low - add on som cheap aerobars and my forearms are so high that even with a seat which is drum roll too high my back’s a miliion miles from flat.
As I understand it most tri bikes, even the cheap ones, whould help with all of the above by generally having a lower front end allowing you to pivot your position forward while keeping your legs/chest angle the same. They also have a longer front/centre meaning handling while ‘forward’ is much improved
Prediction: Felt won’t have this bike or anything like it by 2008. 2 Grand for this bike is absurd. Duals and Kilos both go for less with a little Dura-Ace mixed in. Ultegra 10 on a tweener bike makes no sense.
I bet you could take an $80 Huffy Hybrid, put drop bars, POS aerobars, and slick tires on it. Market it as an entry level tri-bike for $300 and sell $10K worth of worthless junk bikes marketed to that consumer group in half the time it would take to sell one $2000 entry level road/tri bike. If it sold in Walmart or Target, it’d be a smash hit.
**That is the only price I am allowed to depict on an Internet forum according to Felt Management. **
How about sending me a PM, then?
The unofficial retail price would have to be quite a bit lower than MSRP to make this an attractive option, in my opinion. As someone else noted, you can get a Kilo or a Dual for significantly less than two grand.
Right now, the Kilo is looking pretty good to me- best of the '06 offerings, I think.
Tom,
My experience has been that it is very difficult for a person buying their first bike to spend $2k. Most want to spend $700 to $800.
I am not sure I see the wisdom in putting out an entry level bike with Ultegra.
Tom,
My experience has been that it is very difficult for a person buying their first bike to spend $2k. Most want to spend $700 to $800.
I am not sure I see the wisdom in putting out an entry level bike with Ultegra.
Is your experience different in the shop.
As an entry level triathlete I was appalled at what bikes cost. And yes I wanted to spend $500-$600 on a bike. However after much research and deliberation I coughed up the money for my Dual (2004) at that time I was going between the Cervelo offering of the One or the Dual, I decided I wanted a “Real” tribike and bought the Dual. If I had to do it over I would have Bought the Cervelo One which was my other choice. I am currently looking at road bikes because the Dual is not good for everything. BTW I love my Dual and am happy I have it. Hard to tell where this will go but I do think the pricepoint is way too high for an entry level bike
At $1,600 ± (my guesstimate) I think it provides a flexible alternative to the Dual. This is not a bike for the ultra-entry level athlete who might jump on the $999 Nytro package. But an Ultegra based first tri/road bike for $1600 doesn’t sound too bad to me.
