As I continue to design my new bike, am thinking about where our sport is going. I really would like to some some DL races, but really do not want have to buy 2 bikes.
(Stanford has a DL sprint Triathlon on Saturday, and no aero bars are allowed).
So thinking about some thoughts from DarkSpeedWorks as shown below.
"How about a tri bike with road drop bars (and clip-ons, if desired)?
Both “road” and “tri” bikes have their own advantages. A road bike has the brakes and shifters in easy reach, the drop bars have lots of hand position options, the bike will be welcome at group rides, it’s far faster (and safer) for technical descending and cornering, it’s more versatile for utility riding like navigating traffic, trips to the store, commuting, etc. But a tri bike can be faster in TT efforts and the frame is more aero (important qualities for a tri race bike), a tri bike allows you to get in a better body position for generating good power while maintaining a low and aero position, it is often more comfortable for riding on aerobars (if fit correctly), etc.
But the way to get much of the best of both worlds (and save you money from buying extra bikes) is a tri bike, but one fitted with road drop bars and (well-designed, well-fitted) clip-on aerobars. In many ways, it is the true multisport bike because it makes for an aero tri bike that is equally fast on super fast descents as it is on pancake-flat time trial courses.
It also give you options as you enter different events, progress in skill and experience, or change in your tastes: (1) keep the drop bars and clip-ons on the bike and use it that way for your training and/or multisport racing. Or, (2) keep the drop bars on the bike, take the clip-ons off, and use it for road riding if your triathlon passion morphs more to a bike riding/bke racing passion (nearly all tri frames, with a few small position tweaks, can–and do–function perfectly well as ‘road bike’ frames). Or, (3) switch out the drop bars and clip-ons for full aerobars if you want fully maximize your aero advantage on flat courses.
For a bunch of reasons, a well-designed tri bike typically does a way better job as a road bike, than does a road bike set up as a tri bike. If it helps, for a visual, here are a few photos of tri bikes set up with drop bars (on one of our fb albums):
http://goo.gl/MhJS4o
You might be a good candidate for the tri bike with drop bar solution. When set up right, it rides flawlessly, it’s super versatile, and it’s fast. And it has worked great for us."
Since I am looking at a Cervelo P3 Di2, one of his pictures is a P3 with drop bars and road controls.
Giving more thought to a setup with drop bars. Since I would like to consider doing a DL Triathlon, and Stanford has one on Saturday, I really do not want two bikes.
I really think I am going to get Di2. Everyone just loves it. I have had mechanical cables snap also. I little more risk but it does seem to make your solution even one step better.
With Drop bars and clip on aero bars, one can have the Di2 switches at the end of the TT bars. Then if you need to take off for a DL race, you just unplug the switches and no
cables to deal with. Also, if one uses road Di2 shifter/brake on the drops, one can shift easily if one hands are cold and cannot push the buttons easily or have gloves on.
Since I really only do Oly tri distance, and most have many hills as you know having lived here, I am up a lot of the time anyways either climbing or flying down windy hills.
So, how much of a negative would this be with not as much an aero base bar?
I also like that the Di2 base bar control has a second input in them so if I wanted to had sprinter Di2 buttons, I already would have the ports.
An example of a bike made this way, and this may be one Tim Deboom rode?
