I am looking to build a time trial bike for less than $500. I don’t need wheels, and obviously intend to end up with an eclectic variety of used equipment. I used to ride a cervelo, it’s great, but i am at the point in my life where having that much invested in a freakin bike makes no sense to me, i’ll just pedal harder. I am looking for a forward geometry bike thatwill let me get relatively low, and i already have a great road bike.
Any suggestions for good websites, or equipment ideas? Everything has to be UCI legal, and obviously in good working order.
I train w/ a guy who bought the $55 frame you’ll see there and built it up. It’s his main training bike now. Funny thing is, he bought an SRM for it. Hilarious!
There’s a $160 tri-bike frame there now w/ a 78 degree seat tube angle.
I’ve got an old softride qualifier 700c that I might be willing to part with. Comes w/ frame, beam, forks, headset (needs to be repacked), BB, front downtube shifter.
Does the UCI define what seat tube angle you must have, or do they just measure the seat-BB distance? I can move the seat back when i race uci sanctioned races, for all the other itt and ttt’s that i do, i would prefer a more forward geometry. If not then i might just pick up a road frame and build it up with bullhorns and clip ons.
For $500 bucks or less, your best option ‘might’ be a Thomson layback seatpost (reversed) and saddle, a Look Ergostem (or a similar adjustable stem from Ritchey or ITM) and a pair of clipons.
Handling won’t be ideal, but its better than nothing
It will be impossible to get the nose of the seat 5 cm behind the bottom bracket on a 76-78 degree seat angle bike unless you’re about 12 feet tall.
I think you are barking up the right tree with a road frame. A Cervelo Soloist would work great for this application. Otherwise get a standard frame and if you want to ride steep in certain races swap in a forward seatpost (Corima, Profile, Nitto, backwards Thomson, etc.) for those races. It won’t handle great with the forward post, but it will be adequate. Good luck.
The p3 has a 76 degree seat post head in the reaward position, right?
Soloist would be great, but at that point i might as well keep the p2k, i think i may just sit on the idea a little longer, and wait to see how my tax refund comes out.
Oh well, i’m off for a weekend of racing, thanks all.
Push the seat all the way back on your P2K and see if you can get the seat 5 cm behind the BB. I doubt it will work but try and see.
You could also stick an M2 Seatshifter on there to get the seat farther back, but the chances are that the effective top tube length would then be too long.
I’m pretty sure CSC manages to do it :). I’ve raced the P2k in a few UCI restricted races, it really isn’t hard to get the seat back. Damn, that bike is starting to grow on me again. i don’t know, mabe i’ll end up keeping the damn thing.
Ben is right, all Cervelo models are UCI legal as long as they are set-up in the “laid-back” position. I am currently a coach at a well known company, and a few of my coworkers race these frames in UCI sanctioned races. I don’t mean to offend anyone, just want to make sure correct info is being passed around.
Dooh! You’re right. Truly, the P2K is a great frame and I would think long and hard before selling it. I know new bike lust can be hard to resist, but the only good reason to sell it would be if it doesn’t fit you.