I think there is nothing which hasnt brought up about a cervelo, but has anybody used a bike trailer (like the BOB)
with it?
planning to do a 10 day tour in the alps and since It is ironman training feel like to use my cervelo.
trailer would be used for power work going up and down in the alps
my thinking is if you can use it in a turbo trainer than you should be able to use a trailer with it.
If I cant than its not a good bike;-)
any advise??? can the bike take it or not? the trailer would be 8kg (16 lb) and luagage depending on food about 10-13kg 20-27Lb)
peter
ps 4.47(bikes name) has about 55000 K on her, if that should influences your advise
This is a novel idea but my primary concern would be handling on descents. Iād *guess *the bike is durable enough for this, but it certainly was not *designed *with this use in mind.
Honestly, I wouldnāt recommend this for a culmination of reasonsā¦ Novel thinking though.
Iāve pulled my BOB around for many thousands of miles and never had the urge to hook it up to my tri bike. Descending and braking would be interesting.
At between 40 and 45mph, my BOB seems to sway a little just to remind me itās back there, but above 50mph the swaying goes away(or maybe the pucker factor and cheek clenching stabilizes the trailer), so descend at high speeds. This may or may not be helped with the appropriate custom Zipp disc with dimples for the BOB.
Iāve towed a few different BOBs all overā¦ paved and not. Sure itāll work. A few curiosities to note, though:
the skewer attachment needs to be 100% secure, as itāll be pulling 180* from the chain, i.e., trying to yank your rear wheel out of the dropout if something hangs up.
youāll miss not having the clearance for a full fender, as your rear wheel will spew shit all over your trailer/gear
biggest hassle w/ the BOB is parking; once itās rolling, you barely even notice it except for the weight when climbing, but when stopped it can be a bitch to get it to heel. Broke a RD off once when it tipped over and jackknifed as the rear wheel slid out on a soft shoulder. Iād imagine it could be worse for a lighter bike as thereās less mass to counter the tipping weight of the trailer.
Rolling around on the road dragging your trailer is very different to hooking it up to your trainer.There will be way more stress placed on your frame(especially your chainstays) and my concern would be your frame breaking.It may work but that is not what p3ās were designed to do.Go buy yourself a really cheap steel bike and use that.
P.S. For what itās worth Iāve done alot of trailer dragging in recent years and am one month away from starting my unending world tour.
tom,
It looks to me I will be the first guy who will get a cervelo P5 then which is designed for trailer.
Anybody who would want to improve it ironamn splits would want one!
honestly, is any bike designed for a trailer ;-0
in the good old days of softride you could fix a camping matrace and sleeping bag under/behind the beam hang a few things under the tri bar and off you went for a few days.
I guess if I would think a bit the same could be done with the P3 ā¦
thanks for that. Iam honest I have only kind of tested the trailer of a cyclist I met while cycling in patagonia.
I want to train cycling uphill and I could life with the fact if I could only go up the 40 miles upill .
but yes you make a good point the brakes on the p3 are ā¦well we know its not designed to break.
its not supposed to rain on this trip ā¦
I always read how stiff the P3 isā¦
yes the parking and inmobility was always a counter argument for a trailer.
p
Now I find that very hard to believe that if you do a 30 sec sprint on a turbo trainer , that there would be less stress on the bike than with a trailer.
Is anybody qualifyed to give me answer for this.
the reason I want to use the tri bike is that I want to train on my race position
and I have not found a bike to travel with which would get me into a 79 degree seat angle;-)
Dan would you know one?
Iam planning to go Cycling/training 3 month in South america and finish the trip off with the half IM in pucon. so a tri specific travel bike (and as you say CHEAP steel) is what Iam looking for.
any way Urtlra guy good luck for your trip and thanks to the other poster .
It seems like I will give it a miss with the trailer as I have not enough time to test for this trip
The riding along in a straight line isnāt the problem with a trailer.It is the slowing and stopping.It is the manouvering around objects after you have been run off the road for the thousandth time that day.It is the trying to keep the bike upright on a soft verge when the weight of your trailer is trying to lay you down.It is jacknifing your trailer.It is the hours of stress on the stays every day as the trailer shifts during the daily ride.Those and more are some of the reasons that I have seen broken bikes in campsites,hostels and on the side of the road in Argentina,Bolivia,USA,Canada,Australia,New Zealand and Thailand.
In some parts of Argentina there was no shoulder and the road was about 3 inches above the verge.Each time a truck went past I had to swerve and many times, while my bike stayed on the road, the trailer swung wide and ran off the road dropping the three inches.Man I could feel it pulling me to the right really hard and it was always tricky to get it back on the road again.
Personally I would take a bike to Sth America that was very sturdy and could be ridden on gravel,cobbles,over potholes and all that sort of stuff.Resign yourself to the fact that the Pucon 70.3 is just a bit of fun at the end of the trip.It will be the trip itself that is the highlight and you will be mad at yourself if you canāt see stuff 'cause you took a bike that couldnāt handle the terrain.
There are bikes designed for touring and the stress that comes with the travelling that way.
thanks for your post ultra tri guy.
I did not want to start a threat about the pros and cons of a trailer for traveling.
as there is enough people who love to travel with them and thats good enough for me.
Ps I have seen many broken bikes at triathlons, without a trailer on
Anyway i have decided to use my usual travel bike for italy and austria.
and egerly await the P4 trailer version
the One thing I can promise you since you brought it up, is that you can actually race somewhat seriously after a trip like this, I have done a top 12ironman result after an 8 month bike trip trough australia ,and a 8.52h challanger after 6 month trip in europe, this way. Ironman is about strenght and power and that is something it develops;-)
I have been 2.5 years cycling and south america and want to use it more as a refresher, where I enjoy training. Pucon would be not just fun as I would like to get a top 10 place.
Iam pretty confident with a tri geometric bike position (and unfortunately i like to ride very steep) I could shave off another 5-7 min off my bike and RUN combination ;-).besides I feel more confortable on my tri bike than any other bike I have ridden, and confort is something nice.
In arizona I had 7 days to get used to a tri bike borrowed by a guy who offered it to me after the first swim session we did togehter, and I guess we agree that is not very beneficial.
besides confort;-) thats the reason why I want a tri specific bike, and before I buy a koga I would rather built a custom made steel frame. to be able to ride 79 degree and use a Mtb handlebar (for the hard stuff) and a tri bar.
I
Pucon would be a B race so not just fun.
of course , to race proper you need a 8-12 week period before an IM where you get in proper swim and interval training, but as a base training I can tell you as a coach, its pretty good stuff, and nobody will be in top shape for pucon .
to put numbers to it ,I had one female athlete who improved from 5.07h to 4,19h at the lisboa half ironman in 12 month , apart from other training, she did a 12 week solo bike trip in India. she had a 7 week block of āproper conventionalā training after the tour and she finished top 8 in every international race she raced that year and apart from the 12 weeks in India she was working full time.
