Howdy, I am in the market for a new road bike, and I am thinking about getting a Cervelo S1. This season I am planning to do several sprints and olympic distance races, and one HIM race, and looking to do IMCDA in 2010. Of course, I would like to get a specialized tri/tt bike, but between my mountain bike, commuter, and road bike, the thought of adding another bike is unappealing.
So, I am wondering: on paper Cervelo advertises the dual-frame geometry of being able to very easily swap into a TT/Tri geometry. How well does this work out in the real-world, especially in the longer HIM and IM distances? Is it a step up from just bolting on aerobars on a regular road geometry, but not quite a TT bike? Looking for opinions and experiences if anyone has them. I am not the fastest rider out there by any stretch, and am not looking to shave off a few seconds-per-km by comparing the aero benefits of one frame over another, but am curious about the comfort and benefits of being in the more forward TT posistion with this frames dual-geometry feature. I notice that I do feel a little “cramped” on my current road bike when I use the clip-on aerobars, like my legs and knees are coming too close to my stomach with too accute of an angle at my hips,
I have had a solist for a year now and am very happy with it from both a road and tri perspective. I slapped on a pair of Syntace C-2s flipped the seat post and road to best ever bike splits in both 1/2 and full Im races last year. It is a reasonably comfortable, super responsive bike, and the price is hard to beat.
I’ve had a soloist carbon for the past few years and use it only for tri’s. Given my small apartment, I couldn’t get 2 bikes and I find this is PLENTY of bike. I used to have a tri bike (Aegis trident) and a road bike, but found I was only riding my tri bike. Recently, I rotated the seat post and I have to admit that it doesn’t feel exactlyl like my old tri bike, but close enough for someone that isn’t that fast (me). I’ve done a HIM w/ the bike and noticed other w/ the same bike w/ a full aerobar setup. I keep my road bars, rotate the seat post, and slap on aerobars…feels great.
The S1/Soloist Team will make a great bike to use for both road riding and tris. With the seatpost head flipped forward and the saddle pushed forward on the rails you can get to about 76 degrees. That won’t be quite as steep as some tri bikes.
We had a customer on the Soloist Team in teh forward position with aerobars who was 7th fastest at IM Arizona a few years ago. He biked 5:15 so you won’t be limited too much by the bike.
You might want to consider some aerobars with a low pad height so that you can get a little lower.
