I have the opportunity to get a BMC TM02 frameset (in my size) at a pretty good price. I have been toying with the idea of building an aero road bike. I have a 2014 Trek Speed Concept 9-Series so I don’t need another tri bike. I have been looking at the new Cervelo S3, Felt AR, Spec Venge, etc.
Just thinking through building an aero road bike with a TT frame. I would build it up with Ultegra Di2 components and I’d have to do some homework on a bar/stem combo. Any pitfalls converting a TT bike to a roadie?
You should buy my S Works Transition with Di2 - I’ve already done the same thing. Drop bars with Di2 brifters and the R671 bar ends on PD carbon stryke aerobars.
My first ride had way too much drop and it ruined the handling (too twitchy) but I got it to where it’s supposed to be compared to my road fit coordinates and it’s surprisingly comfortable now.
Have you ridden a setup like this that was fit for you? I remember a thread on here about taking a TT frame and doing crits with it and the guy said it ended up being just fine.
The biggest concern is stack and reach. Ideally you’d get a tri frame that’s taller in stack and shorter in reach than your tri bike.
You’d also want to make sure that you could get proper saddle setback.
I don’t think handling is so much a problem, it’s more a question of whether or not you’ll have something comfortable that doesn’t look like a complete mongrel.
Here’s the tough part: a lot depends on your fit. Meaning, if you’ve got a fairly aggressive tri position, chances are you’re on a frame that has about the right reach but 4-7cm less stack than your road bike does. There’s also the question of being able to get enough setback if your TT frame has a steep native STA (say, 78deg).
Using myself as an example, as I went thru this exercise with an SC a couple years ago. I ride a Medium for tri purposes, but bringing my road fit (58cm Madone H1) to that frame size was almost impossible…I had a 140mm +12deg stem on there with a bunch of spacers under it and *still *ended up with a cockpit that was too low. Upsized to a Large SC frame and about half the stack delta went away (easier to compensate for) and I just backed down a tad on my normal stem length to get my reach back into the box (since the Large SC has about 20mm more reach than my Madone). Also needed one of the long-offset UCI legal seatposts to get an appropriate setback.
In the end it’s still not a perfect match to my road position, but it’s close enough to go out and have some fun with. As far as handling properties go, I’m not about to go strafing corners in the local crit series or chasing the Mt Palomar KOM with it…but that’s not why I created the beast to begin with. It was for fun. And in that use case, it’s perfectly fine.
I don’t have any pics of me on my road bike but I’d say it’s a typical road bike position. Nothing too aggressive or conservative. My road bike is a 56cm Trek Madone 2.1.
there is a reason nobody does it. they ride terrible. aero road frames are just now gaining acceptance, because it is hard to make them not ride bad. if a frame is more aero but handles and corners badly it is not faster to race. never underestimate how comfort translates to speed.
to answer your question, yeah I have tried it(slice) as have a few others in the shop I own(qr’s and p3), it never works well, unless you plan to ride it in a straight line on smooth roads by yourself.
I converted ( ok converted is the wrong word ) I specifically purchased a Boardman TT frame and built it up as a road bike. Fit is perfect. Ride is great. Handling is good. The only thing I didn’t like was the hidden front fork brake. Not as much stopping power as I wanted and a real bitch to get lined up just right. Replaced the fork with a new one that had a standard brake on it. Really happy now.
It is all about fit. I’ve ridden many standard road frames and with the seat angles I would slam the seat forward every time. I was fitted by 4 different fitters over the years and they would all do the same thing, slam the seat forward. A TT frame just seemed like a good solution for me.
Listen to your body and not what other people post about their bodies. We are all unique.
There is a wrong way and a right way to choose a frame for this conversion. I wouldn’t advocate using a Slice frame; stack is too low and reach is too far for me and probably for a lot of others. I wouldn’t recommend any Cervelo P series for the same reason.
Basically, I’m saying that I understand why you don’t like it but I disagree with your extrapolation that they all ride terrible.
looks like a large frame, low-far stem, lowest monospacer (15mm). love the color too.
returning to my previous thoughts, if a 56 Madone is working for you on the road side then the BMC conversion might be possible without resorting to extremes. in your place I’d try mocking it up…just put a set of wheels on the frame, add a stem, slam the saddle back at your road saddle height and take some measurements to compare back to your road bike.
My Transition has 7mm more stack and 3mm less reach. Plus I use the straight seat post and range from 0 to 5cm of set back depending on how much climbing I expect to be doing.
My numbers are something like 628 stack and 40X reach.
looks like a large frame, low-far stem, lowest monospacer (15mm). love the color too.
returning to my previous thoughts, if a 56 Madone is working for you on the road side then the BMC conversion might be possible without resorting to extremes. in your place I’d try mocking it up…just put a set of wheels on the frame, add a stem, slam the saddle back at your road saddle height and take some measurements to compare back to your road bike.
Thanks. Just thinking all this through.
Good eye. Large, low-far, and lowest monospacer. I guess you know something about the Trek SC, huh?
