So awhile back I purchased a QR Kilo C. I’ll start by saying, I absolutely love the bike; very glad I didn’t spend any more money on a comparable, more expensive bike; best valued bike on the market in my opinion.
Anywho, since my purchase, I find myself never riding my road bike. I haven’t rode with a group in years anyway, and if I am riding with a friend or two, I’m not riding in aero since it is typically a leisure ride. I ride 3-5times per week and I’m always out on VERY low traveled roads. It isn’t out of the ordinary for me to see less than 5 cars on a 40+ mile ride. So my question is, how many of you still ride your road bikes for training solo? I see no negatives in my situation to train on my tri bike.
I see no negatives in my situation to train on my tri bike.
Brandan
All I can say to this is that you must be in the % who have yet to need to stop in a hurry or else. It’s not an if, just a when. After that you won’t ask if a road bike is a good idea.
I see no negatives in my situation to train on my tri bike.
Brandan
All I can say to this is that you must be in the % who have yet to need to stop in a hurry or else. It’s not an if, just a when. After that you won’t ask if a road bike is a good idea.
Road bike 90+% for me. Ride safely.
There are no unsafe tri bikes, only riders not paying attention. I’ve had to stop my tri bike quickly too and I lived to tell the tale. Now, had I not been looking up the road I might not have seen what I needed to avoid in time, but that would’ve been my fault, not my bike’s.
If you’re in an area where quick stopping might be necessary, ride on the horns. Problem solved.
That said, I do keep my road bike for off-season rides, group rides, hanging out with the family, etc.
I see no negatives in my situation to train on my tri bike.
Brandan
All I can say to this is that you must be in the % who have yet to need to stop in a hurry or else. It’s not an if, just a when. After that you won’t ask if a road bike is a good idea.
Road bike 90+% for me. Ride safely.
There are no unsafe tri bikes, only riders not paying attention. I’ve had to stop my tri bike quickly too and I lived to tell the tale. Now, had I not been looking up the road I might not have seen what I needed to avoid in time, but that would’ve been my fault, not my bike’s.
It has nothing to do with a tt bike being unsafe and everything to do with having an extra second or two to react. Road bike has hands on brakes. TT costs me a good second or to b/f I can get to the brakes, shift weight rearward and apply proper front braking. If one just nails their front brake while in the aero position it’s a quick trip out the front. If one is just using their rear brake, well…they are doing it wrong.
I agree no bike in and of itself is unsafe and an unaware rider on any bike is a statistic waiting to happen, but there are things one can do to mitigate the risk of fast moving cars with a bit of extra time to steer around an object or hammer the brakes. Come down here to Florida and take your tt bike out for a ride and your assessment of ‘only riders not paying attention’ will change in a hurry. IN A HURRY.
Yes, with my eyes up the road paying attention, I can react the same on both bikes. In the vanishingly unlikely event that I don’t see something coming and need to react quickly, then I evade.
I’ve also seen inattentive roadies ride right up the ass of a slowing peloton in a race, hands on brake levers and all. And again, I’ve already said that if you’re in traffic heavy enough to potentially need a quick stop, you should be on your horns.
Your post implies that you’re only riding safely if you’re on your road bike 90% of the time, and that is flat-out false for most people.
For about 9 years my only bike was a tri bike. Then about 2 years ago I finally added a road bike to my “collection”. If I don’t have a race within the next 3-4 months I do about 90% road and 10% tri bike. If I do have a race in the coming months I will ride about 70% tri and 30% road. My race schedule isn’t stacked so I will most likely be riding my road bike until next year.
Not sure what kind of road bike you have or what you could get if you sold it. Maybe just make it a trainer bike if your winters are wintery.
If you are only going to ride solo and not with others or around traffic/climbing, etc., just ride what keeps you happy. If your road bike isn’t worth much, I’d still keep it though
Of course, you are missing a HUGE part of riding a bike, but such is the life of a triathlete I guess.
Your post implies that you’re only riding safely if you’re on your road bike 90% of the time, and that is flat-out false for most people.
Actually I said ‘Road bike 90+% for me’. I must see a different bunch of triathletes than you do. Most of them around here are an unmitigated disaster maneuvering their tt bikes even in a straight line. Add in that they have their head down and it equals road rash. Going out to do a ride when I suspect I might be up on the bull horns a majority of the time is just a waste for me b/c it mirrors little my muscles are used to doing. However, my road bikes are set up with the exact same hip angle as the tt so I lose nothing by taking one of those out in a sketchy area, but gain an extra second or so of reaction time, especially with throwing my weight over the rear wheel and maximizing my braking performance which is an unfortunate necessity in Florida.
I digress it’s all personal preference. I taken out in some brutal crit crashes in the early 90’s that made me a bit safety conscious.
Ride my tri bike 100% of the time…and I live in Manhattan and ride all around here. Safety has never been an issue with regards road or tri. The few accidents I have been in would have happened no matter what I was riding. I do ride my tri bike most of the time (>95%) sat up…if I am training I consider the extra wind resistance good. If I had room in my apartment for more bikes (GF has 3) then maybe I would have a super light road bike for hills but otherwise I don’t road race or ride in a paceline and my handling of a tri bike seems to be as good as, if not better, than most roadies I see.
So you’re saying that an inexperienced rider is dangerous regardless of their choice of bike. I think we fundamentally agree. Those who are disasters waiting to happen on TT bikes will be disasters waiting to happen on a road bike too.
I’ve also been taken down in my share of crashes, and a good number of them were numbskulls on road bikes who took down a big chunk of the peloton.The best piece of safety equipment on any bike is still between the ears.
So you’re saying that an inexperienced rider is dangerous regardless of their choice of bike. I think we fundamentally agree. Those who are disasters waiting to happen on TT bikes will be disasters waiting to happen on a road bike too.
No question a moron will crash no matter what they are on. I took a great bike handling skills course from a great LBS in Bloomington, IN(shout out to BGI just checked and they are still in biz!) back in the late 80’s. I think most folks aren’t aware of what their road bike is capable of until they get some proper instruction…I know I was blown away at what I could do after the course. I can’t possibly stop my tt bike as fast as my road bike on any day. Takes me a good 1-2 seconds to get a hand over to the base bar for the front brake and then shift weight rearward. On my road bike I can do a 90ish% front brake @ 20 mph and not even have my rear wheel come off the ground…and stop in well less than half the distance and much less time. Now if I want to just reach up and get some rear brake going on my tt I can do that, but I don’t stop for shit and just sliddddddde. To hit the front brake with any useful force while in the tt position…well…I ain’t gonna try it!
I bought my road bike last year. I knew I wanted to use it for long course tri’s so I quickly added aero bars(I couldn’t afford a good tri bike). Long story short I ended up completely converting it to a tri bike and never plan on converting it back! I just love riding tri bikes over road bikes, so I agree there’s nothing wrong with doing almost all your training on the tri bike.
However, since the ideal equation for # of bikes to own is n+1, w/ n being your current # of bikes, I say keep it! You never know when the tri bike might have to end up in the shop for a week or so and it’s great to have a back up
So you’re saying that an inexperienced rider is dangerous regardless of their choice of bike. I think we fundamentally agree. Those who are disasters waiting to happen on TT bikes will be disasters waiting to happen on a road bike too.
No question a moron will crash no matter what they are on. I took a great bike handling skills course from a great LBS in Bloomington, IN(shout out to BGI just checked and they are still in biz!) back in the late 80’s. I think most folks aren’t aware of what their road bike is capable of until they get some proper instruction…I know I was blown away at what I could do after the course. I can’t possibly stop my tt bike as fast as my road bike on any day. Takes me a good 1-2 seconds to get a hand over to the base bar for the front brake and then shift weight rearward. On my road bike I can do a 90ish% front brake @ 20 mph and not even have my rear wheel come off the ground…and stop in well less than half the distance and much less time. Now if I want to just reach up and get some rear brake going on my tt I can do that, but I don’t stop for shit and just sliddddddde. To hit the front brake with any useful force while in the tt position…well…I ain’t gonna try it!
I’ve heard this ‘road bike is safer’ bit so many times and while, yes, there is an extra second getting off the aerobars, it’s a total nonissue. Pure roadies love to hype it up to frown on triathletes, but ask anyone who’s ridden both extensively, and they’ll tell you that a tt bike is every bit as safe as road bike.
That instant reaction time is only crucial for tight pacelines or crit events where you’re inches from a wheel. Of course, a road bike is a better , safer tool there - even a total bike noob would realize this instantly and get far off those aerobars the moment that wheel got that close. But reality is, unless you’re in those situations, the tt bike is just as safe.
Even in a paceline or crit you really should NEVER be braking that hard anyway, for the sake of the guys behind you. In fact, the less you brake and smoother you ride, the more you’ll be appreciated by the folks behind you.
TT bikes are perfectly safe. I still have a roadie as well but if it disappeared, I’d be perfectly fine riding only the TT bike - even on competitive roadie group rides where I would just hang off the back of the line at a safe enough distance and move through the pack only on slow uphill climbs when speed isn’t an issue. I’d say road bikes were more important if you’re a pure roadie that needs to really ride with and compete against other roadies in tight aggressive fluid pack situations - if you do any riding like this regularly, definitely do not ditch the road bike. Otherwise, for the vast majority of training rides, even certain pacelines, the TT bike works fine.
I did the same, first ~3+ years after buying one I was 100% on my tribike. The road bike slowly made its way back under me, now I’m in line with other posters who spend most of their time on road bike until just prior to a tri race, then its 100% tribike for a few weeks. Actually my mountain bike gets more mileage than either road or tri with ~80mi/wk commuting year round.
few reasons for solo road bike riding:
I much prefer the road bike for riding up and descending down mtns
when you get older (or other cause of back issues) the road bike is easier on the back (greater number of functional riding positions)
its a training aid - riding a bike that forces you to put out more effort on the same course (train hard, race fast)
If you live in the flats, I dont really see the point. But in the hills is where a road bike is going to shine. I have no point for a TT bike around where I live since its so hilly.
If you live in the flats, I dont really see the point. But in the hills is where a road bike is going to shine. I have no point for a TT bike around where I live since its so hilly.
True - because TT bikes cannot possibly ride up, or down hills. At all.
