I was thinking over many of the posts by Slowman, Gerard and Tom D. If I can synthesize their comments correctly then I think they say that for IM races you should favor aero much more than having a lighter weight bike. Given that, is there any reason to choose Dura Ace over Ultegra? I mean if the weight differences between Dura Ace and Ultegra is not material and neither has any bearing on your relative aero-ness, then why do you care about an extra few grams on your frame assuming you are able to sustain an aero position. I guess this same argument applies to other components on the bike. Is there a point at which the weight of the bike matters notwithstanding aeroness? Or is the goal to be as aero as possible and as light as possible?
No real difference for a tri bike IMO. On a road bike the DA STI shifters have a shorter throw which is nice and the rear der. is supposed to be a bit better. Anything else is insignificant. My comments are about 9 sp since i don’t own 10 sp. MY current road bike is a combo of DA/Ultegra and my tri bike is Ultegra.
I would say you should be as aero as possible, but people can’t show off their aero-ness, they can feel good about having dura-ace.
I’d love to be in a race catagory where anyone can offer you 1000 bucks at the end of the race and you would have to sell your bike. Maybe we shouldn’t go by age catagories, but have a 1000, 2000, and 3000 dollar catagories.
Seems like my LBS guy told me that Ultegra was actually a little lighter than DA.
I remember checking the pro rack at IMF…lots of Ultegra…frayed cable ends…crappy maintainence…I would bet that most age groupers are better prepared …
I haven’t done any weighing myself, but I think DA is slightly lighter in weight than Ultegra. At least this was the case 2-3 years ago when I was doing comparisons.