I’m going to be some lower level Triathlons, sprint type stuff nothing heavy just yet. I love cycling and am looking to upgrade a Schwinn (Don’t laugh!).
My questions is, should I be looking at Road bikes or Tri-Bikes? I will probably be riding this bike about 50-75 miles per week when training and then for Tri’s.
I love the Felt entry level Tri-bikes, but also like the Specialized.
What brand would you look at in the $1,200-$1,500 range for both Road and Tri and which would you lean towards given my goals?
do 2 or 3 before worrying about a new bike of any kind.
Well, it’s a crappy hybrid Schwinn. I already swim, run and love to bike so for me it’s a no brainer to assume i’ll love the feeling of competing in a Tri. I’m not worried about “not using the bike” because I will be riding a good amount of miles each week regardless of any Triathlon schedule. i just want to hear some opinions on which type of bike to consider. i have heard training on a Tri-bike can be awkward in hilly areas so that is my main concern.
I am also new to triathlons. I recently upgraded my first bike to a CAAD 10 with 105 - in your price range. I love it - search the bike here and it has a pretty good reputation. I stuck with a road bike because I like doing group rides, thought the road would be the best opportunity to develop riding skills and most of my riding is done in more crowded areas with stop signs/stop lights/cross streets, so I didn’t think I would have the opportunity to be in aero for much time. I also thought I would look like a twatwaffle on a tri-bike as a new rider, but that’s just a personal opinion about myself and no one else. Enjoy the search.
I was in your same situation a couple weeks to months ago. The question that kept coming up while i was shopping around was – Where will you be riding?
I live in the Washington DC area and most of my rides are around DC, where there are a lot of people, congested bike paths and roads. I also plan to do 1-2 tri’s this year and get into the sport more as time goes on. SO my decision was to get a good road bike and ride that for this year and next year before looking into a tri specific bike.
That is just my 2 cents but good luck finding a bike. Look around and try as many bikes as you can.
Best to buy local. Best to buy last years model at a discount if possible. What do your local stores sell?
And I agree, road bike. I see many people at smaller local tri on road bikes. And when you think you might want to start getting more aero, then look into a Tri Bike and not spending a fortune trying to “tri” up your road bike with all sorts of add ons.
As Jack said, look for something with 10 speed components.
Keep the Schwinn for trail rides or as an around town bike. Get paniers for it.
Road bike first, all the way. You can get plenty fast on a road bike and race some nice shorter tri’s without neededing to worry about ‘aero’ position. Sure, it saves some time in the long run, but riding 50-75 miles per week means you are not there yet. Stay simple, get an entry-level Specialized or something, and get strong!
the type of riding & training you do will help determine what your best option is. personally, i can tweak my road bike to be more than adequate for a tri (cervelo dual, kestrel talon, etc) while i can’t do the same to my tri bike.
anything with 105, or SRAM rival or better groupset.
I picked up a 2010 Fuji ACR 2.0 (all 105 except for the BB30 cranks) for $850 a month ago. It replaced a 6 y.o. Tirreno (Performance’s own brand at the time) that was also 105 (except for brakes) that I sold for $650. Look around, and if you have a Performance shop close by, it’s tough to beat their prices, and you’ll be able to resell for very close to what you paid. The only bike I paid more than $900 for is my tri bike.
“the buy a road bike first stuff is a bunch of houey.”
Yeah, guess that’s why most of the top pros spend a significant amount of time training on their road bikes. The reasons have been covered many times before. Do a search.
Its nice to have both and there is a lot of legitimate reasons why to get a road bike first - develop bike skills, builds core strength while a tri bike does not (covered at the bicycling science symposium a few years ago), etc, etc. Many of the top pros spend a significant time training on road bikes. Tri bikes are good for racing or training solo but almost usless for anything else. Now that I only do sprints I sold my tri bikes a few years back and use a Kestrel Talon for roadie rides and slap on clip ons for tris.
You can pick up a used aluminum soloist in your price range. I rode this with aerobars when I first started, and have since bought a tri bike and now ride the soloist as a road bike. I ride the soloist probably 90% of the time and haven’t noticed any issues when switching to the tri bike.
With the soloist/aerobars, at least you’ll know it is not the bike that is keeping you from winning an IM…(IMLP course record was set by Simon Lessing riding soloist w/clipons).
“I’ll bet they also do a few more miles than 50-75.”
And your point is? If he’s doing sprints he won’t be putting in the longer slower solo hours that you do in IM training. As a newbie the best thing he could do is get a road bike and join a roadie group to learn handling skills and be pushed. A road bike with clip ons works fine for the 20-30 km bike in a sprint triathlon. If he decides to do longer length and gets more serious about it then get a tri bike, but also keep the road bike. IMHO its ridiculous to see newbies jumping from a hybrid or a $300. Walmart mountain bike to a tri bike without first learning how to ride a road bike. It’s no wonder triathletes have earned the reputation as poor bike handlers.
I would get a road bike, after a season of tris, if you will still be doing that and are interested in some free speed, start looking at a tri bike.
its good to have both.
Ok, thanks for the info much appreciated. Any recs on road bikes in the $1,500 range? Felt, Trek, Specialized? The Trek 2.0 seems like a good bike…
I’d look for a higher-speced Specialized Allez. They have a nice racing geometry and are well priced. Aluminum with a carbon fork. Like Jack said–don’t go less than 105/Rival. Felt bikes are also very nice (Z6 is full carbon but a little more pricey, or the Al Z85), and so too are Scott bikes (Speedster S20). Ride as many as you can and pick the one that feels most comfortable to you. The 2012s are already being ordered in bike shops, so you may be able to negotiate pretty good deals on any 2010 or 2011 bikes in stock.