Hello, I do an occasional triathlon, but I am decently competitive and podium from time to time. I currently have a gen 2 Felt AR road bike that the old tour magazine tested as aero as about any other road bike at the time.
It has the flippable seatpost, an aero road bar, 50mm carbon wheels, and I use clip on aerobars when I ride.
Any idea how much time I am losing in a sprint or 40k with this setup compared to a mid 20teens tri bike?
I found a 2012 speed concept for less than $500, but again, I don’t want to drop much money on that if I am saving less than 20 or 30 seconds in a 40k.
Speed Concept, or at least the ones ridden by folks around me, sound like a bucket of bolts. Maybe they were not well maintained but whatever, you could never persuade me to get one. My 2011 AR 4 is still my favorite bike, and silent.
Any idea how much time I am losing in a sprint or 40k with this setup compared to a mid 20teens tri bike?
It could be a lot. It’s more about how you are fit on the bike than the bike itself. A tri bike will typically allow you to get into a more aero position than a road bike, but that may not be the case for you. When getting your first tri bike you should expect to do quite a bit of trial and error to dial in your fit. Or go to a professional fitter to get help.
The Trek SC 2012 is a gen1. The “high end” models had an integrated front end. If you get that you should make sure it comes with the necessary parts to adjust it to fit you. Don’t expect the previous owner’s fit to be fast and comfortable for you.
if your just doing sprint and OD, and you are not gunning for a podium where those seconds count. I think stick with what you have and invest in a bike fit. Get the fitter to set you up in road set up and even consider buying a spare seatpost that you keep dedicated for road and then the forward post set up for tri. Keep the post marked so its a fast transition. Then consider something like my new stem aerobar that takes a few minutes to install and keeps your position dialed(if you can ride the 100 mm stem we have already made) so you can switch quickly between both bikes and get a super modern cockpt installation. very biased, but I think with that you can keep the same bike, spend that 500 USD on some modern parts while keeping your tried and true set up.