I’ve read a few past posts on moving from a road bike to a tri bike. I do sometimes ride to work 24mi R/T. I live where the FLIM is held, so i ride the couse frequenty. My road bike was not fitted for me, so fingers get tingly, back is sore. There is a Javlin for $600 on the classifieds here that i was thinking of getting. Now for me to get that bike, I would need to sell or trade in my current 2008 Motobecane Grand Sprint. http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/motobecane/grand_sprint_ix.htm. Bike is smooth and never had a problem. Nice Ultegra group set with FSA SLK cranks. I dont even know what to start selling it at. My goal is to do a few sprints & Oly distances this summer as well as Gulf Coast Tri next year and If my coach says go, do IMFL in 2010. SO here is the question.
Do I A) Get fitted right with clip on aero bars for my current bike. B) Sell current bike and get a good starter tri bike. or C)…your thoughts.
Thanks
I’ll give you my personal bike journey and you cna take from it what you will.
I got into Tri by buying an entry level Trek 2100 and immediately put some clipon bars on it. I got lucky with the size and it turned out to be a pretty good Tri setup, although it did get a little twitchy when I got going fast due to all the weight over the front wheel.
A year and four races later I scooped up a nice QR TiPhoon off ebay for a song and spent the money getting a proper bike fit. The deal was I sold my road bike to cover the cost of the new tri bike. Six months later I bought a new road bike so I coudl do group rides and do most of my training.
I am measureably faster on my Tri bike, but i do the vast majority of riding on my Roadie (now on my second new roadie). Why? Because it can get a little scary riding my Tri bike around the neighborhood what with all the teens on cell phones, pot holes, and old ladies in big cars.
If I had to sell all my bikes but one it woudl be a toss up between my CX bike and my roadie just because they are very versitile and I get the most use out of them. I think if I were you I’d spend a couple hundred bucks on some shortie clip ons and get your position right on the roadie. Save the coin for a really nice Tri bike in a year or two.