I've been after my wife to get a new bicycle for a few years and now she is finally consenting. She has found a really good deal on them from bicycledoctor.net Does anyone have any experience with them? Also, what are your experiences with the Talon? Opinions? YaquiCarbo (aka Ktalon) why did you switch? Thanks a lot
Hi Sweeney. I’m impressed by the Talon. It is a good basic road bike. We’ve sold a few and had no problems. With a good parts kit the ride quality is excellent and durability is good. They are mechanically reliable and not problematic. The biggest drawback I have seen is Kestrel’s propensity to try to repackage a road geometry as a tri bike. The Talon is not like a Cervelo Soloist: It does not readily lend itself to being ridden with the seat shoved forward on aero bars. When you do that it rides like, well, a road bike with the seat shoved forward (in other words, shitty). So, for those who do buy Talons they are best served to ride them between 73 and maybe 75 degrees at the steepest. Any steeper than 78 degrees effective seat tube angle on a Talon is pushing it. The front end gets to responsive for my personal taste. That said, for a person who does ride at 74-75 degrees it is a nice bike. Very nice. If you want to ride at 80 degrees (like I do on aerobars) look elsewhere IMHO.
See Tom’s post. He covered the reasons for my switch exactly. Actually, I didn’t switch, I ride the Talon as my workhorse road bike…the Carbo is my time trial/triathlon rocket. Well, as much as I can make a bike act like a rocket!
Thanks guys. This bicycle seems like it will be just right. Michelle now rides a Cannondale R1000 with a flipped around seatpost and an effective seat tube angle of about 75.5 degrees and efective top tube of about 52cm. She doesn't want a steeper bike, wants 700c wheels, and doesn't want aluminum. We will have to do some more checking and testing but right now I'm just glad she is thinking about a new ride. She is a very good triathlete but her bike is 6 years old and the arguement that it got her to Kona is starting to wear out even for her.
Thanks again, new bicycles are so much fun!
Good luck on that Sweeney, as I said, the Talon is a very solid choice. It is interesting that among people who have a propensity for shallower than 78 degree frames, the majority seem to be of the female variety… Interesting. I’m sure she’ll enjoy it.
"people who have a propensity for shallower than 78 degree frames, the majority seem to be of the female variety… "
Long leg short torso. Some guys are built this way but a smaller %. My wife is just as fast, if not faster, slammed on her road bike than steep on her P2K.
ceveloguy, has she measured her first mile running times coming off of each setup? Just curious…I was certain I was faster on my road setup (I found out I wasn’t even though I felt much more powerful), but I definitely was slower on the run, especially the first mile coming off road geometry…maybe I’m just getting old and stiff, though…
Well, I’ll stop lurking and try to participate because you’re talking about me !
I belong to the small % of (very) long legs short torso people, and I am pretty confused with what you say about bike fitting.
Isn’t your wife hitting her elbows with her knees when slammed on her road bike ?
I thought it was the longer the legs, the steeper the seat angle, but no so sure …
“ceveloguy, has she measured her first mile running times coming off of each setup?”
Haven’t actually measured the run. We have a regular bike loop for training that is about 32 kms on rural roads. The first part is quite flat but the second part is quite hilly. We’ve ridden this route hundreds of times and both found little time difference between the two geometry bikes. Could be because the road bikes make up ground on the hilly section, but the times on either are usually about the same. Times can vary by two or three minutes on either bike or more depending upon how windy it is, motivation, etc. She rides a P2K set steep and an Aquila road bike with the seat back and Jammer GT bars.
My hamstrings are usless for the first km or two into the run getting off the road bike but she says she feels no difference. Again, we haven’t actually measured this over the first mile, but her run splits on tris are the same on either bike whereas my already slow run times are noticeably even slower off a shallow bike.
I’m short leg, short femur, short torso and she’s long leg, long femur, short torso. Maybe this has something to do with it.
Also consider how fast the ITU triathletes run 10 kms off their road geometry bikes, so for many people it may not be as big an issue as for others.
"I thought it was the longer the legs, the steeper the seat angle, but no so sure … "
According to Cobb, the big slam works best with long legs/short torso and according to Slowman, these people are the most difficult to fit on a steep angle bike. Read here what Slowman says about “long leg Craig”
http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadings/prodreview/tribikes/bikepicker.html