I’m a long-time, mildly competitive du’er who’s about to jump in the water for the first time later this year. Looking towards a long-overdue upgrade from an old Cannondale.
Here’s what I’ve narrowed it down to:
Litespeed Siena w/ Ultegra - either Mavic Cosmos or low-level Ksyrium training wheels (will invest in racing wheels when/if theere’s a chance that they’ll make a difference - wishful thinking!)
I’m thinking that I can go with a Look Ergo stem and a reversible Corima seat post. Then, for racing, I could slap on a Syntace bar, make a few adjustments and get myself dialed-in for fresher run legs.
Will this work? Or am I foolishly wasting my time trying to avoid the purchase of two bikes?
It sounds like you already have a road bike. Isn’t the sienna just that, another road bike? Maybe buy a dedicated steep angled bike if that fits your riding style and keep your Cannondale as use it as it was intended, as a road bike. It seems like your riding style warrants a steeper angled bike since I see “reversible seat post” in your description and wonder if you might be better served with two specifically dedicated bikes.
If you already have a road bike I’d probably go with a dedicated TT/DU/tri bike. As a duathlete and ex swimmer & triathlete I’d also say stay out of the water, chlorine is bad for your hair.
I have to agree with both of the above. Your road bike seems to be fine. If you want a race bike, go for a real tri bike. Buy it on eBay if you must. No need to retire your Cannondale.
instead of ditching the c’rail replace the fork, headset, seatpost and upgrade the drivetrain. you could do it on ebay w/ Ultegra and DA for 600-700.
I built my TT bike off of ebay, the classifieds here and roadbikereview for under $700 excluding frame and wheels. DA drivetrain, Alien carbon post, oval 1 piece aerobars and an alpha Q fork.
then turned around and offloaded my old parts for rock bottom prices. about 100 total further reducing my expenses.
I’ll assume, unlike the previous posters, that the reason you are looking at a new bike is because, well, you need a new bike? Sounds logical to me.
The Siena should work fine as a dual purpose machine, and it looks like a really nice machine. Couple of suggestions though.
I wouldn’t recommend Syntace bars for this application, they are likely to sit too high. Look for bars with a low pad height, eg TTT Bio Arms, Deda Clip Ones, or Profile Carbon strykes. That will reduce the amount you’ll need to lower the handlebars when switching to a tri / tt setup, so the drops may still be usable. You may not even need the ergostem, if you run several spacers under the stem in a roadie setup, then you may only need to move the spacers above the stem to achieve a decent aero position.
Corima or a reversed Thompson setback post would be fine, but avoid going any farther forward on that bike.
What it comes down to here is again personal choice, what works for one person does not always work for someone else. There are many triathletes (pro and amateur) who compete on stock road bike geometries in their respective events. In fact in Hawaii, Dan made the following observation: “Of the 1631 bikes we counted this year, 851 rode seat angles of 76 degrees or steeper, and 780 rode 75 degrees or shallower.”
Herbert
Litespeed/QR
FYI, I raced IM Germany on a 2003 Ghisallo with a standard seat post and short slam bars.
If you have pretty long femurs this set up will be very good for you.
One thing I can tell you, the Siena is a very, very nice bike. For that matter, there really isn;t a titanium Litespeed that isn’t super nice.
My only caution would be to watch the fore/aft weight distribution and try to stick to a Thomson straight seatpost instead of a forward post. Too much wiehgt on the front wheel will compromise the fine handling built into the Siena.
If you get a good set-up, you will love that bike.
Even the longest Corima posts are relatively short. If you are set on using this seatpost you may need a more traditional geometry frame (i.e. Tuscany) rather than a compact frame. If you aren’t deadset on the Corima, a backwards Thomson MTB layback post would probably work with the Siena.
For example, I am 6’2 but my tibias are 4 inches longer than my femurs. Therefore, I need a steep setup to get the proper knee over pedal position…It doesnt matter how tall you are just what part of your leg is longer…