Ok so a missing component in my quest to get my elite card this year is in buying a TT bike. I currently have a road bike that I attached tri bars to haha…(not fit to me at all but still managed to churn out a 2:21 70.3 bike this year)…i can not buy a bike straight up, because I can’t drop $3-5k at once. Anybody know of any online stores or real life stores that would break down payments into monthly chunks? Or am I out of luck and need to get a student credit card and pay outrageous interest?? Help me out and thanks again guys and gals…
First of all, you dont need a tri bike to be a pro, or even win in the pro ranks. Many many pros just used road bike their entire career.
Sounds like the fit of your road bike in not good, am I right? Are you comfortable? are you in a good position? If so, then your dont need a new frame to get faster and get your card.
But if you still want the new tri bike, you first need to get your position down. I found mine by trial and error, and it happens to be easily done on a road bike. I just size down, watch the head tube and TT lengths, get a flip flop post and presto, perfect fit for me. Just got my ride for 139 on ebay that will take me to getting my card this year too. I was even about to buy a Tri bike, but I took my trainer to the store, grabbed a few sizes off the rack and went to town trying to get my position right to see what size would best suit me. I dont have the $300 for a proper fit, and the shop guys were a little bewildered by my shooing them away, but I avoided making a big mistake. I was about to buy a steep ride and found that a more slack and smaller bike fit better. So instead of dropping a boat load of cash, I spent less than 200 on a regular road frame. LOVE IT too!.
Save the $. If your fit is way off, get that taken care of first. Then get a frame to match, or adjust your current frame to the new position. Spend the $ on good wheels and better food.
Umm, err, something doesn’t quite add up here…
Anyway, if you must get a “TT bike” consider purchasing a frame and hanging your existing groupset on that.
You can get an excellent frame for well under 1k if you look around, or buy used.
No, no, no, you can’t go fast or race elite if your bike is cheap or second hand
.
Wheezy
You are correct that your quest is missing a TT bike. The bike will allow you to get into the position that will improve your time, The bike itself will not make as big a difference.
Get someone/ or figure out your own position. Look for a used bike. If you are on a budget carbon is not mandatory. Maybe a frame. Borrow some wheels. Ride the bike, a lot, and adjust your position.
No pro post Lemond “wins” w/o a TT bike.
The cheapest way would probably to look at a Leader TT frame/fork on ebay and then swap the components from your road bike. Leader offers a lot of bang for the buck. The Florida(I think) TT chamionship was won on a Leader. The aluminium frames are very cheap and the carbon versions are also very reasonable.
I just checked ebay. You can buy this frame for $169. and the fork for $149. as “buy it now”. The guy in this photo won a state TT championship.
Simon Lessing, Peter Reid, Luc Van Lierde… off the top of my head, the pros that “didn’t” win on a road bike.