A friend of mine is just getting into tris. He’s got an entry level Specialized Secteur. He is starting to think about a tri bike and is asking about a new Kestrel Talon with 105. This bike can be purchased on Amazon right now for less than $1100. I know this frame is dated, but at that price it seems like a bit of a no brainer. Most entry level tri bikes I see (Cervelo P2, Felt B12, etc) seem to start in the $2000s. Obviously, purchasing from Amazon gets you no service or LBS support, but what other reasons are there to avoid this bike?
I raced one very successfully for a number of years. My position was not my optimal position, but it was still fast.
For under $1100, it’s a great deal.
Having owned the slightly older variant of this frame, I can say it’s a pretty sound purchase.
I’m sure someone else will chime in and tell me I’m wrong, or tell you why your friend should just save up the extra four grand needed to buy a different bike because* reasons*.
I’ll be the first to say that if the bike isn’t fit correctly he’d be faster on the Secteur if that bike fits.
I have a Kestrel Talon that I raced as my main tri bike from 2007 to 2014. Still ride it in road setup. Can’t say enough good things about it. I would definitely buy one at that price point and then throw in some race wheels for less than any of the other bikes you mentioned.
I have been riding a Talon for the past 6 years and have been very happy with it. Now shopping for a new bike and have the IA on my short list. How much faster are you on your new IA?
I’m a former mountain bike enthusiast who never owned a road bike until getting the Tri bug last year. I bought a Talon in the road config and put a set of clip on aero bars on it. Maybe I don’t know what I don’t know but it works for me. Just did a HIM and a sprint on it. I like it. I paid $1,450 before pedals last year so at $1,100 you’re getting a buy.
I had one, and loved it before it got totalled in a crash. For 1100, you wont find a better deal around.
Great road bike for the money, kind of ‘meh’ as a tri bike (for me at least, you might fit it better then I did).
Macca went sub 8h twice (at least) on a Talon; if it was good for Macca, then it should be good for him
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I would get fitted and that’ll let you know
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I have been riding a Talon for the past 6 years and have been very happy with it. Now shopping for a new bike and have the IA on my short list. How much faster are you on your new IA?
It’s hard to say. Even with the updates, the Talon is a very old design. I got mine in 2002 and I had some very successful races on it. I went from the Talon to a Kestrel 4000 and it was a much faster bike. I was able to get into a much better position on the 4000. Now the Felt IA is another story. It blows the 4000 out of the water. It’s like having young legs again!
But, what if 52 year old Jim on the Talon raced 66 year old Jim on the IA16? Old Jim would beat YJ on the swim and come out of the water minutes ahead. OJ might hold YJ off on the bike but YJ would be makeing up time. And finally YJ, who hadn’t had any of the 4 surgeries on his legs, would fly passed OJ on the run showing that there is no substitute for youth (or being younger)!
The Talon at $1100 is a good bike at a great price. The IA16 costs $3000 and it’s a budget superbike. It you have the money, the IA is well worth it, if not the Talon can take you a long way in this sport.
I raced really well on a Talon with clip ons for 10-years. Great bike. Felt super fast on it once I put some Zipp race wheels on. I got it when Macca was racing that bike, and as someone else posted, he was awfully fast on it. I switched to a Cervelo P3. I was much faster in training on the Cervelo, but that did not translate to long races.
You and I have owned all the same TT bikes. I started out on a Talon as my first tri bike and did a few IMs on it, then got a 4000 and loved that one - better position to the Talon, and now on an IA. The IA certainly is 100 times stiffer than the 4000, which had a lot of flex in it, but for long course that wasnt really a bad thing.
Basically, any bike from a manufacturer that you have heard of before is going to be a good deal at less than $1100 (new) with Shimano 105.
Position, position, position. My take on the Talon, for all of the cult following the frame has had over the years, is that it is a very aero road bike. The geometry is slightly aggressive for a road bike, but is quite slack compared to a dedicated triathlon frame. Depending on your friend’s body geometry and which frame size they would need (it does get pretty tri-able in the smaller sizes), they will have to slam the saddle forward and get a long stem to rotate enough to be comfortably low in front. It looks like the Talon has gotten a fairly recent seatpost revision (a sliding head rather than a 2-position head), so this may help.
That said, it’s a tried and true frame with a LOT of history and, in my opinion, no one should ever spend more than ~$1500 for their first tri-specific bike. At $1100, it’s at a perfect price point for your friend to experiment with what feels comfortable for them.
For what it’s worth, BikesDirect has the “old” seatpost version with Force on it for $1000 right now. Maybe less adjustable, but that’s getting close to “free frame” territory!