A buddy I ride with did his first duathlon last year (on his road bike) and loved it. This year he wants to do some duathlons (focus on Powermans in Alabama and NC as well as some shorter distances) and some local TT’s. He wants to get a dedicated TT bike for this season. He’s got between $2000-2300 to spend. He doesn’t want to buy a used bike. Bike fit issues aside, how should he spend his money? Felt S22? Cervelo P2K? Cervelo Dual + use the rest for race wheels? Other suggestions?
How Tall is your buddy? I have a New 2004 Guru Tri-Lite in a 53cm framsize with 700c wheels Ultegra Equipped I’d let go for 2100.00 (P2K Price).
Robert
a bike has two critical elements: frame and wheels. instead of compromising on both, i’d go either for my dream frame or for my dream wheels and spend the rest of the money on relativly cheap wheels/frames. that way you always have a starting point to upgrade to your real DREAMBIKE during the next years.
personally i would go with the p2k, ksyriums and carbon x or hed aerobars (oh 2300,- … hmm - i keep the frame and dump the aerobars …)
cheers s
The Felt S22 is an incredible deal. ~$2000 for Profile carbon X bars, DA derailleurs, FSA carbon megoexo cranks. By some cheap used aero wheels on ebay and your set. (or even just a front wheel to start) I wish there had been something like that around when I first got into racing.
OK I will save Tom D the trouble…get the bike that fits. People always try to decide what bike to buy before they know what bike is right for them. Kind of like going house shopping before you know what size mortgage you can afford.
Having said that, I personally would rank as follows:
- Fit
- Frame
- Race Wheels
- Groupo (assuming you don’t go below 105)
Mike
EH,
I would have to agree with ezrahallam. A good friend of mine purchased a Felt time trial/duathlon dedicated bike this year. I could not believe the value he was able to get for the dollars he spent. Well under $2,000 but not the lowest price frame in the lineup and with Ultegra 9sd.
I don’t think he could go wrong with such a choice, especially for his first tt/tri dedicated bike.
You/he should check out Tom Demerly’s recent post on the new 2005 Felt F22.
If I were to actually spend this money, how much benefit can I expect to receive over just riding a road bike?? Is there a big difference between 78 and 76 degree geometry?? Is the biggest overall advantage to a true Tri-bike getting into the aero position or the aero benefits of the frame??
gkell,
This is always a tricky question to answer.
Will you be exactly as fit as you were when you rode your other (road) bike? Will the conditions on the course be exactly the same? Will you be in the same mental state while riding the course? These are only a few of the many variables that can affect your performance that are not bike frame related.
Some of the biggest improvements will certainly be aerodynamic if you are willing to go and get fit by someone who is trained and experienced in the dynamics of this specialized type of bicycle fitting and who understands this type of specialized bicycle riding. You must accept that a proper fit is critical to obtaining your maximum performance possible. There are many individual biomechanical issues that need to be evaluated to maximize your performance on this kind of a bike.
You are also trying to maximize your power output in this aerodynamic position, another critical issue that should not be overlooked.
Effective seat tube angle, where your seat position on the seatpost actually positions you, is another deep hole.
Yes, opening the angle between your thigh and chest will maximize your capacity to breath and sustain your effort, but at what point does opening this angle further fail to produce any measurable improvement in power output and when does it begin to significantly increase your frontal area? This is another reason why fit is so critical.
How low should you get in front? As you continue to lower your aerobar, when do you cease to decrease your frontal area? Beyond this point, you are simply beginning to restrict your breathing and compromise your ability to sustain your effort. Another reason why fit is so critical. Do not skimp or cheap out here. Otherwise, you could be foolishly throwing money away on an expensive specialized bicycle frame and fork that will not be capable of assisting you to improve your performance…
What percentages of overall drag do the frame, wheels and rider contribute? There are minor arguable differences in percentages but a good rule of thumb would be to approximate the percentages with the following guidelines. Wheels and tires = approximately 10-12% give or take. Frame and fork = approximately 10% and the rider contributes approximately 80% of the total drag.
A tricked out professional time trial specialist can get his total drag down to nearly 5.0 lbs total drag. A tricked out recreational time trial “specialist” can probably get his total drag down to the 5.5-6.5 lbs total drag range. Here, the biggest difference is the ability to produce and sustain power output.
Riding your road bike on the hoods, you probably have 8-10 lbs of total drag, maybe more. In the drops, you probably have somewhere in the 7-8 lbs range of total drag.
Now how much does the aero frame contribute? All frame and fork combinations have some drag. To use the example of the professional time trialer with 5.0 lbs of total drag, his frame and fork account for approximately 0.5 lbs of the total drag, maybe 0.35-0.45 lbs of drag versus a standard round tube frame, but then there are cross wind considerations in the real world that may be relevant and may diminish the differences between a round tube time trial frame and an “aero” time trial frame. Without a doubt, one could increase and probably maximize this individual drag component by utilizing a standard round tube road bike frame and fork combination. But the difference between an “aero” time trial frame and a round tube time trial frame would probably be very slight, in the real world.
The next question, does a time tri/trial frame make racing any easier? If you mean faster, the answer is yes for any given effort. Does it hurt less? No. If anything, a big NO. You must realize that you are now “invested” heavily in the pursuit of your maximum effort so, I believe, you try even harder than before and it hurts even more than before. Is the satisfaction any greater after? Yes, and sometimes a big YES. But you must show measurable improvement to justify the expenditure in your own mind.
Then the last question is, was I faster because of the new time trial frame, or was I faster because I trained and tried harder because of how much I invested in trying to improve? When you can quantitatively answer this question, will you get back to me?
If it fits you, you’d be hard pressed to beat a Cervelo Dual for the price and you’ll have more than enough left over for bike shoes, helmet and maybe even a wetsuit to round out the Tri equipment list. But, as an individual new to the biking side of this sport, I never would have bought the frame size that actually fits me (Thanks to T. Demerly’s Bikesport crew). Maybe the aluminum frame isn’t great for IM distances, but it works just great for Internationals and the wetsuit can save you some miserable minutes in a very cold lake!
My two cents anyway…
Paul
Qoute, “I never would have bought the frame size that actually fits me (Thanks to T. Demerly’s Bikesport crew).”
hauptmann,
Sounds like an endorsement of the importance of a proper fit from a trained and experienced fitter. If that is for a specialized bike for a specialized purposed, then a proper fit by a train and experienced fitter in that cycling specialty.
Wants2rideFast-
Quite the comprehensive response!! Way more than I had hoped for, much appreciated. Basically, my assumption was everything being equal - would a Tri-Bike help - and I think I have the answer now.
Thanks.
GKell