This is aimed at the owners of high end TT bikes…the P3, Plasma, TTX, Kueen-K, Dean, 596 ect… crowd.
Once you’ve spent between 5 and 10 g’s on pimping out your ride…do you train on it and enjoy it as much as possible, or do you train on a lower end bike and save your babies for race days ?
Let me think about this for just a minute…OK done…I ride it like I stole it!!! Everyday!!!
No way am I spending this much money on a bike to ride it 6-8 times per year.
That said I still have a Zipp 2001 training bike, a road bike and a mtb I use often.
It’s a bike. Ride the bloody thing.
Train on the Pimped Out Ride (frame/fork/components), but never train on race wheels.
I agree with the first two posters, but I’ll debate the other side of the argument for fun. Why is it so unreasonable to buy another less expensive bike for training? for instance, I know several people who refuse to put their carbon beauties on indoor trainers. Instead, they use the bike they started with or go buy something cheaper for indoor work. Also, what about bike commuting? I don’t see many high end TT bikes locked up on bike racks in front of my office. I usually see a mix of single speeds, mountain bikes, and hybrids. Why? I suspect that some of those folks leave their fancy bikes at home for the weekend group rides, but leave the everyday riding for something cheaper.
That’s what I do too…just got a comment from a friend about “saving” my new ride (I don’t intend to) and just wanted to see what everyone else did !
I agree with the race wheels comment too…
Well, I’ve got an old road bike in the trainer and a fixie to commute on but I still ride the nicer stuff outdoors whenever I can. Saving it just for races would be insane.
My P3 is custom painted and I ride it a lot, not in the rain though.
It’s a bike and designed to be ridden after all. I have no concerns about putting it in the trainer either.
I am polycyclist. I must have many bikes to satisfy my needs. My tt bike gets the most money and the least riding. But I do ride it often. Usually not in the rain, but I would have nothing against it, just easier to have one bike that stays dirty.
I have a fixie that goes to work most of the time. I don’t worry about it locked up outside, and I clean it once a year, in the spring. Same goes for the CX bike (if I were to own only one this would be it), I think my road bike is my favorite though.
I have been known to ride my TT bike to work, with a disk. Its fun sometimes, then she can sit in my office and wait for lunch, then the ride home. It makes my day happier somehow. I know I am a dork or fred or whatever. I don’t care. You can make fun of me until you finally realize you can’t keep up.
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Having a beautiful expensive bike you only ride in races is akin to being married to a supermodel and only sleeping with her on special occasions.
Ride that thing every day, the bike and err the wife 
Train and race on the same set up, wheels (and tires) included. I just don’t train wearing my silly aero helmet or skin suit.
Ride it, When it dies, I’ll get a new one.
I’ll ride my Kueen K on most training rides but if the weather sucks I’ll jump on the Litespeed Blade.
Ride it unless it is raining. Especially if you cannot get the exact same position on you spare bike.
I train on my tribike unless the weather is crap, then I switch over to my road bike with aerobars.
Having a beautiful expensive bike you only ride in races is akin to being married to a supermodel and only sleeping with her on special occasions.
Ride that thing every day, the bike and err the wife
best justification so far…
Apparently, I’m in the minority around here.
I recently picked up a TTX frameset, but plan to ride my old TT bike more often in training. Why, because it’s still a very nice bike that won’t comand a lot of money if I resell it. I’ll just make sure the contacts points are all the same. I will ride the TTX in training during the week of a race and of course on race days, but not much other than that. I just don’t see the point, with another nice TT bike in my stable. I also have 4 other bikes that like to be ridden, so I need to make sure they are also happy. Generally, I’m only on the TT bike once or twice a week.
Another plus is that I don’t have to fuss with changing the set up of the TTX for race day (changing wheels, adjusting brakes, installing carbon brake pads, changing water bottle setup - cages to a profile aero bottle, and it won’t need thorough cleaning since I haven’t been riding it as much)
I’ve got an 08 S-Works. I ride it when its not raining or wet. I’ve also got an Argon 18 that is in the trainer right now. Let’s be honest, we all want to show off the fancy ride whenever possible. I agree with the other post, the race wheels (404s) come out 2-3 weeks before race day.
I have a medium grade road bike for every day commuting and riding on a compu trainer. I have a very loaded P3C for racing and I train with it on what I called focused training days. I try to take one or two midweek work days off a month and take the bike to some place where I can get on a real Oly or half iron distance course (that is bike friendly with little car traffic). I do these training rides with a Zipp disc and a aero helmet wearing a tri outfit. After the ride I put the bike inside the car and run as quickly after biking as possible. I’m using one Garmin GPS HR monitor on the bike and switch to a wrist Garmin GPS HR monitor for the run. The point is that I am mimicking as close as I can real world race conditions during a training event (a bike running brick). So the answer is yes, I do ride my fancy pants bike (complete with disc wheel and aero helmet) for training purposes. Tim
Don’t buy it if you’re afraid to ride it and can’t afford to wreck it. If you’re worried about “resale value”, you’re upgrading too often. You should be riding the crap out of it, not babying it so you can get a few bucks for it on eBay.