- For triathletes who have no interest in serious road racing, THIS is the perfect second bike. With perhaps a change up of wheels/tires, you have a HUGE range of things that you can do with the bike, and types of riding that you can do. (When triathletes do get a road bike it most often seems to be an aero-road bike!!! Why?)
What can you do on your R3 that I can’t do on an S3, for example? Also, it’s ironic that you lament athletes purchasing aero road bikes when “unnecessary” and yet this bike you praise represents a complete and absolute paradox.
- Even many road riders, seem to be in a similar box at least when it comes to road surfaces. I’ve been on group rides with 20 or more people that when we have come up to stretches of road that are gravel for only a couple of hundred meters, and it’s a complete U-turn, and a look of horror when you suggest it’s OK to ride it!
Just because my bike CAN do something doesn’t mean I WANT to do it. My BMC TrailFox is perfectly capable of handling a 10 foot gap jump over a wash. Am I?
Sometimes yes: https://www.instagram.com/p/BDeaz3HxIiC/
Sometimes no: https://www.instagram.com/p/BFcWeueRImx/
The end game is that you do what your comfort level is.
- You are right about getting off the main paved roads - less cars, less traffic = safer. And an added bonus - When I am out riding my bike on gravel roads, motorists often stop and ask if I am OK, or if I am lost! When was the last time that happened on a paved road??
It’s “fewer” cars and “less” traffic.
And, most new road bikers (ahem, many triathletes) are MUCH less safe on a gravel road than they are on a paved road. Handling is different and it is less predictable and there is less room for error.