Why is a road configured bike better for climbing and long distances than a tri bike? I am looking to buy a bike and trying to decide what would be best for me.
I am competing in my first tri later this month (a sprint tri), but at 23 years old I want to get some years out of whatever I buy without digging into grad school money.
I live in Seattle that has some great bike routes such as RAMROD (Ride around Mt. Rainier One Day), STP (Seattle to Portland). I want to be able to participate in these races but focus my training on triathlons and building up to IM distances. I will decide after this first tri whether or not the tri thing is for me, but so far this summer with all my training I love it!
I currently ride my father’s 1990 Schwinn Voyageur (a touring bike) which I will keep for commuting etc. Any suggestions for a newbie?
Tri-bike is designed to be ridden further forward (steeper seat tube angle) which allows you to go lower in front (possibly more aero = faster) and may help some run faster off the bike. Tri bikes generally have base bars/aero bars/bar end shifting. The bar end shifting allows you to shift while in the aero position. Some say the steeper angles bikes climb worse. Some complain about the “worse handling” of tri bikes with more weight on the front wheel. Likely a tad faster than a road bike in most triathlons.
Road bikes are generally ridden with a shallower seat tube angle. Front-end is traditional - nice hoods with easy shifting/braking while on the hoods. Better no doubt for group rides. Likely handles a bit better and in some cases a lot better. A better all around bike - bike racing/group rides/centuries/triathlons…add aero bars and a good position and works great for triathlons.
Comfort for an IM? I’ll take my tri-bike over my road bike and clip-ons. Climbing - I like my road bike a bit more but its close. Speed - tri bike wins. Lots of ups/down/cars/technical - I’ll take my road bike. Group ride - road bike only…
You’ve never done a race. Ride the bike you have for a while and mull it over. I’d lean toward a good all around road bike to start. Just read up on aero bars/positions for road bike positions (shorty aero bars).
Bikes and gearing have changed a lot in 15 years. Your riding will improve a quantum leap on a new/newer bike.
My own recommendation would be that you purchase a road bike first. It is a better all round choice.
My second recommendation would be that you join a bike club and participate in group rides. A lot of triathletes who have never done this pooh pooh this advice. But by doing this, your riding and strength/performance on the bike will progress further and faster than from almost anything else you can do! If you question this, just find a triathlete who rides with a bike club and ask them why they do.
Later on after your riding has progressed, you will be better able to determine which tri bike is better suited for you and you will be better able to distinguish the nuances between some of the bikes.
As somewhat of a novice to the sport and more serious bike riding, you lack the experience at this point to be able to do that. This is not a slam. If you buy a specialized bike now, you will discover that as your riding progresses and you become more flexible and comfortable on a bike for extended periods, you will more quickly outgrow your specialized bike. You really won’t ever outgrow your road bike, unless you are physically still growing. Yes, technology will advance and you may enjoy more disposable income in the future and you may just want a new bike. But that won’t really change how the old/first “real” road bike fit.
I have been in the tri scene now for about 4 months and have went through 3 bikes and am now on my fourth. My first bike was a 2004 cannondale R800 road bike with clip on bars. It behaved too squirrely in the aero bars and looked down right ugly with clip ons. Sold it, and bought a Felt S32 Tri bike. Nice bike but I bought the wrong size as I live in Guam and none of the local shops know how to fit. Sold it and bought a Cervelo P2K that dammit, was too small for me agaiN! You will find that all manufacturers bikes , although the same exact size, has measurements completely different from another manufacturer. Sold that one and just picked up a 2005 Cervelo Dual which happens to be the right size fo me. On flat and somewhat small inclines, this bike feels great. However, when you have to get out of the aero position and ride in the up position, because of its steeper tri geometry, it feels very weird which is one of the reasons it is hard to climb on a tri bike.
I am now regretting on buying a tri bike even though I bought it and am only interested in doing tris. The problem lies in the fact that Guam is loaded with hills and most of the training rides and group rides are done on these hills. I have done 3 and was dropped very quickly as tri bikes are hard to climb on not to mention climbing using the base bars. Personally, what I am going to do is proably sell it and buy the Cervelo Soloist road bike that a few members here recommended. They run $2000 and have a flippable seat post head that will allow you to configure it with clip ons to a tri bike. The way I look at it is using it as a road bike for those races you mentioned wil not only level the playing field somewhat with other riders, but will also make you faster so that when you reconfigure it to a tri set up, you will be much faster. Voila, 1 bike for 2 conditions. Unfortuneatley it took me 3 bikes and about 2 months of lurking on the internet to figure this out! Just proves that even people with Graduate degrees (MBA for me) have a hard time figuring things out. Thank God I had the extra money to figure it out though. Regardless, good luck with Grad school as well as the bike decision.
Excellent advice is posted already. I would add that, as you certainly already know, the motor is by far the most important part. Also, in an actual race, the tri bike is a very significant advantage. Ask Laurent Fignon. Tri bikes are perfectly usable for group rides, but they’re not optimum. Actually, the touring bike probably is. I raced my first tri season on a touring bike, and for very fast descents it’s better than a tri bike (caveat: I had aero bars on it). Finally, I concur with the idea of learning the subtleties and nuances. You’ll develop your own preferences, and they’ll change over time. And usually, they’ll be slightly beyond your budget.
I agree with the other posters, buy a road bike first. It is OK to race on a road bike with an aero set-up. I believe that Tim Deboom rode Hawaii on a Trek Madone road bike, with an integrated aero bar, just last year. It is a lot less common for someone to take a steep angled ‘triathlon’ bike and convert it to do road races, many times the handling won’t be up to snuff to ride in a pack, and the cost of purchasing the integrated STI shifter/brake levers can be close to $400 alone (you save loads of $$ when parts come with a bike as set up by a manufacture).
Great advice so far. I have been doing tri’s for 3 years. The advice that I was given: Buy a road bike, slowly move the seat forward while lowering the front end (over a year or so) to allow your body to adjust. The change in handeling will not be noticable. If you end up over the bottom bracket and very low in the front a tri bike might be what you are looking for. I just bought a dual last week and love it!!! It is not as responsive as my old steel 60 cm way forward on the bars and seat bike. Dual is a 58.
Over the 3 years I have learned what I wanted. I rode this summer with some roadies (out always of the aero bars) and learned a lot. By the way the LBS owner was one of them which is where I bought the bike from.
Good luck make sure what you want. If in doubt I would suggest a road bike. Your neck muscles might thank you.
I actually have gone the other route. My first bike was a P2K which I ride STEEP. I have recently purchased a road bike (Soloist) and flipped the seat post around so it was a little more steep, however, I did not run anywhere close off the road bike as I know I am capable running off the tri bike. My legs always feel great coming off the tri bike. If you think you will be in tri’s over the long haul (as I knew I would be) I would go with a tri bike. I think they serve your normal every day slug like me better than a road bike.
Thank you everyone for the advice. While the tri bike look really cool and would help me go faster in races, i think i agree with the popular opinion of purchasing a road bike with clip-on aero bars.
What suggestions and preferences do people have about riding a road bike with clip-ons? I have discussed with my LBS a few of my options but other opinions are greatly appreciated.