This is my first Ironman…I’ll be doing WI in Sept. I have a Trek Pilot 5.2 road bike…have added aerobars, etc., and am wondering what, if any, advantages there would be in purchasing a tri bike?
this might be a helpful resource:
Hi Triwi
I will also be doing my 1st IM in WI.
Recently bought a Tri bike but not necessarily for IMmoo. I don’t have any time on it yet. My road bike is very comfortable and is a much better climber. I plan on spending a couple of weekends in Madison and will take both bikes out on the course before I deide which one I’m riding.
Hi. I’m glad you’re also taking the plunge…and in WI!!
It kind of stinks, but it seems like you almost have to buy them both and then decide. How did you make the choice of what tri bike to get and what are you riding?
Tracy
I did my first IM last year (IMLP) and I was going to do it on my road bike. An old 2001/2002 Orynx road bike I bought for less than $1000 ($ Canadian) with if I recall correctly had triple Sora components. I of course added aerobars!
A week 1/2 before IMLP, Dave Harju (2 time IMMoo winner) sold his 06 QR Lucero for 50% if not more of the retail price.
I ended up riding on the QR of course. I had a big smile on my face with the QR.
Bottom line I was going to do IMLP on a simple, not expansive road bike. I ended up on a tri bike because of once in a while opportunity.
You have a very very decent road bike… if you are looking @ just IMMoo I do not believe it is worth it. On the other hand, if you are looking @ next year, then the following, year, then the following year,etc. and can see yourself doing a bunch of tris, then it becomes up to you & your financial priorities!
Fred.
I started out on a Trek 1200 road bike, but I decided to invest in a tri bike and bought a Kuota Kalibur. On my road bike I did well but my tri bike has me looking like Norm Stadler on steroids…I’m a little bigger then him. I think the tri bike is worth it for me, but it depends on you. You’re going to find that most of the advice that you’ll receive on such matters will be that it varies from person to peron, and it does. My training partner trains and races on an Orca road bike and is thinking that he might make the switch to a tri bike. I find it funny because he made fun of me for buying a tri bike when I spent the money. Besides, buying a new bike is more fun then buying new shoes, it’s just a little tougher on the budget if done as often. So quit buying shoes and start buying tri geer!
Tom’s post pretty much answered your question 
I would like to add that you can “fake” a triathlon position on your road bike by installing a zero-offset or forward-offset seatpost (like the Profile Fast Forward seatpost). This will change your effective seat angle from 73-74 degrees to 77-78 degrees. You’ll most likely have to compensate on the front end and basically start over with your bike fit, but it’s a cheap way to find out if riding in a triathlon position works for you.
(Nerd Alert: I bought a Fast Forward post for my road bike, and to get my front end to fit better I ended up purchasing an 115mm adjustable stem to replace my old 100mm stem. I then dropped the new stem all the way to -40 degrees. This gives me an effective stem length of only about 81mm, which makes sense since the FF post moved me forward by about an inch.)
How did I make my choice of Tri Bike ? Your not going to like the answer.
I was on Ebay looking for race wheels for my Road Bike when I literally came across what looked like an unbelievable deal. Threw out a bid on a 2007 QR Seduza. Long story but I ended up getting outbid but still got the bike at my max bid.
Most of our sprints around here are hilly and I fair quite well on my road bike against riders on Tri’s so I really wasn’t looking to purchase a TT bike.
I did test ride QR’s and Felts and new the QR would fit.
Now I will say that I saw very few road bikes at 2007 IM moo.