What's the best way to make my road bike fit like my tri bike?

Triathlon Forum
1

I’m sure some will say “just ride your tri bike,” but I don’t see why I wouldn’t see fitness gains using both. I ride an '09 Orbea Orca and an '08 Orbea Ordu.

Here’s the geometry:
Ordu-size 54
seat tube 580
top tube 549
head tube 104
seat angle 76
head angle 73

aerobars-P/D Carbon X 1.5 w/ 100 stem, I was unable to find drop angleinfo

Orca-size 54
seat tube 490
top tube 550
head tube 152
seat angle 73.2
head angle 72.6

110 stem, not sure of the drop angle

So what do I need to do?
Should I have the same saddle on both bikes? I had the Cobb v-flow max in mind…

If I left out any important info, let me know.

2

well, ya but if you want the road bike to fit like the tri bike, why NOT ride the tri bike? for the drop bars?

get another tri frame and put drop bars on it?

=)

buy yourself a tape measure.

measure the distances from your various contact points on the tri bike and figure out how to make them the same on the road bike.

I’m sure some will say “just ride your tri bike,” but I don’t see why I wouldn’t see fitness gains using both

3

Well you need to start with a seatpost that corrects about 2.8 degrees then match your other measurements. (Really an '09 Ordu only has a 76 degee seat tube?)
I would have thought that it was at least 78?

4

To me, the best reason to have two bikes is that they don’t ride the same. Or, I don’t ride them the same way. Road bike–sitting upright, comfortable, sit the saddle on the tailbones. Tri bike–flat back, arms stretched forward, sitting farther forward on the nose of the saddle. When you hit a high volume on the bike you will welcome the difference in how you ride each bike.

On the other hand, I did have my road bike built at 76 degrees and push the seat forward a bit so that the difference in saddle position relative to the bottom bracket is not so extreme. I think the road bike is 4cm behind the bb and the tri bike 3 cm in front. It used to feel really, really weird when I swapped with my old road bike and the seat was like five inches further back than the tri bike position.

Chad

5

Ok, good to know. If I leave them as is, how do I retain my comfort on the tri bike if I ride the road bike more often?

6

Unfortunately, they didn’t offer the 78 degree seat post until well after I had bought mine.

74/76 is what it came with.

7

Not so much for the drops, but the Orca is a blast to ride!

8

Some of this depends on your race distance. If you race long then you probably should ride your Tri bike a proportionally larger amount of time. I prefer short so I can get away with about 30 per day on the tri bike and be fine. I don’t do IM, nor care too, but if I did then I would probably ride my tri bike almost exclusively.

It also depends on your tri bike position. If you ride fairly upright and not very far forward then your road and tri fit won’t be that different. The more aero you are (ie flat back) then the more you will need to ride the tri bike to accustom your neck, shoulders and tender parts to that position.

Chad

9

If you have your tribike set up well you may begin to prefer it to your road bike, which is where you want to be.