I am in the market for a specific tri bike to add to the stable. So far I have trained and raced my road bike and also done some smalls tri’s and dua’s on my road bike but since I am getting more serious about following up on the tri racing and the season here in FL is having its last couple of races to start in full force with some series around march 06, i think it will be a good time to spend the money on getting the tri bike so i can train on it for some months. I currently ride a full carbon road bike so Im kind of interested in having a not too harsh ride with an alu frame. In the near future I expect to do only sprint and olympic distances since time to train is limited.
After looking at some bikes in the $2000 to $2500 (full carbon and alu frames) range I decided to go lower on the bike to around $1100 to $1700 but upgrade the wheels to some decent aero (no money for zipps but maybe HED or Xlab). That will put me certainly in an aluminum frame and I am shooting for carbon fork, seatpost, bars and maybe crank set to help with some of the vibration and stiffer pedaling.
Dont need dura ace but will prefer ultegra.
I have the options of some good equipped 05 bikes at the local shops around that price with the stock wheels that i will later or right away upgrade to aero. I am seriously considering the XLab and would like opinions on if it makes sense versus my other options.
QR Kilo with 105 $1199
QR Tequilo with ultegra $1800, btw hate the paint job.
Felt S32 with 105 $1049
Guru Cron Alu with 105 $1650
XLab Mach 2 with ultegra $1600
Out of these I like the Guru and i’m kind of intrigued about the Xlab looks like a very nice bike for the money, not too many around though to ask opinions but by the brochure description sounds like the put a lot of thought in some of the aero features.
Wonder how many people are actually riding this bike. I know it will be a small amount compared to the other brands but sometime this small companies put out good products.
I bought this bike at the beginning of the year. After originally ordering and waiting 6 months for a P2k, my dealer recommended the Mach 2 because it was similiar to the P2k and roughly the same price.
It took me a couple of months to get used to the feel (keep in mind that it was my first tri bike) and now I love it. I changed out the aerobars and have upgraded the wheelset to HEDs. Can’t complain at all, especially with the price.
I have seen one other Mach 2 out there since my purchase. Other than Dan’s review, Triathlete Mag had a good recommendation for it a few months back. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks a lot for your response. As you can tell I really like the bike over most of the other ones. If its not too much to ask could you tell me the original components you got before the upgrade and if you had any negatives about them? Also how much did you pay for the bike, if its ok with you to tell me (you can PM if you dont want to post it).
I am planning on maybe upgrading the wheels if I get this bike to the Xlabs or HED jet 60, Zipp is way too much money…
How harsh is the ride in your opinion? I am afraid to have something noticeable compared to my full carbon road bike or maybe adding a carbon post will help.
I paid around $2200 with a FIST fit. Original wheels were the Bontrager Select which I use to train. Original aerobars were PD Aerolite. I also changed out the Velo seat on it.
The ride is a little more harsh with my race wheels, but not bad. I had to get used to the ride as I switched from a road bike. Overall, I’m very happy with my purchase and I’m glad I didn’t wait it out for the P2k. Just need to improve the engine on the bike now.
Thanks for the info. I have been riding full carbon for quite sometime now so I am sure the feel will be somewhat different. Havent riden alu bikes in a while although I dont forsee going longer than olympic distance on this bike in the near future with training rides no longer than 40mi. You bought locally or online?
We all need to upgrade the engine at some point or we might make our sweet bikes look bad. I kind of did that at our last century until I got strength out of nowhere for the last 15mi and was able to start and finish with the A group… lots of folks like to start with A and finish with C…I had never taken 2 gels in less than 1/2 hour but it was one of my last resources I think it wasnt that, it was just mental…
The Guru Crono Alu is about the most stable tri-bike I have ever been on, maybe it was the way it was set-up, but it felt like you did not even need your hands on the bars to go straight. It was also a very comfortable aluminum ride. THat bike led me to decide on the Guru Tri-ti, if the aluminum was that nice I figured the Ti would be at least as good if not better.
A friend has the QR Caliente and man is that bike light, but not quite as comfortable as the Guru, and some stronger riders may find it a bit flexy. His race ready tri bike is 18 lbs.
I have ridden some Felts road and tri and have always been pleased.
You have a tough choice. As a side note you can get custom from Guru for like $100-200 more. I brought my seat tube angle up to 79 degrees and had the derailer mount lowered to run compact cranks with no derailer gap. They also made adjustments to the top and headtube to accommodate the seat tube change.
My opinion is biased though since I bought a Guru. Oh yea I went custom also since I finally wanted a bike to fit right, went through 3 bikes in 2 years, all fast, but just were not just right.
Thanks for the info. Guru is my other choice currently. I have seen the cron’alu in person, very nice workmanship and understand about the custom tubes. I think their ultegra package is nice but makes the bike more expensive. The Caliente is nice, the new 06 one looks pretty cool but thats a much higher priced bike.
I’ll have to make a decision and it wont be easy, but I am trying to give all bikes a fair chance that is why I am gattering as much info as possible on each one.
I bought my Xlab a few months ago and after 700 miles I can’t complain. At $1600 you’d be getting yours for $100 less than I did, hard to beat that bike at that price. Good luck!
I swapped it out when I bought the bike. I think the difference was about $60. I later added the saddlewing as the frame only has bolts for 1 water bottle.
Like Xswimguy, this is my 1st tri bike. I bought it after reading good reviews and because I wanted to spend less than 2K. Unfortunately I can’t tell you how it feels compared to the other bikes you mention, if you are able to try them all I’d recommend that.
Very important water bottles. I always like to take at least 2 for anything over 20mi. If longer I even put another one in my jersey pocket.
How is the paint job in person, does it looks good quality? shiny? scratches easily? does it has sticker or is all painted on the frame? … sorry about all the questions.
I looked at the xlab when i was buying my bike. When i talked to the guys at nytro because my goal is the IM they recommended me away from the bike cause they said its super stiff and more designed towards shorter distance races.
just thought i would pass it along. take it for what its worth.
One of their employees qualified for Kona on an Xlab and rode it there so it probably wasn’t him. He does, however, ride a Kuota now I believe so perhaps that’s one of the reasons.
