Tri Bike Thoughts

TTRon said:

Will a tri-bike really help my time and worth the cost?

I'm current using a Trek 5500 with aero bars for sprint and olympic distance triathlons.

I'm considering doing Wildflower's long course next year, so was wondering if anyone had experience with a bike with aero bars verse a tri bike.

Thanks, Ron

Do you do any group riding? Are you comfortable on the Trek with the Aero bars? If yes to both keep using the Trek.

Do you only use your bike for Tri's and training for them? If yes, a tri bike might help your run performance, but won't nessesarily make your bike time any faster.

Personally, I throw on aero bars on my road bike when I do an ocasional tri and it's fine, but I do more road riding than tris.

For your reading enjoyment:

http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/bikes/difference.shtml

If you are serious about longer distance tri's, keep the existing bike for recrational riding and get a tri bike for training & racing. It would be hard to justify a new bike for sprints, but international & longer should provide noticable differences in both bike & run split times. The aero position of clip-ons on a road bike is just wrong! It puts your hips at an extreme angle hurting bike power output and leaving your legs in poor shape for the run. A tribike pulls your butt up closer to the bars bringing the hip angle abck to the optimal 90 degree range. And by all means, do not buy a tri bike by brand name or just because it's in stock somehwere and you can get a good deal on the price. All bikes are unique and you need to get a professionally fitted bike by someone who knows how to fit a tri bike. If you're not geting fitted, get a Huffy........

TTRon said:

I'm considering doing Wildflower's long course next year, so was wondering if anyone had experience with a bike with aero bars verse a tri bike.

I raced triathlons on a road bike with aerobars from 1990 to 1999. In 2000 I bought a tri-bike. I ride about the same on the tri-bike as I did on the road bike. But I run better off the tri-bike. The biggest improvement is in the first mile of the run.

A true tri bike and a conventional road bike fitted with aero bars are completely different. As a previous poster said, the tri bike will open up the angle of your legs and hips more, having (generally) a steeper seat tube angle. The top tube of the tri bike will, therefore, need to be quite a bit shorter than your road bike (assuming it has traditional relaxed geometry). You should definately be fitted if you are thinking of going this route. Also, remember that the tri bike will handle differently than a road bike. A road bike with aero bars is a compromise, but fine for short tris where you might want quicker handling. The tri bike will usually have slower handling, making it more suitable for longer, non-drafting events.