Want a bike for triathlons & road riding...HELP!

All of the options you've listed are viable for both general riding and racing. The Roubaix for instance is a fine bike and won't slow you down in races, especially if your races are multisport events which from a cycling standpoint are basically well paced time trials. Pure road racing bikes often have a bit quicker steering, perhaps slightly shorter wheelbase, maybe a bit higher bottom bracket. All of those things are designed to make the bike a bit quicker in tight turns and in theory at least a bit more responsive in dynamic pack racing situations. But even so I'd have no qualms about racing a crit or road race on the Roubaix or Allez frames. In the end it really isn't about the bike once you move up into that class of frame and components.

Don't worry about the tires (23c vs 25c) that come on the stock bike, tires are consumables and you'll be changing them out before the season is over at which point you can put different width tires on if you want. In general the same goes for most components on the bike, focus on a good comfortable fit with range for adjustment as your riding style evolves, IOW don't get the smallest frame that you can just barely fit with a 140mm stem nor the biggest you can straddle that requires a 60mm stem. In either case you'll have limited ability to make changes as you ride more and find your own best position.

One thing you should pay attention to is handlebars that will accept clip on aero bars for your triathlons. Some bars are wing shaped and others narrow down on either side of the stem clamp in such a way that clip on bars don't fit on them. That would suck as aero bars will really help your tri splits.

Bottom line, you're not really going to find many bikes within a certain price class that are much better or much worse for general riding and or occasional racing. Sure stay away from a cyclocross or mountain bike if you really want to ride the road and a bike built for fully loaded touring with slack angles and cantilever brakes probably isn't the ticket for you. But the bikes you described above will all work fine, the differences are subtle and what matters most is how it fits you and how it feels when you ride it. Try to do some substantial test riding, not just a lap around the parking lot and compare several bikes in your price range. Don't worry about the distinction between race and 'endurance' bikes within a few hundred dollars of one another, they're not all that different and won't make any difference to your tri splits.

I could name a few more great bikes but the main point is that there isn't one great bike custom tailored to your needs and a bunch that suck. The market is too competitive for that and the differences in design are minor compared to the different levels of fitness among folks you're racing against.

Good luck,
-Dave

I'm going to disagree a bit here with the advice from the bike shop about Specialized Secteur and Roubaix. They have frame geometries that are very much on the "comfort" end of the spectrum, and I don't think they lend themselves much to a triathlon or time trial position, even if you add aero-bars.

I think you will be better served by a more race-oriented geometry, even if you go for a straight road bike, and not a tri/time trial type frame.

A specialized Allez is going to be better than a similarly-equipped Secteur - same goes for Tarmac versus Roubaix at a higher (carbon) price point.

In moderately-priced Al-frame bikes, Cannondale CAAD's have a very race-oriented geometry. Same goes for some Felt models.

A Trek 2.3 (and the Specialized Allez) is going to be somewhere in the middle - not as race-oriented as a C'dale CAAD, but more so than the Sectuer or Roubaix.

My daughter started doing sprint triathlons a while ago, and now does the Olympic-length triathlons. She more or less came at it from the running side (she runs marathons semi-regularly), but she also was a pretty active recreational bike rider. (It was the swimming part that came the hardest to her.) She has just been using her old (2003 or maybe 2004) Trek (I forget now if it was a 1000, or a 1200 - mostly Shimano 105, in any case). She added a pair of fairly low-cost aero bars (Profile Design - see link below). She got the j-bar T1+, although I think the T2 S-bar type have become more popular.

Profile Design - Aerobars

But what she really would like is to get a modestly-priced more-dedicated TT bike, in particular, this one:

Cervélo Bikes 2010 - Triathlon Time Trial Bikes - P1

Not real light, but TT bikes are always a bit heavier than their regular road counterparts, since there is more premium placed on flat-terrain speed, than on hill climbing. But it has the "real" TT bars, aero tubing, plus the more upright seat-tube angle that works better with the TT position. At $1700 list (what, maybe $1500 out the door?) it is not really too bad a deal.... (I know you said you didn't want a TT bike - but it WOULD make a lot of the other triathlon competitors jealous...)

Actually, Cervelo's most moderately-priced road bike is also pretty aero. But it's also more money, and for that amount of money there are lots of good choices.

http://www.cervelo.com/en_us/bikes/2010/S1/

I don't have as much time as the previous posters so my post is going to be brief and to the point, but I suggest you take a look at the Kestrel Talon. Their seatposts are dual position, so you can have tri and road geometry (normal road seat angle and a steeper, tri friendly seat angle). They're built to be aero and are pretty comfortable.

I have one and ride it more than the other two road bikes I own, combined. The 2008/2009 bikes are on discount and I'm sure you could pick one up for around your price point. Do some research...

Wow a lot of good advice from everyone thanks very much! Yesterday I was all excited to head to my 4th LBS which sells Felt & Cannondale, but they literally had hardley anything in stock. The owner told me that you could only order the Felt's if you wanted to buy one, they will never have them in stock to test ride. I thought that was rather weird that they didn't have any in stock. He also said that they aren't getting any of their Cannondale 2010 bikes until early April? Every other LBS I went to already had 2010 bikes in stock. I found it rather puzzling that they didn't have the new models in yet? We're gearing up for riding weather here in Michigan.

rschleicher, thanks for the tip and website on the aero bars, much appreciated. Much like your daughter, swimming is my nemesis although I'm getting better....slowly! I'm really bummed I didn't get a chance to ride the Cannondale's yesterday. Seems like the CAAD series would be right in my price range.

Dave from Wyoming,
Multiple great tips as well. I think the aero bars will definitely help my speed. Thanks for clearing up my tire question too, and you're right when you get into a price range there aren't many major differences among different brands. As many roadies say, "It's not the bike so much as the engine running it".

Tony Z,
I will for sure check out the Kestrel model you suggested. I'm about a month away from my purchase so I still have some research to do.

Appreciate all the advice from the "veteran" bikers. It's an enormous help, belive me!

So I test rode a number of bikes this week.

First the CAAD9 5. I really liked it, didn't love it, but really really liked it. Not too thrilled with the gray color scheme though.

Rode a Specialized Allez, didn't like it at all. Didn't fit me right.

Rode a Sectuer, same thing didn't like the feel of it.

Rode a Roubaix, didn't feel right.

So I was pretty set on the CAAD9 5, but I still wanted to test ride the Trek 2.3 and then make my decision.

Finally I went to my 8th LBS (no joke) which is very close to home, 15 minutes. They deal Trek, so my thought was to ride the 2.3 and make a choice. Of course they didn't have my size in the 2.3 and I was disappointed. Then the salesman said he had a 2009 Specialized Tarmac Elite for $2,300. Little more than I wanted to spend but full carbon frame. I took it for a test ride and man can you really feel the difference with full carbon. I was really stuck now, I loved it. Then he also said he had a 2009 Trek Madone 4.5. So I hoped on and as I was riding I knew it was the bike, just knew it. I talked him down from $2,100 to $1,900 and I got my bike! Love the color scheme (blue & white just like my Scott Mtn bike). I am so fired up and feel I got a great deal. The MSRP on the '09 Madone's are $2,469. I know the new 2010 Madone 4.5's are listed at $2,099, but truthfully I'm not a big fan of the black and red and it's near the exact same bike. The only difference from looking at the spec's is the '09 has Shimano Ultegra on the rear derailleur where the 2010 has 105.

I am so fired up and a little more than I was hoping to spend, but I guess it's only a $400 difference and full cabron frame.

All the bikes I looked it, I was not dead set on. It's really true, but what you want to ride and make sure you take a good solid test ride, you really can feel the difference in how the bike fits you. On my test rides I rode a good 4 miles on each bike and it really made a difference. I also think you really should love the color scheme as well.

I appreciate everyone's advice, now I can't wait to get riding! The only problem was that I had no intention of buying a bike on the spot so I didn't have my bike rack with me and couldn't take the thing home!!!! Picking it up Friday, can't wait!

Cheers

Good for you! Post some pictures when you get it.