Help! 1st bike for racing

Regarding the aero bars... I believe that you can adjust them to fit any size bar, BUT I am not 100% sure so don't take my word for it.

Regarding the bike... Go with the Trek, those are well made, relatively inexpensive bikes, with good quality. 😉

Ray Thormund said:

Hi, I'm new and I've decided to get into road racing. My college has a cycling club and I have experience with other aerobic sports. I've narrowed my choice down to these three bikes (I'm on a bit of a tight budget):
1. Trek 1200
2. Giant OCR 2
3. '06 Scott Speedster S40
Would all of these bikes work with clip-on aero bars for time trials?

Thanks for your help.

I ride a Trek so there's part of me saying go that route...If you're thinking about a Giant (I was sold on a TCR limited...gorgeous white to carbon fade...) I'd look into the TCR models for racing. OCR is their compact frame geometry which is more for an upright riding position. With some tinkering and a few new partes (stem mainly) you can get your bars down low, but if you're planning on buying between the two, go for a TCR first (for racing that is.). Scott's I've just recently fell in love with. I can't offer any specific info on a S40, but if that's in the 1,100 dollar range then I have a friend that I ride with who just got one and he loves it. My next bike is likely to be a Scott

As for the aerobars, any of those bikes should be compatible. With high end "wing" bars you run into problems as the flats (the part of the bar where the stem and aerobars connects to) are not round. They're more of a concave shape, making them more aerodynamic and comfortable for hills. If the handlebars are round in the flats (round is the shape, flats is hte location on the bar) then the aerobars ought to work. If nothing else, ask someone working at the shop you're purchasing from. If they don't know, or don't bother to help, then you don't want to be spending your hard earned money at that shop.