Thread: road or tri bike

Quick question for you bikers out there. I am an avid mtn bker, just getting into the tri thing. I won a few tri a tris on my mtn bike with slicks, but it was just not cutting at full distance, and the 10 yr old road bike I have replaced it with is not much better. Well now I am saving up my pennies, and am looking at a new road/tri bike. The problem comes because I don't know what to get. Should I buy a road bike and put aero bars forward angled seat-post and tri saddle, or should I go straight tri.
I still think I would like to go out for some rides with my roady pals, so I don't want to be the subject of scorn for showing up on a tri bike.
I am fairly advanced when it comes to biking, and I am looking to compete at a fairly high level.
Is there that much of a difference?
THanks

We were in a similar position to you recently, then we discovered Cervelo bikes. Most of their range have a nifty seatpost design that allows you to quickly change the angles from road to tri position. Make it easier if you have two saddles one sat on the gadget in each position. Undo one screw, swap the saddles and you have changed your bike configuration in seconds.

There is a considerable difference, at least we have found so. Running of the Cervelo with the seat set for tri is much easier than running of our other 'normal' roadbikes. Something to do with the pelvis/hips being tipped forward which brings other muscles into play, or something like that.

Anyway, pop to www.cervelo.com and check them out. That way you'll end up with a road and a tri bike in one.

I hav eno connection with Cervelo, other than being, along with my wife, a very happy owner.

Louise and Philip

It all depends how much racing you are going to do and how important it is to shave a few minutes off your bike time. Road bike is good for training rides and generally putting the miles on. Most fortunate triathletes have 2 bikes, a road bike for their long training rides and a tri bike for races and race type training. If you want to purchase a bike that will use it for leisure bike rides and also for triathlon the best use of your buck is to buy a road bike. When choosing a road bike make sure that it does not feel like a "cadilac" and that is more on the stiff side. Try it with aerobars on before you buy. Some bikes are not meant to put aero bars on, but others are fine. I ride a carbon fiber Trek and I have no problem with aero. My boyfriend until last weekend he rode Bianchi Giro and aero bike would feel terrible. He bought the Giant TRC C 0, and aero bars go natural.