TT or Road Bike?

Biggest downside is the lack of versatility. If all you're interested in is triathlons and triathlon training, then there's no reason to not get the specialized tool designed for triathlons. If you may be interested in road racing, group rides, touring, etc., then a road bike will do all that and triathlons too.

You can always get both...

It might also be worth considering how many hours a week you're likely to be putting in.  All I know is that I wouldn't want to spend the hours I do on my road bike on a TT bike.

I went down the route of getting a road bike first (for the reasons Bear mentioned) and am now in the process of building up a TT bike.  If I were to start over I would do the same again - there's no way I'd want to miss out on the road racing and touring.

If you are 100% sure all you will be doing is triathlons then I would probably go with a TT bike, although as I mentioned above I would consider potential training volume.

I'm a new triathlete, much like you. After measuring the pro's and con's, i have decided to go with a road bike. i plan on doing tri's for many years, but i also plan on participating in group rides, training in hilly areas, etc.

Road bikes are more versatile, in my opinion.

good luck and let us know what you decide...

I was (am?) in a similar position, pretty new so take my advice with a grain of salt.

I was torn between a Trek 1.5 (road) and a Felt S32 (tri) two different shops in my area had. Most of the people I talked to (impartial, not either shops opinion... obviously they both wanted me to buy their bike) said to get the Trek, it would be more versatile should I want to do something other than Tri's, along with not being nearly as difficult to ride. I was pretty set on the Trek at this point, and would have gotten it if not for my mother.

 She asked me what I planned to do with my bike. I told her I wanted to do triathlons. She said getting a road bike sounded like wanting to do drag races but buying a civic instead of a mustang.  I know, sorry comparison, but it got me thinking. I ended up with the S32, and although its tough (and sometimes painful) learning to ride it, I'm glad I ended up getting it.  Hope this helps somehow.