For those of you with a tri bike and a road bike

During the off-season, I ride my road bike.  Tri season is purely Tri bike.  So I'd say that my Road bike gets about 4 months of use (Nov/Dec - Feb/Mar).

If my Tribike is in the shop for some reason, then the road bike is a solid back up.

I ride the road bike for roadie rides when in-season (not worth the snide looks when riding in the peloton and riding on the bullhorns negates the advantage a TT bike offers) but train on the TT bike.  During the off-season, I tend to do more roadie ride to keep my fitness up but ride the TT bike when riding with my triathlon friends.

Neither of those scenarios fits neatly into the options above as it all depends upon the time of year.

That said, my TT bike splits have improved by spending more time on my road bike, riding with roadies ... jus thte improvement in cornering alone has enabled me to pass people on corners while maintaining speed. So if the point of the survey is to see where your butt ought to land, I would vote for both!

This year I was 90% on my tri bike.  I generally only ride my road bike in the off-season and to commute.

I hope to change that in the future.  Next season, I plan on doing all my recovery rides on my road bike and trying to do at least one group ride a week...on the road bike of course. 

For me, I get tired of aero position.  I enjoy riding on the hoods especially on hilly terrain where a tri bike doesn't offer as much steady riding. 

When I'm with the roadies, it's the road bike - That can be anytime of the year. Solo, or for the very occaisonal ride with tri friends, it's the TT bike.

Ok, thanks everyone for helping build my case. My husband and I have a bit of a friendly argument/discussion about this. I ride a road bike now, I'm primarily a roadie and I have to admit to probably being one of those snide-look-givers if somone gets aero on a TT bike in a group ride (happened last week, not good, I just want your hands near the brakes if we're going 35mph and you are a few inches off my wheel). Just not a good place for it so I would absolutely never do it. I also do group rides b/c they will kick your butt like no other and I like them. So I'm not giving up my beloved road bike under any circumstances!!

However, my husband tends to think "train on what you race on" or something like that. In other words, he doesn't think I'll get much benefit of a TT bike unless I primarily train on the TT bike b/c I won't be used to positioning etc. I say one day a week for TT training on the Silver Comet would be fine to supplement with my road training.

He likely says this because he needs a new road frame and it's probably a nonissue since I may be gearing up for child #2 next year but...if that doesn't happen right away, I think I'd still like a dedicated TT bike. Doesn't mean it's going to happen..it's just what I'd like

Depends upon the distance you are racing.  Going up and down rollers in a TT position is much, much different than on your road bike.  Outside of the different center of gravity you also enlist different muscle groups.

That said, a case can be made for having two bikes ... or more



If you are trying then the best way to get pregnant is to go ahead and buy the bike

Ditto for me. 

A few weeks, I was doing 25 mile easy rides on Sundays (in addition to a 60 mile hard ride on Sat and a long run on Sun).  l would usually do the Sat ride on the tri bike but the Sunday ride on the road bike just to break it up.

This would actually be bike #4 (cross/road/mountain) "horses for courses" as they say! Realistically, I wouldn't be doing longer than olympic distance. Ok, maybe I have a bike problem but I do ride them all...

I with you Captain. I like to think it would make me faster but......I do mostly ride around Buckhead and wouldn't want to ride it there.

I wish I had the $ laying around to buy it..I'd likely try to pick up a used one for a very reasonable sum...Our house only buys used bikes and used cars