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Do you take the tri bike or the road bike?
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 2009-06-29 3:11 PM |
Extreme Veteran  484   Glen Burnie, MD |  Subject: Do you take the tri bike or the road bike?About 6 weeks ago, I bought a Felt B2. I was previously riding a Cannondale R1000 w/aero bars. The road bike did me very well, it's a great fit, and I love riding it but I felt it necessary (no pun intended) to get a tri bike for my first 70.3 which I did 2 wks ago. Now when I go out to do training rides, I am always asking myself tri bike or road bike?!?!? My question to you is: When do you take the road bike and when do you take the tri bike? If you were doing a 40 mile ride with 3,000 ft of climbing, would you take the tri bike or the road bike? The tri bike is not geared for climbing (and is heavier than the road bike) at all but it's really fast on the straight and downhill parts so I feel like it makes up for the weight. I keep going back and forth on this. Does it make sense to put a 12/27 on a tri bike or should I not be doing that kind of climbing on the tri bike? Thanks for any input  |
| 2009-06-29 3:21 PM in reply to: #2251108 |
Champion 8766    Evergreen, Colorado | Subject: RE: Do you take the tri bike or the road bike? dolelicious - 2009-06-29 3:11 PM About 6 weeks ago, I bought a Felt B2. I was previously riding a Cannondale R1000 w/aero bars. The road bike did me very well, it's a great fit, and I love riding it but I felt it necessary (no pun intended) to get a tri bike for my first 70.3 which I did 2 wks ago. Now when I go out to do training rides, I am always asking myself tri bike or road bike?!?!? My question to you is: When do you take the road bike and when do you take the tri bike? If you were doing a 40 mile ride with 3,000 ft of climbing, would you take the tri bike or the road bike? The tri bike is not geared for climbing (and is heavier than the road bike) at all but it's really fast on the straight and downhill parts so I feel like it makes up for the weight. I keep going back and forth on this. Does it make sense to put a 12/27 on a tri bike or should I not be doing that kind of climbing on the tri bike? Thanks for any input I have a 12/27 on my tri bike and would choose it for climbing all day long over my road bike. But my road bike is built like a tank...my tri bike is MUCH lighter. So really...it depends on what you are looking to do. If my road bike was lighter I might choose to take it climbing more often and save my tri bike for the times when aero is necessary. But there is absolutely nothing that says a tri bike can't climb... |
| 2009-06-29 3:25 PM in reply to: #2251144 |
Cycling Guru 15134 Fulton, MD | Subject: RE: Do you take the tri bike or the road bike? The vast majority of my outdoor rides are on my road bike. The tri bike only comes out for races and a ride or two before just to make sure it is set up right. But my tri bike is my "trainer" bike for all my indoor rides. |
| 2009-06-29 3:27 PM in reply to: #2251108 |
| Subject: RE: Do you take the tri bike or the road bike? Depends on my mood and which bike the tool bag is currently affixed to  As for climbing, my road bike is lighter and climbs better, but has a 12/25. The tri bike has a 12/27. Usually it's a wash. But before I got the road bike I would do 50+ mile rides with 5K+ feet of climbing on the tri bike, and I still would. Builds character (really it's the descending that I prefer the road bike for, it just handles better) |
| 2009-06-30 7:24 AM in reply to: #2251108 |
Extreme Veteran 484 Glen Burnie, MD | Subject: RE: Do you take the tri bike or the road bike? Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to try putting a 12/27 on the tri bike and take it out in the hills to see if it will earn it's price tag then. I hate to think that I spent that much money on a bike that I'm only going to want to take out on the flat rides (which are few and far between cause I love me some climbing - which it sounds like you (ChrisM) do as well  ) |
| 2009-06-30 11:41 PM in reply to: #2251108 |
| Master 2460 | Subject: RE: Do you take the tri bike or the road bike? I only have a tribike (Cervelo P2C) with 53-39/12-25 standard gearing, and last week I rode 6 days, each day well of 4000 feet, including a 70 miler with over 6000 ft of climbing, including a good stretch of 19-22% incline in Norcal. You can ride a tribike even on some crazy hills. It certainly isn't easy on either bike when you start getting to this much climbing, but for sure, it's 95+% rider and <5% bike, even on the hills. I also think the tribike climbing handicap is overrated, especially for training purposes, where the extra weight from the aerobars and frame will just make you stronger anyway. Once you get used to the geometry for climbing, you'll adapt to that as well. It's certainly not any more than a 5% (likely way less) handicap on the tribike on hills. |
| 2009-07-01 7:37 AM in reply to: #2251160 |
Champion 9060 Charlottesville, Virginia | Subject: RE: Do you take the tri bike or the road bike? Daremo - 2009-06-29 4:25 PM The vast majority of my outdoor rides are on my road bike. The tri bike only comes out for races and a ride or two before just to make sure it is set up right. But my tri bike is my "trainer" bike for all my indoor rides. Pretty much same for me, except I pull my tri bike out to practice TT's every so often. |
| 2009-07-01 8:50 AM in reply to: #2251108 |
Master 2407 Bellevue, WA | Subject: RE: Do you take the tri bike or the road bike? I use my tri bike far more than my road bike. My rides are mostly solo training and group training with my tri friends. I do all my "real" training on the tri bike - fast & flat, rollers, hill climb repeats. Doesn't matter. The road bike I ride with roadie friends (don't have time for many of those rides) and riding with my wife (who hasn't ridden much this year). |
| 2009-07-04 9:41 AM in reply to: #2251108 |
Master 1588 San Francisco | Subject: RE: Do you take the tri bike or the road bike? I use my tri bike on all my long rides. I've used it on centuries, the AIDS ride, whatever. For me, it takes getting used to being in aero (neck for one) so I like time in the saddle to get used to this. I also have a 12-27. That being said, I commute to work on a road bike and I rack up twice as many miles on that as I do my tri bikes... Edited by enginerd 2009-07-04 9:42 AM |
| 2009-07-05 3:11 PM in reply to: #2251108 |
| New user 1 New York | Subject: RE: Do you take the tri bike or the road bike? "train like you race" |
| 2009-07-05 4:13 PM in reply to: #2262913 |
Cycling Guru 15134 Fulton, MD | Subject: RE: Do you take the tri bike or the road bike? |
| 2009-07-05 8:10 PM in reply to: #2262913 |
Master 1588 San Francisco | Subject: RE: Do you take the tri bike or the road bike? cyclingamy - 2009-07-05 1:11 PM "train like you race" don't forget to practice peeing on the bike too. Your training buddies will be very impressed.  |
| 2009-07-06 8:16 AM in reply to: #2263305 |
Extreme Veteran 484 Glen Burnie, MD | Subject: RE: Do you take the tri bike or the road bike? enginerd - 2009-07-05 9:10 PM cyclingamy - 2009-07-05 1:11 PM "train like you race" don't forget to practice peeing on the bike too. Your training buddies will be very impressed. Ewww! I've never heard of doing that before... and on the new bike, no way!! Impressive logs enginerd! You really are an endurance junkie Just an update.. I got a Dura-Ace 12/27 and put it on the tri bike and took her out for a metric century w/4000 ft of climbing. It wasn't too aggressive of a ride and the hills weren't as bad as the local ones I do but it certainly made a difference. It feels more like climbing with my road bike now. It's soooo much faster on the downhills and flats that I'm going to keep taking the tri bike - except for commuting. I agree that might be better on the roadie (having my hands out in aero makes it too tempting to run the lights) |
| 2009-07-06 8:58 AM in reply to: #2263973 |
Master 1588 San Francisco | Subject: RE: Do you take the tri bike or the road bike? dolelicious - 2009-07-06 6:16 AM Ewww! I've never heard of doing that before... and on the new bike, no way!! Impressive logs enginerd! You really are an endurance junkie Just an update.. I got a Dura-Ace 12/27 and put it on the tri bike and took her out for a metric century w/4000 ft of climbing. It wasn't too aggressive of a ride and the hills weren't as bad as the local ones I do but it certainly made a difference. It feels more like climbing with my road bike now. It's soooo much faster on the downhills and flats that I'm going to keep taking the tri bike - except for commuting. I agree that might be better on the roadie (having my hands out in aero makes it too tempting to run the lights) plenty of threads about peeing on the bike if you search for them... Thanks, yeah, it's all fun. Glad to hear the 12/27 worked out. I originally bought my 12/27 for IM Lanzarote last year which has almost 9000' elevation. For training for that, I did a double metric, a hilly double metric (about 9000'), and a hilly century (about 9000') with it too and I was glad to have that extra gear! |
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