swbkrun's group - FULL (Page 55)

agreed.

Excellent!  Those are great tips and advice that I'm going to use as well!

I like my road bike because I enjoy group rides.  I spent the money and bought a nice road bike, ( Trek Madone 5.2) and I am definitly the rate limiting factor on the road.  I am anxious to get aero bars and have thought about buying another seat post and tri saddle so I can be fitted in the aero position with that post/saddle for races, and then have my other setup for longer group rides.

It would be fun to have a tri bike, but there are other things I'll spend the money on.  If you do most of your rides just for training, I'd advise the tri bike.  If you do a lot of group rides, the road bike.  I agree with Baowolf's comments.

My Road/Tri bike
2007 Cannondale Synapse C2

My Mountain Bike
1999 Specialized Stump Jumper Pro

And yeah the seat is messed up on the mtn bike, not even sure it is bolted down in that picture.

I have changed some stuff on my road bike, white bar tape now (Still looking for white seat), AeroBottle, and Michelin Pro Race 3 tires. 

Still looking for a powertap rear wheel and a Hed H3 front, figure I can transfer those to my tri-bike when I get it and turn this back into a road bike. 

I had it fitted as a tri-bike vs road when I got it set up.  There are just too many damn hills in my area not to have a road bike and a tri-bike.

Also for any group ride aero-bars are frowned upon, not the tri-bikes themselves.  There is just too much that can go wrong with them since they stick out so far.  This is why in UCI races (Olympics), if you see any aerobars at all they can't extend past the shifters.

I bought a tri bike earlier this year because the main reason I was getting a bike was to train for and ride in triathlons.  If it was just to ride around with friends or for fitness I would have gotten a road bike.

I agree with everything in Steve's (baowolf) post about them.  Here is also a very good article from Bikesport about the differences: http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/bikes/difference.shtml  (by the way, this is a very good website, full of excellent articles.  Tom Demerly, the owner of Bikesport, is also on BT).

The disadvantage of the tri bike for me is all the hills and corners around here.  It's frustrating to always need to change positions when I need to brake, or go up steeper hills.  But once a race starts, I sure am glad I'm on my tri bike.  I've seen an article about installing a 2nd rear brake on the aero bar, which I'm considering doing. 

I still do a lot of training on my mountain bike, because I have a "rails to trails" trail right beside my office, so I can get on it and just go without stopping or worrying about traffic.

Here are some pics:

Brand New:

and some action shots:

Here I am coming up a hill from T1.  Note I'm upright to come up the hill, so it's important to have your tri bike in the correct gear since your hands are away from the shifters.  (You get more power on hills sitting up than in aero position).  But you can also see my body is a parachute, so you get into aero asap!

And as a contrast, taking a turn a few weeks later at full speed - note the striking resemblance to my avatar!

Hehe I love talking bikes.

Get a tri-bike.  TBH if you are on a budget you can probably pick up all the parts between here, SlowTwitch, E-Bay & Craigslist to put together a pretty nice tri-bike for under 1500 bucks.

Or save time and buy a brand new Cervelo P2SL Ultegra for $1485, or P2SL Dura Ace for $1665! (includes 10% USAT discount from Nytro).

Bob, check out that BT jersey!!!  Is that a P2?  Tony, LOVE the Cannondale.  That black is wicked looking and I'll bet the touches of white make it sweet!  And that is a serious fork on your Specialized.  Specialized are my favorite commericals- I love all the Italians during the tour saying, "I am Specialized."  Yes I'm a dork I know!! 

I think I am in the minority in being a Trek fan.  Now, if they only made this in PINK!!! And replace those wheels with a cool pair of Zipps 202 (404s and I would get blown over )

EDIT:  THIS IS A WISH BIKE, NOT ONE I HAVE!!!!  BUT MY BIRTHDAY IS TOMORROW IS YOU GUYS ARE LOOKING FOR IDEAS................................

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wow, how long was that race?

I went to take pics of my bikes last night, but I'd put the truck in the garage and didn't feel like moving it to get them down.  I'll try tonight.

btw - I swam this morning, first time in awhile and it felt pretty good.

btw - I swam this morning, first time in awhile and it felt pretty good.

Why has it been a while?  Were you focusing on your run?  Good job.

LOL!  Good one!

Nice job on the swim!  I need to get back to the water also.

That and I'm lazy.  Not having any events w/ a swim portion scheduled made it easier to sleep in.

We took up a collection amongst the group and I'm happy to announce you'll be getting a couple spokes and maybe some brake cable  toward your new bike.

EXCELLENT!!!! ONE PIECE AT A TIME WORKS FOR ME!!!! (ha ha ha)