to tri bike or to road bike

Having just bought a tri bike and also owning a road bike, yes it can be faster and yes it can be less comfortable. Depends on how you use it. If you have to continually get out of the saddle to climb on a hilly course, it might be worth it to stick to a road bike. The tri bike is great when you are in the aero position, though it does take some strengthening of the neck muscles to adjust to the new position. And if you're not constantly riding on the aero pads but using the outer cowhorns, it can be a real pain to have to keep moving your hands to shift gears, since mine has the bar end shifters on the ends of the Syntace aero bars. If you been used to the shifters being built into the brake levers like on the modern road bikes, this is a bit of an adjustment too. And the increased seat tube angle puts your body weight further forward, so that extensive riding on the cowhorns is not very comfortable. Your hands will be a lot more sore than on a standard road bike. Lots of things to consider. You might want to take a test ride on a tri bike to see if you really want to go that route.

Bottom line is, the tri bike is faster and more efficient, but you gotta stay on the aero bars.

Max

Edited by max 2004-03-27 5:19 PM

The tri bike is engineered for racing in an aerodynamic position mostly for flat terrain. The road bike is light and stiff and built for speed and comfort on flats and hills over a long racing distance; it need not be as aerodynamic as most of the race is done in a peloton and drafting is permitted. If you can afford only one bike, get a road bike because you will need one for training and a tri-specific bike is not easy to ride on roads where there is traffic and stop signs and traffice lights. If you can afford both, then by all means do so.

Edited by Machiavelo 2004-03-27 7:22 PM

I agree with Machiavelo. If you're planning on being an age grouper champ then go with the tri bike. Otherwise, I would go with a nice road bike and outfit it for triathlons. That way you have total versatility. I have had no problem with converting my road bike to a tri bike w/ aero bars and a few minor adjustments. Just my $.02