Tri bike if I'm only riding for tri ?

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I'm planning on doing 2 or 3 duathlons a year to give me a bit of focus for fitness reasons. I used to ride regularly, race CX etc but stopped mainly due to an injury.

A comeback is in order to stop the increasing middle aged spread, I've got a hybrid for pootling about on, but need something else for the duathlons. I'll only be riding the new bike either in the duathlons or training for them, no plans to join a club again and do the usual cafe runs etc.

I'm torn between a road and tri bike, is there any point in a road bike if I'm never going to do "normal" road riding ? What will the tri bike be like to train on, never owned one before.

In case the courses make a difference, I'm planning on doing the 2 Oulton Park events and the London Duathlon

Cheers

nivagh

Well, before somebody else says it, sell everything you own, remortgage the cat, and buy the most expensive tri bike you can find. In carbon. Red carbon. Only then will we speak to you.

Alternatively, if you want a slightly more considered answer...

Mine would be that there's no clear answer. Riding a pure tri bike is quite different from road, though if you have ridden road and especially CX in the past then your handling skills are probably more than up to it. Second hand tri bikes are easy to find, and will give you an aero advantage as well as the steeper seat angle than their road-going alternatives getting you onto the run in a fitter state. If you genuinely don't plan to do any road riding other than duathlons and specific training, then I would say go for the tri-specific geometry.
As for what it will be like to train on, it's not like a pair of racing flats that will only do a certain mileage before breaking down. A tri frame should be equally as robust as a road frame, though obviously if you have a carbon frame, you can't trash it around like a steel framed workhorse. You might want a set of training wheels and a set of race wheels though.

Quitter

If this is purely about getting fitter and you're never going to compete/aren't bothered about times then stick with the bike you have.

TT bikes are quicker for the same effort. Fact.

The slow descent into Hell starts with a Tri bike, deep rimmed wheels, aero helmets, shaved legs, Watt meters, turbo trainers......

I envy you.....run away/bike whilst you can (lock laces will speed up the run/bike/run transition...ooops)

Get a quality road bike n clip on aero bars.

md6

If you are only going to get one, then get a road bike. You can do a tri/du on a roadie, but training on a tri bike on open roads can be a bit hairraising. You are far from either the brakes or the gears at all times (unless you get Di2 and if you can afford that then get 2 red carbon bikes and stop f*(king about! ) so if you have a driver pull out on you, you'd better hope that you are not in the aero position or you may just find you can't stop/won't get near the brake levers before you are over the bonnet of the car. Alternatively, going up hills if you find you are not in the right gear/need to change down - reaching to the end of teh aerobars to change can be a bit wobbly (you'll probably be ok given background)and if there is a clunky change that makes it worse. a Road bike negates both these problems, and you will be reasonably fast on it.