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Bike upgrade from a Trek Alpha 1.1 - Shall I get a new bike

tamitami Posts: 5
in General Chat
Bike upgrade from a Trek Alpha 1.1 - Shall I get a new bike or upgrade this one?

Hello,

I bought a Trek Alpha 1.1 (this model: http://bikereviews.com/road-bikes/trek/ ... road-bike/) at Evans in London for £400 in January 2010.
I never had a road bike before and knew I was a poor cyclist. I didn't think going for a high end bike would be useful.
After a year of racing Sprint Triathlons, my level did improve and I'm wondering now what should I do to get a better bike.

3 options, according to me:
- I go for a TT bike, such as the Planet X Stealth Pro (http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/CBP ... trial-bike)
- I go for a (better) new road bike
_ or I go for new wheels

Considering I'll be racing Sprint Triathlons again next year, and willing to be on the podium for my age group every time (25/29) - I'm requesting some advice from people who started with a basic road bike - what did they do next? Once racing became very serious.

Thanks for your feedback.

Cheers

Comments

  • ZacniciZacnici Posts: 1,385
    Hi, good choice as a starter bike and will be great for training.

    Good choice as well with the PX, very popular and seen at levels from Sprints to Ironman

    My experience: similar road bike to start for 1 season then Focus Izalco alu bike, tremendous improvement, 2 1/2 seasons later built up a Cervelo P2C using the Focus components again big improvement.

    The main differences:
    The PX geometry like all tri bikes is designed to get you into a more aerodynamic position, it also uses the leg muscles in a slightly different way so that you get a better start on the run - see Garside study
    Weight; amazing what a pound or two difference feels like, faster acceleration, easier on climbs
    Comfort; soaks up the road buzz
  • LancsRiderLancsRider Posts: 205
    I have read the replies so far on slowtwitch and note you use the word 'deserve' in one of your responses.

    Tami I can very much see where you are coming from. Moving from a road bike to a full TT set up is going to give you an instant improvement in your speed unless you simply have no confidence whatsoever about being in an aero position. This is more or less a once in a career step change in your performance levels in one discipline of your racing. I think there is a valid debate about when should someone take this change up.

    I for one have laid down some very specific targets around power outputs which have been agreed with my partner as a benchmark position before I consider moving onto a TT machine. In the meantime any spare cash is going to go on things such as video analysis of my swim stroke which has the potential for delivering far better overall time improvements for pound spent. The issue here is I have to be open for valid analysis from a professional and work on making genuine improvements to my outputs, put some better gear on my bike and I can personaly claim I am better without having to do any work for it.

    Having a TT bike will not make my training any more meaningful apart from getting experience on it for when I come to use it in a race, I can push the same power out on a road bike at the same HR, in training does it matter that much if I get home 15 minutes later from a ride?

    If everyone you race against is using a TT set up and you are not happy with your finishing position in races and a couple of minutes would make all the difference then go for it, if not save the cash until it is needed you never know where your triathlon racing may lead and in another year or so you might be setting your sights lot higher than this particular model, sounds like you are doing just fine to me.
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