TT v Road Bike
try4triathlon
Posts: 12
in General Chat
2012 will be my introduction to triathlon - so I am about to buy a bike (its christmas and the sales are looking good). As a beginner should I go for the TT or go for a road bike (total spend around the 1K mark).
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If you have'nt already got a bike then i'd have to say road bike, it'll be a better all round bike and you can always add aero bars to it. TT bikes have an agressive riding position, ive just had one and it's alot different to my road bike, takes some getting used too
Also you'd struggle to get a decent TT bike for 1k unless you go 2nd hand, where as there are some cracking road bikes under that, i got a ribble nero for just over 1k.
Greedy
Examples:
http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/CBP ... _road_bike SRAM Red !
http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/bikes/q ... pro_carbon
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165710
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165710
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165710
Then there are Treks, http://www.evanscycles.com/products/tre ... gn=froogle
Choices choices
The aim of the game I believe with any novices and then troughout your cycling life is to develop your skills profile and that means balance, cornering, pedalling technique, rythm, power etc... I could make a strong argument that the best choice is a bmx then a mountain bike, this is the way I am going with my own child. I suspect that as a 7 year old who trains or races each week, and has his own indoor trainer set up that his and his club mates bike skills are at least as good if not better than the average traithelete in this country some of whom may be on TT bikes. Tomorrow he is training at the new national indoor BMX track at Manchester and will have a look at what is going on in the veledrome anoyed by the face that the track bikes are too big and he has to grow a bit yet before he can have a go on the massive wooden berms as he call them. A lot of triatheletes would struggle with the new indoor supercross track, nor would they be too confident on a fixed gear going around the veldrome banks for the first time.
My 7 year old watching IronmanUK highlights could point out quickly in the bit where one of the leading age groupers on his time trial bike crashed off the road near Belmont towards the small dried up resevoir that "dad its his own fault he wasn't on the race line then locked up his back wheel, idiot", if it was you appologies, his words not mine, but he is right!
I am using this as an example to highlight that good quality bike skills are transfarable once aquired. The best way to develop skills is through lots of riding and a concious effort to develop as a cyclist rather than going out repeating the same attitude time after time. A road bike is a more versatile tool. It alows you to vary your position a lot more. It is easier to make roadworthy over the winter all adding to your ability to get out and develop.
If you take two novice cyclists of equal skill sets and ability and put one on a road bike and one on a TT bike, it will possibly be the case that the rider on the TT bike might be a little bit quicker at first. One year later if the rider with the TT bike has averaged 75 miles per week going out on a flat course when the weather is good, and the road cyclist has averaged 200 miles per week often including rides in the hills to build strength I know where my money would lie in a head to head and I suspect it would not be very close even on the flat circuit used by the TT rider.
Look long term, I am thinking of buying a TT bike this year or next but when my threshold power output justifies it. In effect when having a TT bike set up will make the difference between coming at the very top of my age group or not. In the meantime I am more than happy with my road bike for both training and racing on next year, if anything I need to spend more time on my mountain bikes over the winter developing my bike skills a bit more.
There are many more events than triathlon that you might want to do: from commute, to group rides, to sportives and audax/reliability. You might want to ride some more technical routes (hills both up and down). All these you can usefully do on a road, but not on a TT.
your budget will get a reasonable road bike, but a compromised TT.
Until progress up the various learning and performance curves, a TT bike won't make much difference. And you would by the wrong one.
Until you can put out, say 280w for an hour, you won't be pushing the wind hard enough to really see a significant difference.
As a poor swimmer, I get to over take a lot of poorly ridden, badly set up
TT bikes.
Today's bike will do you in good stead as future years training and hack bike.
Try4tri - That being said, get a bike fit and then the right bike for you. A road bike properly fitted will give you far more time/efficiency gains than a randomly fitted TT. Sadly, I speak from experience (of a poorly fitted Road AND TT bike). Ah well, you live and learn
Gone are the days when we'd say go out and buy the most expensive carbon beauty possible then find another £1k an buy better.
Now we are telling a bloke to dum down and be sensible. Since when has any triathlete been sensible ?
This is a time in his life when he should be spending money. We all know a TT bike is quicker than a road bike. Yes I agree with The bike fit theory ( well in practice too) as that is über important.
But to knock a man back in buying a TT bike.... Shame on you all.
Terrible advice chaps, really terrible.