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Competitive Triathlon

Jane M.
Jane M. Sendmail

Tri Bike vs Road Bike

posted over 8 years ago | Report

Am sure this has been discussed before: am in my 2nd season of Sprint Tri's. Hoping to get into the World Champs this year in Hungary (age group). Basic Q...is a Tri bike fundamentally better (read "faster") that a Road bike in Tri's? Should I invest ? Thx!

6 posts

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  • Tom W.
    Tom W. Sendmail

    flat out speed... a tri bike should be faster. However, it won't make a huge different on a 12 mile bike. It starts to make more of a difference over longer races. Tri bikes are also better in non-drafting races. if you're doing draft legal races, and riding in packs, you really don't get much benefit. Not a lot of bang for the buck. Having said all that, if you're not budget constrained, there's certainly nothing wrong with using a tri bike.

    posted over 8 years ago

  • Jane M.
    Jane M. Sendmail
    in reply to what Tom W. said:flat out speed... a tri bike should be faster. However, it won't make a huge different on a 12 mile bike. It starts to make more of a difference over longer races. Tri bikes are also better in non-drafting races. if you're doing draf... read more

    Thanks Tom. Thought the factor would be distance and as am still focused on Sprint this season, then will consider for next if and when i move to Olympic. Cheers!

    posted over 8 years ago

  • Kevin M.
    Kevin M. Sendmail

    In a 40km TT, even switching from just a normal helmet to an aero helmet can shave 30s off your time. Switching from a road bike to a TT bike over 21km can save a minute easy. Over 40km+ it could be much more. It makes a huge difference. The resistance faced on a bicycle at high speed is all aerodynamic resistance....so get as aero as possible. The thing I hate about time trials is that you can literally buy speed... low budget guys like me who don't have aero gear and a proper TT bike don't stand a chance against those who do.

    posted over 8 years ago

  • Jules C.
    Jules C. Sendmail
    in reply to what Kevin M. said:In a 40km TT, even switching from just a normal helmet to an aero helmet can shave 30s off your time. Switching from a road bike to a TT bike over 21km can save a minute easy. Over 40km+ it could be much more. It makes a huge difference. The resis... read more

    nothing a little EPO can't fix

    posted over 8 years ago

  • Ryan
    Ryan Sendmail

    Another factor - from what I understand the tri bike, due to its different body position, helps save muscles used for running. So not only can the tri bike be faster on the bike portion, but it can also help you keep speed up on the run as well.

    posted over 7 years ago

  • Miguel V.
    Miguel V. Sendmail

    Im about two yeasr late on this, but yes, I hope you decided to invest. I change from a road bike to a ri bike (Trek 1.5 to a Argon 18 E118) and my tames and significantly faster. Photos of the new bike here:

    http://roadtoironmandaddy.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/my-argon-18-e118.html

    posted over 6 years ago

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