What Bike for a Triathlete?

Christopher Pike has been bitten by the Tri bug and now wants to buy a bike instead of renting one. There are a few questions he has to ask himself, what does he want to buy? How much can he spend? We try to pint him in the right direction, but he needs to have a better idea of what he needs

Question:
I’m looking to buy a road bike. I’ve just finished my first triathlon on a rented one. I want to get a road bike that’s a little better than entry level. What should I buy?

Hi Christopher,

That’s great that you have got into triathlon and it would be a good idea to get your own bike, much better than renting one, you will improve you times on the cycling leg of your races when you can train and race on the same bike.

The answer to your question “what should I buy?” is very simple, the best you can afford! You get what you pay for.

You need to ask yourself some questions about what you want, do you want a full on time trial triathlon bike or a normal road bike that you can adapt with Tri bars etc. There are many different bikes on the market and I’m sure you have looked at many.

Tri Specific Bikes.

There are not so many of these around and two of the best that we have seen are from Orbea, the Ora and the very futuristic Ordu.

The Ora is reasonably priced for what you get. The aero seat tube as well as being sleek also has a dual position seat post system. It’s manufactured with a blend of M30S and T700 carbon fiber which makes it very stiff, but yet comfortable for longer rides. The frame design is fairly standard with a horizontal top tube, the down tube is wing like as is the seat pin area and the chain and seat stays are pencil thin. The seat tube is shaped around the rear wheel, but it is not exaggerated and fits in with the overall look of the bike. The bike is stylish, strong and very aero.

Ora

The Ordu is of a similar design to the Ora, but more chunky, more aero, more stylish and the tube design more exaggerated. The frame design still has a horizontal top tube and a wing shaped down tube, the seat cluster is big strong and aerodynamic, the chain and seat stays are much thicker than the Ora and the whole look of the bike is of strength and speed. With the use of wind tunnel testing, Orbea have improved the aerodynamic efficiency by 7%, the head tube has been redesigned to reduce frontal area, the seat mast now has an integral seat clamp and the bottom bracket area and dropouts have all been restyled for aerodynamics and strength. The Ordu is at the cutting edge of time trial technology, it has everything you are looking for.

Ordu

There are others from Cervelo, Trek and Cannondale that are also very nice.

Road Bikes.

There are thousands of road bikes, too many to list here, you need to decide how much you can spend and then start to compare the equipment, sizes and angles. Then you can trim down your choices to a few that you like the look of and that fit you and your needs.

We hope this helps, if you can fine tune your list of bikes then send us your choices and we can give you more help.

Cervelo