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

Helpful Answers from Other Readers

Not to be critical, but there are some specifics he should check out. Seat angle, tri specific and TT bikes should have a minimal of a 76 degree seattube. A tri bike also has a shorter headtube and is primarly measured by whats called stack (height of bars, stem, spacers) and reach (tip of saddle to base of stem). You might also want to consider Felt, Kuota, and Quintinna Roo. If you can go to a certified FIST fitter or a shop that specalizes in tri bikes as the fit is different than a standard road bike.

Andy Winz

The Choice is easy

Now i am only young but (15) for the past two years i have been cycling and doing triathlon the only bike i would ever ride is a scott. Now making the choice of bike isn't really that simple it depends on your body shape but the scott is perfect for me I love my Scott Plasma and Addict R1 and CR1 Pro they are all really great good stong frames and the TT bike is good for the half iron mans and cycling Time Trails but depending on the traithlon distances you are planning on doing. for sprint distances a time trail bike is probably not practical especially if the coarse is winding or hilly as the narrower upright stifness of a TT bike can make it dificult to navigate a coarse but for out and back 40 kms plus cycle legs it would be worth while. Another thing to think about is if you are goings to stictly stick to tri or cycle as well a TT bike isn't the best training option. In my belief if you are only starting of the best thing would to get a middle of the range bike carbons always good :) and put some bolt on areo bars on as depending on your fitness it may be difficult for you to stay in an areo position all of the time which is what you would be doing on a TT bike. But good luck with your bike choice and it doesn't matter about the brand its the bike style you like and you fit to. Enjoy the Tri's great sport love it in the off season from cycling :)

Justin

Too Many Choices

I bought a new bike last year for the first time in 21 years. I did a lot of on-line research and went to more than a dozen bike shops in two states before selecting a shop that focused on tri-bikes. Your best bet is to find such a shop near you or a bike shop that has triathletes who know tri-bikes.

It would also help to know what tri-bike you rented, what you’ve been riding during training and what your budget is. It would also help to know what you think “a little better than entry level” is. Do you mean a little bit better than an entry level Cervelo or an entry level REI Novarro bike? Whatever you do, it is extremely important that the bike actually be fitted to you, especially if you are going to be using it for triathlons.

The “groupo” will constitute the most expensive part of a bike. A “little bit better” than entry level would be the 105 groupo, I wouldn’t consider anything less expensive from Shimano, and think your best bet from Shimano is Ultegra. SRAM and Campagnolo have equivalent groupos, which are their second and third best groupos. FSA has some very nice stuff too.

My bike is a Lynskey Level 3 with Ultegra SL and lots of tweaks, but that bike is hardly a little bit better than entry level.

Last week I saw a Gunnar Roadie, steel frame road bike in Kirkland, Washington built with Ultegra SL, Thompson seatpost and steering tube, Chris King headset, Speedplay Frog pedals, Fizik Alliante seat and a TrueTemper carbon fiber fork that weighed 18.5 pounds. The store manager had “built it for fun” and was trying to create a bike for under $2000, but thought that he’d have to charge $2500 for it. It would be a steal for $2500 and grand theft at $2000.

The Jamis Trilogy, aluminum and carbon frame is about $2000 and a heck of a bike buy. It has a mix and match groupo of Shimano Dura-Ace and Ultegra, FSA crank, Profile aerobars, Easton carbon fork and Vista SL wheels. The Jamis Xenith T1 at $3275 is a full-carbon frame and with mostly better componentry making it an even better buy.

The Cervelo RS is a fabulous bike with Dura Ace or SRAM Force for $4000. But it's a road bike. The Cervelo P2 SL is a time trial-triathlon, aluminum frame bike with Ultegra $1650 and with Dura-Ace $1850. The P2C will set you back $2500 (Ultegra) and $3000 (Dura-Ace). Note that none of those bikes is full Ultegra or Dura-Ace, as there are some tweaks and sometimes downgrades.

Note that those prices won't include pedals.

All I have to add is have fun. There are some tremendous bikes out there. Determine what your budget is, including pedals, and don't go over it! Most importantly, a bike on sale that doesn't fit you properly is not worth the money you'll pay for it and you'll be sorry if you buy a bike that doesn't fit correctly. So, make certain that the bike is a proper fit for you and the kind of bike riding that you'll be doing.

Jose Jimenez

Just starting out also.

I am also just starting out in triathlons. I decided to start out with a road bike. If I really enjoy training for and doing triathlons, I will look into a TT/Triathlon bike. I bought an Orbea Onix which is an all carbon frame and fork. It is light but stiff enough for racing. I bought a set of clip on easton aero bars and love them. I have done one race and loved it.
I do highly recommend getting a good set of race wheels to race on and do some training on. I got a great deal on a set of Zipp 808's. When I ride/race them, I can average 1 to 2 mph faster than with the wheels that I do most of my training rides. Also, I would highly recommend getting a professional fit done both when you buy your bike and when you transition into adding aero bars. The positioning of the seat and aero bars is important for both comfort as well as aero position.
One thing you might consider is a fast forward seat post by profile design. This seat post converts the position of the seat to the position you would get with a 78 degree seat tube without buying a true TT/triathlon bike. It will make riding in your aero bars much more comfortable. Profile design make an aluminum as well as carbon fiber version of the fast forward seat post.
Good luck and welcome to triathlon.

Lee Parker

What Bike for a Triathlete?

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