Triathlon - 2003 OCR1 for tri's?

I am just getting into tris. I will be doing my first sprint next month, and going from there. I found a good deal on a 2003 OCR1 and was thinking about picking it up and putting some aero bars on it. How would this bike do for tris? I know it is a compact frame, but am just not too sure how this would affect me in tri's. I am 5'9" and 168lbs. Thanks for any help you can give me everyone.

bump for some help. I might be picking up this bike today

As long as you're comfortable with the top tube length in the aero position, you'll be fine. Ideally you also should allow some room for a forward seta post to move your overall position forward some as well.

cool, does anyone in here actually use that bike for triathalons?

Bump! I have a 2005 Giant OCR 3 with the stock brifter/brake setup on the handlebars. I'm looking to do my first Tri in August. I usually ride the OCR like a hybrid with my hands on the top of the bars, not in the drops. Any issues using a bike like this?

If you're really conscious of your position on a road geometry bike, have a look at Profile Design's 'Fast Forward' seat posts (they've got both a carbon and aluminium versions - the carbon looks cooler, but they do the same thing equally well) - basically it's a bent forward seat post that allows you to have a virtual seat post angle much steeper than could otherwise be had on a road-geometry bike.

That said, plenty of people do triathlons on road bikes.

Bump! I have a 2005 Giant OCR 3 with the stock brifter/brake setup on the handlebars. I'm looking to do my first Tri in August. I usually ride the OCR like a hybrid with my hands on the top of the bars, not in the drops. Any issues using a bike like this?

Practise in the drops - you'll go faster.

But no, no 'issues' just riding on the hoods.

Practise in the drops - you'll go faster.

But no, no 'issues' just riding on the hoods.


Deffinatly get used to riding in the drops. It does make a wicked difference. You will be just fine on the hoods like treefox said. I just wanted to reiterate the fact that there is a very big watage drop by using the drops(think of it like being in aero bars vs on the base bar). Or if you dont know what I mean by that think of how your back will look like this in the hoods / or in the drops --, what do you think would be more aero, thus you will be faster for less energy expended.

i used my OCR1 bike in my 1st tri last year (sprint distance), had no problems, i swapped between riding in the drops and on the hoods. i going get aero bars for the next tri to see if it makes any difference.