Triathlon - Upgrading Mountain Bike for Triathalon?

Hello,
I just registered for my first triathalon today and am extremely excited about it. However, I have a Trek 4500 mountain bike, and I'm wondering if it's really suitable for a triathalon. Is it possible to "upgrade" my bike by placing thinner, slick tires and different handlebars on it (mine are the straight kind), or should I consider purchasing a road bike? I would prefer not to have to go out and by a completely new bike, but if I did, I would still continue to use it in the future. Would replacing the knobby tires with thinner ones increase my speed, or is a road bike the better way to go?
Thanks for your input.

new tires should be on the list for sure. But i would try this tri out on the mountain bike and if you see yourself doing many more in the future or even just riding more i would invest in a road bike for sure. it will make a huge difference. Today at the tri i was competing in there were quite a few hybrids and mountain bikes. you could even try and borrow or rent a road bike.

Hi 6-4, hope you enjoy the whole triathlon experience (BTW, it´s not spelt triathalon)

Of course you can do it on a mountain bike. Getting a set of slicks is probably a good move anyway, if lots of your riding is on-road. Maybe borrowing or buying a cheap set of clip-on aero bars too.

A road bike is one way to go, of course, but if you´re happy with the Trek, and assuming you haven´t just entered an Iron Man distance event, I would say give it a go on what you have. Nothing worse than buying a whole load of kit that you turn out not to use again in the future...

Keep an eye out on local eBay and Craig´s List for a cheapy second-hand road bike anyway - or do you have a work or MB colleague who could maybe lend you a road bike for the race, or just to see if you like it?

Cheers
Simon

Woops, thanks for pointing that out Barchettaman. The bike portion is only 14 miles, so I probably will stick with my mountain bike. I just talked to one of the local bike shops and they said that they could put some 26" slicks on for about $60, including the cost of the tires. The problems I've run into with trying to borrow/rent a bike is that there are bikes few and far between for my size, because I test-fitted a few road bikes at the beginning of the summer and was told that I need at least a 61cm frame. (I am 6 feet 4, 175 lbs) If I can find a road bike to borrow/rent (that fits me) then I will definitely use it for the event.

Thanks
6-4

Also get a pair of metal toe clips you can bend them to fit around your running shoes.
Good luck and have fun

Getting narrow slicks will make a big difference. I did lots of road riding on a mountain bike before I got a "real" road bike. You won't be the fastest guy out there, but for your first tri it'll be fine.

Some triathlon races have a mountain bike division. They usually have a minimum tire width/tread requirement, but it's a way to equalize the riders of MTB's so they aren't penalized for not having road/tri bikes.

As far as I know there isn't a mountain bike division for this triathlon http://www.acktri.com/. But thanks for the input, I was debating between going with slicks or just narrow tires with some tread, but now I think I will go with the slicks.

I actually just took a pair of bar ends and centered them on my handlebars for use as aerobars. I used grips I could easily remove in case I wanted to remove them. If I'm heading to the river to paddle and want to do a couple 8 mile loops around I just toss the mountain bike into the car. It's nice to make roadies feel slow as they get passed by a guy on a mountain bike.

As it has been said swapping the tires to slicks would make a huge difference.

However I was in your same situation (I own a Trek 3900) for my first Sprint Triathlon a couple of weeks ago and I swapped the tires to hybrid ones (Schwalbe Marathons) over slicks for 3 reasons: I can use the same tubes as with the MTB tires (I didn't want one more kind of spare tubes around), it's a more polyvalent tire than slicks so I could be using them in other (long) rides, and they are more resistent to puncture as well. Don't forget to inflate them to the maximum pressure. I can tell you that I perceived a BIG improvement over the MTB tires. That said, slicks would be faster for sure.

Also does your shocks (if any) have a lock out? If so then lock it out.

I think if you're going to spend 60 for new tires, you may as well look on craigslist and purchase an older road bike for that price or 20-40 more. My first tri last year, I blew by everyone who used a mtn bike or hybrid, and I was pretty slow too....you're putting yourself at a huge disadvantage. The point of a first tri is just to finish, but if you're discouraged by the bike, its not going to make you want to do more.

Enjoy your first TRI. I would hold off on doing anything until AFTER you complete your first TRI. Then decide if its something you want to continue doing. If you think you want to do more...get a road bike with some aero extensions, that way you can have a road bike and arent limited to your positioning. If you MUST upgrade I would suggest street tires with no nubs.slicks

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/mountain-biker-wins-road-race-on-his-hardtail-22736