Triathlon - TriBike Specific Question

Hello all. My name is Sourabh Sharma. Just a little bit about me. I use to play tennis but due to a wrist injury i had to stop. But i have been riding a fixed gear for a few years now. A friend of mine who is a triathlete and currently training for a half ironman, has recently began training me for a half marathon. He has been training me to complete it at a 7:30 - 8:00 min/mile pace. I will be testing myself in about a month an a half in my first half marathon. However lately i have also been contemplating training for a triathlon. I love cycling, and have just recently started to enjoying running. The swimming is something i am working on. I don't have a target sprint to aim for yet. But i was thinking about using my fixed gear with some clip on aero bars and a clipless pedals for the first sprint but another friend, who also does tri's discouraged from from doing that.

I was looking at the mercier aero tt as a possible first bike just to get my feet wet. At the price point of around 700-800 i couldn't really find and good bikes at the LBS and i have been patiently looking on craigslist but its hard to find complete bikes with ulterga components in my size (58). I have previously ordered 3 fixed gears from BD and haven't had a sizing issues because i have used online fitting calculators and then fitted by self. However I understand that the fitting is different with road and tri bikes so this time i will probably go to my LBS to have that done.

My question is whether anyone has owned one of these before and what you thought? Also i was comparing the 58 TT with another 58 road bike the BD sells (another mecier) and i was looking at the top tube length and it was longer for the tt bike. This threw me off a bit because i thought that tt bikes had shorter top tube lengths so that when in the aero position your torso isn't over stretched. The seat tube angle is border line tt at 75. Is this really a road bike with clip ons or is there an effective top tube with the different seat tube angle.

Anyways thank you for any help in advance. I am also open to suggestions, so if you guys have any recommendations on bikes that you think i should consider i would very much appericiate it.

Just so you know some people do size down for tri bikes.

Also you might want to consider adding some clip-ons AND a forward seat post to a used road bike. You probably do not want to use a fixed gear. because 1. you can't shift and 2. you will not be able to zoom down the fastest hills. I did fine on a chromoly frame from 1982 with clip-ons.

If you are going tri-specific, what is your price range? $800 will get you an OK used frame on CL at best. if you can move it into the 1200 range you can get an entry level road bike and some clip-ons and a forward seat post, About 1500 will get you some of the cheapest tri-specific bikes. 2500 is about the best, for a carbon racing frame at a good price.

If I were you, I would find something used on Craigslist, cheap, add clip-ons and a forward seatpost and use that until you want an upgrade. (at least a couple of years probably)

For $700-$800 you won't find much in the way of new triathlon bikes. If that is your budget, I would recommend finding a high quality used road bike, attaching clip-on aerobars (and possibly a forward seat post) and riding that until you decide either (a) that triathlon isn't for you, or (b) that triathlon is for you, and you want to invest more money on a higher quality ride.

My take is: Why buy a road bike for a triathlon when you already have one? Do a triathlon or two on your fixed-gear to see if you like it before sinking money into a multi-geared road or tri-bike. I don't know what the terrain is like where you are but where I live, many triathlons could be done on a fixed-gear or single-speed just fine. If you don't have a rear brake, you should put one on for the triathlon (the race director may require it). If your prospective race is hilly, I recommend changing to a freewheel (if your hub can accept one).

Aero-bars: you don't need them to do a triathlon but they would make you a little faster. There are clip-on aero-bars intended for "tri" bikes with steep seat tubes and aero-bars intended for road bikes with slacker seat tubes (e.g. Profile Jammer or T2+DL). Get the latter for the fixie if you get some (a search for "ITU legal aerobars" may get you others).

My take is: Why buy a road bike for a triathlon when you already have one?

Because he doesn't have one. Paying $150 for a road bike from the 80's would be a major advantage over a fixie or singlespeed.

bonktown/backcountry outlet offer an incredible deal on a kuota CF tri bike. They're running a 50 percent off sale till the 28th. and when the bike pops up on bonktown.com it's only 900 bucks complete!!! I bought one for 1200 a few weeks ago and am even ecstatic about that!!

I just finished my first Tri. A little advice that my friend from work gave me that has done half Iron Mans and is training for Kona; Decide what you want from your first Tri. I originally wanted to do an Olympic distance and hammer it. He said that he could help me achieve that (I am pretty fit), but he recommended that for my first one that I just have fun and finish. And looking back, he was right. I think that if I would have killed my self trying to hang with the big dogs, that I would have come away thinking "OK, check the Tri box off of the bucket list- Done". But I had so much fun just running my own race and making new friends, that I can't wait to do another. And, now I have a time to beat. A time that should not be too hard to beat and thus, provide motivation for a third Tri. The thing that amazed me was all of the complete strangers cheering me on, calling out my bib number and saying "Great job number 201!" or "Come on #201, you're almost there!". And I was rooting on other racers in the water. I still remember the panicked look in one racer's eyes as he was out of breath and ready to give up. I just called out to him and said “come on man, we’re almost there, I can see the shore. And I kept calling to him- “3 more buoys”…. “2 more buoys”… You get the picture. You know what? When my calf was cramping up on the home leg of the run I heard a familiar voice “Come on 201, I can see the finish line… There’s cold beer waiting down there… Let’s GO!”

Posting a quick time is nice, but in my humble experience, nothing beats having fun.