Road Cycling - Time Trial vs. Road

Hi all, I am new to cycling and this forum. Unfortunately, e-bay and impulse buys sometimes get the best of me.

Anyway, I bought a time trial frame off of someone on e-bay and was planning on setting it up more as a road bike. I don't really get into organized competition, just the guys after work.

Do you think I should go ahead and set this time trial frame up with just regular road handlebars, or should I go ahead and sell this frame and buy an actual road frame?

BTW I live in Florida where there are not that many hills.

what is the brand/model of the frame?
pictures and or measurements would help as well.

depends on what sort of riding you are doing I suppose, but with regular bars a TT bike wouldn't be inherently bad, or uncomfortable.

If it is a 'funny bike' style frame with steep seat angle, small front wheel and all that stuff, it will not set up well as a standard road bike. That style frame has fallen out of favor with the road pros for the most part. Most ride a standard road frame with timetrial bars/disk wheel. The funny bikes are still ridden on the track.

It might be a LeaderUSA bike, though I am not sure it is just plain aluminum. THe guy I bought it from does not know either. Though, right now it is just the frame, no fork or anything, not even painted yet. It is designed to take the 700c wheels. The angles are not too radical though some of the dimensions are smaller than my road bike, such as the seat tube to stearing head dimension, also the chain stays are shorter. It has aero tubes, and a cutout in the seat tube for the wheel.

Anyway, I guess it would be good to set up and have. There is one Rail to Trail here in Florida called the Withalacoochee trail that is 20 miles of flat straight road.

Hi all, I am new to cycling and this forum. Unfortunately, e-bay and impulse buys sometimes get the best of me.

Anyway, I bought a time trial frame off of someone on e-bay and was planning on setting it up more as a road bike. I don't really get into organized competition, just the guys after work.

Do you think I should go ahead and set this time trial frame up with just regular road handlebars, or should I go ahead and sell this frame and buy an actual road frame?

BTW I live in Florida where there are not that many hills. Without seeing a picture of this bike, it sounds like a road bike with steeper geometry and shorter wheelbase for handling. Unless all you're going to do is ride in an aero position, which is kind of a different discipline, why don't you just set it up as a road bike with aero extensions or clip ons? At least you could have the best of both if you don't see yourself trialing exclusively.

I live in FLA (west central area, no hills) too. A TT or road bike with steeper geometry still works well around here. If you're going to be riding with buds, don't trick out the bike exclusively with TT bars. Make sure you have traditional handlebars, and as another poster mentioned, aero extensions are fun too (personally, I love going fast). Whether you'll realize it or not, you lose some bike handling ability staying in an aero position. Besides, in a totally aero position, you won't be able to chat with others, which is why group rides are always so much fun.

Thanks tom, that is what I am going to do, set it up more traditionally.

I bought it mostly to learn how to set up a bike from scratch.

Dave, I envy you. I'm not sure I have enough confidence in my ability to set one up from scratch, even with all the cycling books I have.

If you don't mind, let me know how it works out. I definitely have enough extra junk laying around to build a new (recycled) bike, I'm just lacking a frame. I can wrench as good as the next guy, so maybe it is within my reach.