Originally Posted by
Doge
Is a pure pursuit bike any different? Can there be aero bars?
My son is a faster, road Cat 1, esp shorter distance. This summer he became a cadet at the USAFA near the Olympic Training Center in COS. His off base access is limited, as is his long training blocks, and there are a bunch of other-than-normal military service factors that affect things. But we think a focus on pursuit would fit his training schedule and talents. He also has access to the Air Force Human Performance center. He has limited total time on track and never done a mass start track race, but has ridden LA Velodrome track about 50 times (sessions).
Anyway I didn't want to put him on a starter bike and thought there may be some pursuit specific things.
Yup, aerobars are used in the pursuit. There's not really a such thing as a pure pursuit bike, but in track racing there is a slight difference between sprint bikes and enduro bikes (though you can use either in either discipline). Enduro/pursuit bikes have a low top tube that enables both a mass start and a pursuit position, and often have angles that more closely resemble those of road bikes compared to sprint bikes, for which parallel 74s are still common.
Honestly, pick how much you want to spend, get something that fits (if you're used to sizing your son on road bikes you won't have a problem with track bikes), and it will probably be fine for occasional pursuit use. The good news about track bikes is that pretty basic ones can last you up until a really high level. Just about every company makes a bike that's "The CAAD10 of track bikes" - decent aluminum frame, carbon fork. Plenty of people race stuff like that at national-level events.
The Felt TK1 and the Cervelo T4 are popular among optimizers and people who want to spend the money but bikes that cost 1/5th the price aren't much liability - I've seen basic aluminum bikes like the TK2 and Langster Pro under very impressive racers.