hotshotennis

Is it possible to swap the tri aero bars on a tri bike for road drop down handlebars? I bought a used 2007 Javelin Narni recently. I do plan on doing triathlons with it. But I'm a complete bike newbie and was wondering if by swapping the bars, I could make my transition into the cycling world a little easier. I do use the bullhorns a lot. But I want to be able to play around with the gears and am not as comfortable in the aero position yet.

Mayday328

Geometry and handling on your tri-bike with road bars will be different, and not necessarily in a good way, than a true road bike. I've seen it done but wouldn't recommend it.

hotshotennis

Hmm well my bikes seat post angle is 76 degrees. From my primitive understanding, thats not very extreme for a tri bike. Any chances I could pull it off?

dnuzzomueller

I get "excited" when I see tri -> road conversions.

It is entirely doable, handling will be different, I have heard that it is more noticeable at low speeds. Give it a shot I say.

sced

I've done it with one of my bikes and it seems fine to me. The top tube is a bit short so I use a setback seatpost and 130mm stem.

Looigi

Pshaw. It'll be fine.

hotshotennis

Great! Thanks everyone! Sced, that bike looks amazing!
Anyone know how much it would cost to change it though? Minimum? And if its possible to change it yourself (for a beginner like me). I'm willing to watch youtube videos and read about it, but am not sure if thats enough to do so without damaging something on the bike.

merlinextraligh

You don't want to use seat set back to compensate for reach to the bars

You get the the position of your knees in relation to the pedals right by seat set back, then deal with reach by specing the right stem (and ideally frame size).

Can't say without seeing you on the bike, but there's a good chance your position over the pedals is whacked.

Also, your weight distribution on the bike is going to affect handling.

That pic is an example of the compromises you make trying to make the frame do something it's not designed to do.

It will work, but not as well as a frame that designed to be a road bike.

sced

No offense, but there's a lot of the typical BF hypothetical mythology here.

I bought the frame just because I liked its look. I have four other "real" road bikes, all 60cm (whatever that means) and set up pretty much the same. This bike isn't particulalry different in the way I'm positioned on the bike and is the proverbial "very comfortable". I was concerned about it being twitchy because of the short wheelbase, but it feels planted well enough for me, though I'm no pro racer.

3kmi

This is exactly why these conversions shouldn't be done. Saddle setback should NOT make up for a short top tube. That's what a proper road geometry is for. Also, you could flip your stem for more reach. Do you get knee pain?

AdelaaR

Why on earth would you change a wonderful aerobar for a silly dropbar?

kninetik

If your bike has a dual seatpost, you can do it!

save10

One of the women in the P1/2 race at the recent crit i was at was racing a Cervelo P2 as a road bike.

hotshotennis

-Because I am a beginner cyclist and am not fully comfortable controlling my bike while in the aero position. I would feel safer if my shifters and brakes were near each other. I by no means want to keep it like that forever, just as a transitional period

hotshotennis

Stupid question, but what's a dual seat post? Like I stated above, I bought a used 2007 Javelin Narni. Don't know if the seatpost is dual or not. Just that its carbon. lol

hotshotennis

Also, anyone have any recommendations as to which drop down handlebars to buy? Preferably not very expensive, but ones that do the job seeing as I've already payed a lot (for me) for the bike.

kninetik

Without getting into the small details about geometry. A "dual seatpost" is one where you can mount your saddle closer to the handlebars (tri position) or further from the handlebars (road position) by repositioning the hardware.

A clear example of this would be a Cervelo P2 seatpost, where there are two mounting holes.
https://www.bikesportmichigan.com/rev.../lg/P2C155.jpg

I searched Google for the Javelin Narni and it seems to use a regular round seatpost. If so, do what sced did and go enjoy your bike with drop bars. As for the drop bars themselves, every one of them does the job, even the supremely cheap ones. So find ones you like, size it, buy it and ride it.

merlinextraligh

It may well fit you. You know that better than I do.

However, your statement that you increased the setback to deal with the reach to the bars is simply the wrong approach to bike fitting. That's not just BF orthodoxy.

hotshotennis

I thought I replied to this, but it didn't see to show up... Anyway thanks for the clarification! The picture definitely helped. Like you said, I dont have a dual seat post. But if I look under the saddle, there is a horizontal bar that looks a bit like a ruler with numbers on it, making it seem like you can shift the saddle forward or backward a bit. Not sure if this is true, and I would have no idea how to do it.... the most that I managed to do was adjust the seat angle a bit....

I searched Google for the Javelin Narni and it seems to use a regular round seatpost. If so, do what sced did and go enjoy your bike with drop bars. As for the drop bars themselves, every one of them does the job, even the supremely cheap ones. So find ones you like, size it, buy it and ride it.

Jsiegs

My guess is that the set back is needed to change the effective seat tube angle from a typically steep tri/tt angle of 76-78 (that bike doesnt look all the steep eyeballing it though) to a more reasonable 72-73 ish.

StanSeven

Right, which is fine as long as you can get the proper saddle position for your knee/leg/hip/pedal.

hotshotennis

Is it possible to adjust the saddle angle on a tri bike?

Dalai

Don't forget you will need Campagnolo 10 speed brifters for the conversion which could add considerably to the cost. Plus new cables, bar tape, seat post if the saddle can't be moved back far enough, new stem etc. Then you have to factor in the wrenching costs if you don't do the change over yourself...

STP

For pete's sake, either google all the stuff and start pricing or go to your local bike shop and ask them. Seriously, we have no idea what your budget is (other than cheap), how wide you want your bars, what's the lowest quality set of shift levers you'll accept, how long you're willing to wait for the best deals, what your draivetrain compatibility is, etc. This is exactly why you have local bike shops. All these questions can be answered by knowledgable people that can look at the bike in person and make recommendations.

sced

Folks move all over the place as they ride - in the drops, the bends, the brifters, forward/back/out on/off the seat, and have different proclivities for each. Some bikes don't even have drop or aero bars and people merrily ride countless miles upright on a lower seat. Everybody is different structurally, fitness-wise, bad backs/crotches etc, and have different biking agendas, so there's no one approach to fitting everyone. It shows in all the conflicting strategies out there. Within reason people know whats feels good and what hurts, especially as aging sharpens the difference. How about those posts where somebody only paid $75 for some bike fitting dude to sell them a 5mm different stem, change a spacer, and fiddle with their seat? Doesn't "flip it" also lower the bar, more than a bit?