SourDieseL

but think I'd get more responses if I created my own thread. I'm not trying to be facetious or anything, I just want to be in the clear blue when spelling this out. First time tri here for a well popularized tri (Nautica NY Tri) and find myself wondering if my current road bike would suffice or if my impulse buy gauge is on the fritz this cyber monday.

So here's the deal, I ride often, often enough that I picked up a Felt F3SL with red gruppo - love the bike, don't want to sell it or trade it in. I just can't get it out of my mind that for this tri (and hopefully many more to come) that I should just go with an actual tri bike. Maybe something not too expensive but yet has a decent resale value in the event that I become obsessed with another sport.

I manage to find myself a 2008 Argon 18 E-80 Mercury brand new in my size for $800. Gruppo is on the lower end which is 105 all around with a truativ crank. I know how I am, I know I'm going to want to go with SRAM R2C shifters, and probably swap all the shimano stuff over to a rival/force mix. Some of which I can part rather cheap on ebay.

What I'm really after is, am I suffering from impulse buy and is the cost/value justifiable for application? I'm committed to doing this tri, I enjoy the attention it gets, the sport itself, and the mental challenges it brings me. I'm just not sure if I'm just tossing money in the bucket for an 08 (outdated possibly) rig although brand new, where my money could be had for a better valued bike.

For what it's worth, I really dig the non-popularity of Argon 18, seems very boutique-ish.

Triguy

Your F3SL will be fine, get some aerobars(don't bother pushing the seat forward).

Quite frankly, you seem like the type of person who would be selling the E80 for an E112 probably right after the tri. To me there just seems like no use in going for the E80, especially if you're going to poor money in to it.

SourDieseL

See that's what I'm not sure about, i don't know if putting aero bars on the felt would work well since the TT is a bit longer. ok maybe 5mm on an 80mm stem. I could always spin my cinelli ram seat post around which I think has a small setback to move me forward a bit but i might move toward kop if so.

The most economical thing to do is make the felt fit with aero bars, probably also helpful since I live in a studio apartment so space is also an issue for 2 bikes lol. I think you are right about wanting an e112/114 post tri, but I personally don't think I'm ready to drop another 2k+ on another bike. I have until this week to decide which I'm sure the e80 is going to sell. I think by the time I'm done upgrading the e80, i'd probably dump another 500-600 into the 800 already built bike. Some of which i can recover by selling the part out stuff off.

Barchettaman

Your Felt is an absolutely fantastic beast of a bike. Not that I´m jealous or anything.

Look, it will perform brilliantly as it is. You´ll go plenty fast enough without any modification I´m sure. Your Felt has a 27.2mm seatpost diameter, so you can swap it out for a FastForward carbon post ($100 at Nashbar, easy to sell on on eBay) or alloy post, and add clipon aerobars if you want a more conventional Triathlon position.

Now, if you want to throw more money at another bike when a) you already have a fantastic machine and b) you don´t really have enough space for two bikes, that´s fine. But it´s not particularly logical. :-)

Best of luck whatever you decide to do.

Triguy

Actually a road bike with shot aerobars can be quite comfortable. A lot of times you can ride a slightly more stretched out aero position if you leave your road fit the same because more of your weight is on your saddle. In addition, they make shorter aerobars for road bikes like profile's jammers or visiontechs shorties.

SourDieseL

Great perspective, I think you talked my wallet into staying a bit thicker this holiday season. I am a bit concerned about fit on the Felt. I have a cinelli ram seatpost on there now which I think has a small setback moving the 76 seat angle maybe a degree back to 74.5-75~ish. With the TT at 525 on an 80mm stem, if I were to drop into the aero bars I think I would be a bit outstretched and slide forward on the saddle. Should I go lower on the stem and move the saddle forward some but keep the seatpost? I could also try spinning the post around and move the saddle forward on the rails which should bring my elbows closer to the handlebars.

I'm worried about a few things:
1-resting on my forearms and not my elbows
2-sliding forward where kop may cause issues in comfort or turning radius

Barchettaman

I think you´ll have to experiment on your own on this one. It´s difficult to know exactly what positional changes and/or comfort and handling issues may result from the changes you mention without seeing some photos. And even then, what ´looks´aero and well-balanced may feel a bit sketchy on the road.

I am not sure if the Ram seatpost is reversible. If it is, then spinning it 180 degs and reversing the stem will bring you forward, lower and possibly more ´aero´ with clip on bars. You will have to try it out for yourself.

I started road cycling on a triathlon setup - as a consequence I am just as comfy in my tri bike as on my conventional roadie (although probably wouldn´t ride tri geometry in a crit....) but you might feel awkward ´tipped forward´on the bike - again, you´ll have to experiment. Have fun.

Crack Monkey

Here's my plan (albeit for my old Cannondale CAAD5)...
- Selle Italia SLR T1 saddle (more padded nose for tris)
- Oval A710 Classic clip-on aerobar (extensions mount under bar, low arm pad stack height)

Then, make incremental fit adjustments until I get comfy. Probably pull the seat forwards a cm or two and remove a spacer from under the stem. Keep the fit mostly roadie. Makes it easier to move it back for crits, etc too.

I expect I'll stay on the hoods for much of the riding in the sprint tris I'm planning to enter (twisty bike courses). And I'm only planning one olympic in 2010.

SourDieseL

i like the r bend more so then the upright bend but that might mean i need to go with above the bar clip-ons that aren't much adjustable. I guess I really need to look at my clip-on choices then just spring for a set and start to dial in the fit. I do have the original Felt 1.1 CF seat post which I could throw on their with a nice Cobb V-Flow saddle, slide it forward more and hope to pull back a bit on the stem. Thanks for all your replies, more then helpful when I know you could have easily just snickered a witty response.

-SD