I am just getting into triathlons and know at this point I will continue to do them. I am only doing sprint distance and am gonna work up to Olympic distance, probably not further. I have a trek 1.1 that works fine but I want to be competitive and have noticed most fast people have full tri bikes. Is it worth it to have a tri bike at these short distances? I understand the difference between road and tri bikes just a lot of money when looking at tri bikes. Thank you in advance for any advise.

I typically pick up about 10% on speed when I ride my Tri vs. my road... on a sprint distance... under 20 miles, you might save a couple minutes. Yes, it will help, but probably not $2000.00 worth. It MAY also help your run a bit by changing the muscles that you use on the ride... how much? Not likely to be more than another minute or two (on 5k?)... From a purely financial standpoint, its difficut to justify.

HOWEVER... when you come to terms with the hobby that you have selected (cycling), like I have, you allow yourself a bit of leeway... I LOVE (LOVE LOVE LOVE) riding my Cervelo P2... Its fast, I feel fast, it looks good, it takes weight off my wrists, it changes my leg position... well worth it!

+1. If you get to the point where you're approaching the front of your age group, then everything counts and you'll need the tri bike. Until that time, you can add a pair of clip on aerobars to your Trek and get much of the benefit of a tri bike for not too much $$. In the meantime, it's all about the motor.

It depends on what other riding you will do. For me, duathlons are my thing this year, but I really love going 70-80 miles on a Saturday morning. Clip on Aero bars and a slight shift in my seat position gets me down where I can be competitive in my age group. If you are doing nothing but Tri's, and you want to be competitve, get the tri bike. If you plan on doing other riding types, stick with the road bike and get some clip ons.

If you want the details of what a tri bike (plus aero helmet) will get you, it's all here: https://www.specialized.com/OA_MEDIA/...ch%20FINAL.pdf

Thanks for the help. I think i will stick with my bike for now and work on my motor first. The link has some great info on it. After next season i will see how things are going.