Should I get a tri-bike as my first road bike?

cyberjelly

So I am taking the plunge into road cycling and looking to purchase a road bike. I have been researching for weeks and think I know what I am looking for but now have seen a tri bike in my budget that I like. I am looking to use the bike for outdoor training rides, turbo trainer and competitive events. My budget is £800-£1000 and I'm a girl so a female specific bike would be nice.

Just would like to hear some opinion on whether a tri bike would be ok, eventually I would like to have one anyway and the thought of having one now seems a good plan to me. What are the main differences apart from seating position?

ilm_zero7

I would not advise it - it was not my first bike but my second , a Cervelo P3, and I just do not get on with the riding position, but then its not my only bike and for more relaxed riding I have an alternative

there is no doubt the Cervelo is a much quicker bike, and i bought it because of the reputation and the "lust factor" but it will be looking for a new home very shortly

cougie

Tri bike with the tribars on ? Personally I would go for a road bike first - as thats what you'll be riding most of the time - tribars are great for racing on, but not everyday training. Frame angles are slightly different on the tri bike too - but you'd probably not notice that.

FWIW - I race an ironman distance tri each year, and I ride a road bike rather than a tri bike.

Start off with the more versatile bike and if you enjoy triathlons - then go for a race bike for it, but even then you'll find triathlons where most people are on road bikes. Ironman France for one - its all climbing and descents so not great for tribikes.

Have you looked at the Planet X bikes ? V nice.

cyberjelly

thanks so much for those quick replies...good advice from both of you. I think I will bin the idea of the tri bike and stick to a road bike. I have looked at the Planet X website, a work colleague has one of their bikes and swears by it! I could afford the fixed price (lowest price!) one and maybe that will be a good option for me. They don't do female specific bikes but I don't think that would matter too much, I'm 5'6" so a small mens frame would be ok.

Thanks again!

Gav888

As its your first bike I wouldn't recommend it, and if you are thinking of doing triathlon's get a road bike and fit aero bars, that way you have a road bike for training and getting used to riding a road bike then fit the aero bars for triathlons.

You need to be faily flexible to ride comfortably on a tri bike as you are arched over more than a normal road bike, plus the handling will take some getting used to....

andy_wrx

With the gearshifters at the ends of the aerobars, a full-on race tri or TT bike will be very awkward to ride around town/in traffic or out with other riders.

The position is not relaxed, it forces you into a full-on race position, so it'll not be good for easy social riding or recovery rides, or all-day rides.

If you can have two bikes, it's fine to have a roadbike for all these things and also have a racebike simply for racing or race-training.

But if you're only having one bike, get a roadbike and stick some clip-on aerobars on it for tri's - if you're a newbie triathlete, it'll do you fine and will be a significant step-up from the tatty MTB's and shoppers some people do beginner tri's on !

pomtarr

...if it's good enough for Google...

Sorry, couldn't resist...

cyberjelly

Haha love it pomtarr...well thought you might like an update! I ended up going to my LBS and trying out a few frame sizes and bikes making sure that I knew what frame size I needed. I test rode several Spesh, Trek and Giant bikes and ended up getting the LBS to order a Spesh Dolce Comp (£1099) as I really liked a couple of the spesh bikes but not too happy with their spec either too low or too high - I fell in love with the Spesh Ruby Elite which was carbon with Shimano 105 groupset throughout but at £1599 too expensive :roll:

I got a phone call from the LBS on monday to tell me the Spesh Dolce Elite was in the shop for me to try so went down yesterday, all they could get was the slightly smaller 51 frame. I took it for a test ride and it was immediately apparant it was too small So I tried the 54 frame of the Ruby Elite and again it felt fantastic! Size was perfect, stable, very comfortable and fast and light. I'm afraid I buckled and bought it!!! :oops: Pick it up at the weekend and I can't wait, was going to buy all the gear and a turbo trainer but those things will have to wait for a bit but that is fine really. This bike will last me ages and I can't wait to get it and take it out for a ride!!!

Thanks for all your help and advice, you all definitely stopped me buying the tri bike which I now know would have been the wrong decision.