A bike for all reasons?

Rossatron

In my maiden triathlon season and so far have been chugging along on my hybrid bike. Have been fully bitten by the bug and am looking to upgrade my bike to be more competitive in races.

Only problem being that while im tempted by the speed and looks of a out and out road racer, would need the bike for a combination of triathlon / commuting / touring / winter weather.

Would it be best to go for a heavier set road bike, a touring bike or something like a tricross?

Thanks for your help!

FSR_XC

I've not had a problem training, doing triathlons, TT's or commuting summer or winter on my Specialized Allez.

You can fit race blades / crud mudguards in the winter, tri bars if you want them for Tri's & TT's.

Only problem would be touring - no fittings for panniers.

mcnab_jnr

Well you could spend a couple of grand on a all out racer... Buuuut it's not gonna make any faster... only your legs can do that... so buy something in between... Something like a Giant defy advanced or a Boardman... and like the man said you can add some mudguards for winter and aero clip on's for TT's & tri's. Once the bug really gets hold you will want a bike for all occasions! Happy training!

crankycrank

Get something with an audax type build i.e. slightly longer chainstays, has eyelets for mudguards and racks, and only slightly less quick steering and heavier than a racer and can handle a fairly good amount of extra weight for touring. This is the kind of Jack-of-all-trades but master of none bike (unless your doing an audax) that would do everything competently for you. Just as an example, http://www.bobjacksoncycles.co.uk/produ ... ucts_id=45
Or this, with more room for wider than 700x28c tyres. http://www.bobjacksoncycles.co.uk/produ ... ucts_id=44 You have quite a few builders in the UK who make something similar. I've got one of these that I use for commuting, touring and fast weekend rides. A specialised bike would only be slightly better for any one task.

nmcgann

Rossatron wrote:

In my maiden triathlon season and so far have been chugging along on my hybrid bike. Have been fully bitten by the bug and am looking to upgrade my bike to be more competitive in races.

Only problem being that while im tempted by the speed and looks of a out and out road racer, would need the bike for a combination of triathlon / commuting / touring / winter weather.

Would it be best to go for a heavier set road bike, a touring bike or something like a tricross?

Thanks for your help!

Get a proper road bike. It needn't be a ultra-light carbon race-specific type, one of the more comfort-oriented models like the Giant Defy range would be fine. This type of bike can do just about everything with the exception of fully-loaded touring.

Add clip-on tri bars to race, add raceblades (or similar) for winter/commuting. In it's normal state it will be a fast, light bike for fun summer riding.

Anonymous

Cannondale CAAD9 - a bike that does everything very well indeed!

thel33ter

The Trek 1.2 and 1.5 frames have pannier mounts, and you can put all the clip-ons tri bars ect. on to.

ChilledBud

Take a look at the Kinesis Superlight TK2, fits pretty much all the requirments and looks amazing too