Aero road, good all rounder?

mxmike1991

Hey guys

I posted on here last may, you all gave me sound advice and I ended up buying a plant x pro carbon. I am not looking at a giant propel advance 2

While there is nothing wrong with the bike, II do love it. My friend has a giant propel and it looks a lovely. I do a fair few TTs, although not overly serious about them I am keen on setting some pbs, and getting up towards the top end of the results.

I also enjoy just the leisurely ride out, with the club etc and also plan to do my first sportive (100 mile)

So question is would a aero road be suitable for all this, like would the comfort be still there on a 100 miler? And still see a improvement on my current TT times?

Are they actually much slower than a TT bike? I was looking at buying some deep section wheels for the pro carbon but at £500 min I thought I could spend a extra £700 and get a second hand giant propel pro.

What are people's thought, I really do like the look of them although I don't just want to pour money into just for this reason! Sorry for the long winded post anyway, just wanted to seek some advice before committing.

And I can't really afford to keep the pro carbon so they money from that would go to the new ride.

Thanks

supermurph09

Your position on a TT bike is what makes it faster, in that respect a TT bike is much faster than a road bike. You can put clip ons on and make a few tweaks but you'll soon tire of faffing around changing from TT to road setup.

If I were you, I'd get the bike, use it for the main purpose of road riding and keep doing the TT's, if you still have the bug then get a proper TT bike. There is zero chance you'll be at the top end of Open events riding a road bike. (sorry).

mxmike1991

Fair comment. I can't justify having a sole TT bike sitting there, and then a road. Especially not if there's not a huge difference.

I'm not aiming for anything spectacular In the TTs. Just to better myself and be competitve with a few of the fast lads from the club.

I probably will, I'm hoping I see at least a little difference between my current bike and the giant? I'm guessing the wheels will benefit me most?

I'll probably take the plunge, I hve seen a few on eBay, and it's probably the right time of year to pick up a bargain when not as many are thinking about taking up cycling in the winter months

supermurph09

Look over on the timetriallingforum.co.uk that's a better bet than ebay

cougie

Do you want the pb's from the bike or you?

Keep things the same and you know you've improved?

But if you slap on a pair of tri bars that will get you an extra mile or two faster.

Presumably the fast lads from the club have tt bikes and aero kit. Focus on your times and not theirs.

kingrollo

I am not a fan of this one bike does it all - there's always a compromise.

Would you not be better off with dedicated TT bike from the budget end of the market ?

benjamess

Supermurph09 wrote:

Your position on a TT bike is what makes it faster, in that respect a TT bike is much faster than a road bike. You can put clip ons on and make a few tweaks but you'll soon tire of faffing around changing from TT to road setup.

If I were you, I'd get the bike, use it for the main purpose of road riding and keep doing the TT's, if you still have the bug then get a proper TT bike. There is zero chance you'll be at the top end of Open events riding a road bike. (sorry).

x 2 everything he has said is 100% correct, I rode TT's for 2 seasons on a road bike, I played with some clip ons but after a month of messing around with geometry every tuesday night, racing Wednesday night and resetting back for road riding thursday night i soon got fedup of it and thought i would just ride on a standard road bike and race myself and no one else, it is interesting to guage yourself against or roadbikes though and it is a good feeling passing your minute man when he is on a TT bike!

I was in the exact same boat as you (i take it youre even an ex or current mx racer? ) - I am in the process of building a second hand TT bike and should have it built to a good spec for around £1000 - majority of it being spent on wheels which i plan to keep when i upgrade the frame next winter!

mxmike1991

benjamess wrote:

Supermurph09 wrote:

Your position on a TT bike is what makes it faster, in that respect a TT bike is much faster than a road bike. You can put clip ons on and make a few tweaks but you'll soon tire of faffing around changing from TT to road setup.

If I were you, I'd get the bike, use it for the main purpose of road riding and keep doing the TT's, if you still have the bug then get a proper TT bike. There is zero chance you'll be at the top end of Open events riding a road bike. (sorry).

x 2 everything he has said is 100% correct, I rode TT's for 2 seasons on a road bike, I played with some clip ons but after a month of messing around with geometry every tuesday night, racing Wednesday night and resetting back for road riding thursday night i soon got fedup of it and thought i would just ride on a standard road bike and race myself and no one else, it is interesting to guage yourself against or roadbikes though and it is a good feeling passing your minute man when he is on a TT bike!

I was in the exact same boat as you (i take it youre even an ex or current mx racer? ) - I am in the process of building a second hand TT bike and should have it built to a good spec for around £1000 - majority of it being spent on wheels which i plan to keep when i upgrade the frame next winter!

Ha yeh, I'm primarily race motocross, just took up cycling to build my fitness up and have got the bug for it!

As much as I am swayed to a TT bike I can't bring my self to put all my money into something that I will be Using once every 2 weeks. Unless I try and source parts and bills a cheaper one.

But the question is would a giant propel be any good on a 100 mile sportive or am
I better sticking with the pro carbon? I don't know how the ride will be on a propel over that distance.

I have just been to look at one, lovely looking bikes, I'm just trying to convince myself that it's worth spending a £1300 on one just because I like the look of it if it's not
Going to give me any significant gains in ether the TTs or sportives?

fenix

It will be fine for a 100m sportive if the fit is right and you're used to it. Prob no better on a TT though.

If you dont want a tt bike that gets ridden once every fortnight - how often do you ride sportives to justify the new bike ?

mrfpb

Can you get a finance deal on the Giant - put down your £500 as a deposit and then £70 a month for a year? Or as someone else said, look for a chepaer dedicated TT bike and keep the Pro Carbon for the road.

It's your money (and no doubt you have more pressing things to spend it on), but it sounds like you want both sportive and TT bikes. Your set up and whole body posture for the different events would need to be different, so it's not just a case of clipping on aero bars and switching wheels.

mxmike1991

Fenix wrote:

It will be fine for a 100m sportive if the fit is right and you're used to it. Prob no better on a TT though.

If you dont want a tt bike that gets ridden once every fortnight - how often do you ride sportives to justify the new bike ?

Yeh, fair comment. Not that I plan on doing a lot of sportives. I just mean, most rides either out with the club I just bymself 95% of the time would be on the road bike compared to a TT bike. Don't mind spending my money too much on something I can get regular use out of compared to a TT bike which will only be once every 2 weeks.

I know it's kind of a pointless debate. I think I will go with the propel as it's been stuck in the back of my mind for a while now. Plus looking at the geo I will more appropriately fitted to. M/L giant than my current XL pro carbon. Planet X we're so keen to get my money they just sold me anything. And me been a beginner fell for it!

If I get a bit of spare cash I might be tempted to build my own in the future or try or try and get a cheapie!

Semantik

Having ridden both your current bike and now owning and riding the one you are thinking of getting I can tell you you will not be disappointed. The Giant is noticeably more accomplished at most things than the 10 year old Planet X. It will be ok for a few club time trials with some tribars fitted- not much slower than a full TT rig.

burnthesheep

I DID buy a Giant Propel for this exact reason, dual duty.

It was a stretch enough for the spouse to let me buy one bike, much less two bikes. Sure, you could go used, but in my case it wasn't an option because I already tinker with enough other things around the house that tinkering with getting used bikes exactly where I wanted them would have been too much.

I've ridden it on hills, longer rides, flat rides. I find it plenty comfy and more than enough bike for me. I've only been riding any road bike for 8 months but can now hold about 20 mph in a flat for an hour or so. I figure TT clip ons would either reign back the power required or allow a small bump in speed.

I have some friends wanting to do a team relay Ironman. This would allow me to drop the hammer on the bike and save the group some time. Our swimmer will not be very quick and there is a total-time limit.

Locally, there is a triathlon specific store. They sell shoes, bikes, rent wheelsets, rent bikes for Ironmans. I priced an S2 but didn't buy, too much money. That shop did say that they see a LOT of people put TT bars on Cervelo S2's and Giant Propels. A few Foils or Aeroads or Venges but a lot of S2's and Propels.

At the end of the day you can put spacers in and enduro an aero bike for a 100 mi ride, but you can't really for a TT bike. The geometry of non-race bikes and some non-aero will also limit any gains from TT bars. A decent aero road bike will have a more aggressive fit already.

Just the $0.02 from my local area.

nicklong

I got a Felt AR for the same reason, the frame is similar to a TT frame and the seat post flips to give a saddle position over the BB for TTs. Very popular amongst the tri crowd. True, it's a 10 min faff but I only do a handful of TTs a year and I'm not going for wins.

With clip-on bars, the main aero drag is the handlebar drops - might cost me a couple of seconds but I'll live with that if the alternative costs me another £1k.

cycleclinic

Make sure the aero bike allows an aero postion and you can sit in it for a while. Mine does and therefore is is the quickest bike I won. Why not use it all the time. I use mine for TT's training, racing for long 200km ride and shorter ones. Trying to work out if I can use it for LEL given the aero seatpost. If I can find a work around I will as it will make cover the distance a bit easier.