£2500 - £3000

dormer88

Hi All,

I'm looking for a new bike around the above mark specifically for training for a half ironman next April.

I don't want to go with a full tri bike but open to any ideas people might have.

I've been looking at the Giant propel advanced pro 1 & the Giant propel advanced 0.

Is it better to go with the better frame of the pro 1 or the di2 groupset of the propel advanced?

Open to any ideas people might have and thanks in advance.

cougie

You can get a decent full on tri bike for about a grand. That will be the faster ride compared to a road bike costing three grand.

A di2 groupset won't make you any faster than mechanical.

dormer88

Yeah I understand but I want the flexibility of having a road bike for weekend rides and not just for tri use.

cougie

So get a decent road bike for 1500 - 2000 as well. Two bikes are always better than one. It's diminishing gains with bikes - anything over a grand or so is perfectly decent. Keep the bikes as similar as possible. Same speed. Gear maker. Rim brakes then you can swap stiff over.

dormer88

I've currently got a Cube peloton that I plan on using for training but want to upgrade to a higher spec road bike rather than an all out TT bike. I understand a cheaper TT bike will potentially go faster but with an aero road bike I have the ability to enter bike races as well.

cougie

Probably even more reason to avoid spending all the cash on one bike. Don't race what you can't afford to replace. Amateur racing is pretty crash heavy these days.

Tiesetrotter

There are plenty around and also within a couple of months you'll be heading into sale season for this years bikes. So start googling and be patient.

If you want some representative spread of bikes have a look at Wheelies. They always have some offers on and have a good mix of the ubiquitous, the not the norm and the Italian. I had a quick look and there were some interesting aero bike choices which is the sort of road/tri mix you may want. All coming with the ubiquitous slow but dependable Ultegra manual. I am afraid whilst it's a shame, Shimano have virtually monopolised the groupset market using their bulk discount process to wipe the others off the face of the earth - so it tends to be 105 or Ultegra only. Doubly a shame as I have all three of the older brands and by far and away the slowest change and crapiest hoods is Ultegra.

Looking on Wheelies the Giant looked good value, the Ridley Noah looked the choice for me.

Failing that you can always look at PlanetX and Ribble

jgsi

With a your budget and buying new, you'll find the supplied wheels are pretty much bottom of the range... well good enough for a commute , not a race.
I'd source Ebay for a failed trier or go lower for the bike and then enough for a wheelset.
Or
You can get a top of range race ready Dolan ... everything you need for £500 more.

Bobbinogs

Very good advice from Cougie, £1k will get you a bike decent enough for either road/race or tri but £3k will not get you a bike that is great at both.

If you are planning on racing then get something like a Spesh Allez or Caad12 in aluminium as the bike is going to hit the deck every now and then. Use the money saved to get a decent aero helmet/skinsuit, etc.

dormer88

Thanks guys for the reply.

I am planning on potentially waiting until the sales come around.

Would it be better to spend the money on a quality frame and upgrade the components over time?

I cycle a lot but this will be my first long tri so I'm reserved about going down the tri bike route in case I'm not a fan.