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Time trial bike

bigrickybigricky Posts: 92
edited May 2010 in Road buying advice
Hi All,

i am thinking of buying a basic time trial bike, mainly just for club 10s and some other distances ie 25s 50s and sporting rides. should i go for one or stick with my Madone 4.5 with clip on aero bars? is it worth buying one?will i see a big difference in times?

Posts

  • willbevanwillbevan Posts: 1,241
    you will see a big difference going to clip ons or a dedicated TT bike in my experience. Knocked off a minute over a 10 by going to clip ons, then another 2 mins going to a proper TT bike (disc wheel and 40mm front as well), mind you the bike I was coming from was a cheap 170 quid bike that flexed like anything!

    I wuld say if you already are set on TTs and like them go get a TT bike.

    If your not sure, get some clip ons (what I did) and ride till you decide you want to get a TT bike. Would suggest a adjustable stem if your going to get clip ons, so may disagree but the rational I follow is this. If you want to get low for TT bars, you mayhave to remove the spacers or flip the stem, however this may then not be a good position for normal road riding and would be a pain switching all the time. With an adjustable stem, you can quickly change it.

    Not sure what you mean by sporting rides? Sportiffs? if so don't think they are allowed but I may misunderstand or be wrong!
    Road - BTwin Sport 2 16s
    MTB - Trek Fuel 80
    TT - Echelon

    http://www.rossonwye.cyclists.co.uk/
  • bigrickybigricky Posts: 92
    by sporting i mean hilly time trials, plenty of hills here in the Isle Of Man !!
  • love2ridelove2ride Posts: 224
    If the tts are very hilly stick with the road bike. However the biggest difference with a tt bike is that you can get much lower. I've got a Planet X and its great. Its pretty heavy (no disc) but I would still use it for most tt courses.
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