Triathlon bike - beginner, recommend me £600 budget

[Nick_F]

Boardman really score on value at the top end of their range, where they're offering full carbon frames, good groupsets and decent wheels for two-thirds of the price of the equivalent Giant, Specialised or Trek etc. The ones you're looking at are close enough to be worth trying both and seeing which offers the better potential for getting the right fit.

CRC have a sale on, so you could upgrade the Allez to the same Trouvativ Elita/Shimano Tiagra/105 drivetrain for around £100 if you wanted to go down that route - it's a slippery slope though.

Neither bike is a wrong un' and either one could be upgraded into a bike you'd want to keep for a long time or a sound training bike if you ever buy a dedicated TT/Tri machine: personally I'd go for the cheaper option and have £100 to spend on better shoes/pedal/helmet/Coach Troy DVDs or whatever.

Try them and buy the one you like more.

Edited to note that the Boardman appears to have a compact chainset, so so lower overall gearing: a good thing if you live in a hilly part of the world.

Edited by Nick_F on Wednesday 6th January 22:20

[anonymous-user]

Parsnip said:

pablo said:

stuff

other stuff

hey no worries, i do understand all your points but we can disagree about some of the finer subtlties!

i only wrote all that as the guy is a beginner and i still dont see that as a beginner these things are an issue particularly when we dont know what his strongest element of the three disciplines is.

there are tons of cheap things that you can do to make life more comfortable in T1 for example lock laces will help rather than laces in running shoes etc. yes i do appreciate that running shoes will flex in pedals with clips but tri bars take so much weight off your arms and allows your upper body some mild respite after the swim phase

i know the lance quote is a cheap and easy shot but then i race a £650 bike in duathlons and because i spent a long time researching the purchase, not only is it the best i could afford but its also well suited to the job. i havent got any more money and if i want to go faster, i cant buy gucci wheels or a carbon frame, i need to put the training in (which in terms of bang per buck performance increases, is far better than anything else surely!) after all, i regularly beat fat blokes on ceeps and cervelos because they bought into the "more money equals faster bike" philosophy rather than cutting out the pies ad putting in the hours training.

tri is a marketing mans wet dream but it can be done on a budget with good success at international age group level.

[Merp]

pablo said:

Parsnip said:

pablo said:

stuff

other stuff

his strongest element of the three disciplines is.

Swimming Actually, Sprint/middle distance background at national level. Mainly 50m 100m 200m Free and Fly, but also partial to a bit of back

If that makes any distance...

[Merp]

Right just been to leisure lakes...

They offered me over a Special Allez..

Trek 1.2 for £560
Specialized Secteur Sport for £580

Apparently both of these will be better than the allez, and i now have some brouchures!

Whats the verdict?

[walm]

Merp said:

pablo said:

Parsnip said:

pablo said:

stuff

other stuff

his strongest element of the three disciplines is.

Swimming Actually, Sprint/middle distance background at national level. Mainly 50m 100m 200m Free and Fly, but also partial to a bit of back

If that makes any distance...

Good luck with the bike.

O/T I found being good at swimming is very depressing for triathlon.
Improving your swim by 10% nets you 1.5 mins vs. up to say 4 mins on the bike.
Did you play any polo? I found the familiarity with being beaten about the head while in the water quite helpful for the start...

[anonymous-user]

Merp said:

Right just been to leisure lakes...

They offered me over a Special Allez..

Trek 1.2 for £560
Specialized Secteur Sport for £580

Apparently both of these will be better than the allez, and i now have some brouchures!

Whats the verdict?

in all honesty, there is nothing between them bar the name. the trek and the spesh are almost identical in spec and there is nothing between them in terms of what they offer, ally frame, carbon fork, a mix of tiagra and sora, the own brand wheels will be heavy and 32h on a road bike will not roll particularly fast. the wheels are the biggest issue on both bikes unfortunately. there will be no discernable difference between the spesh finishing kit and the bontrager kit either.

if you really cant stretch to 650 for the boardman comp and dont fancy going mail order - i would seriously recommend looking at whatever Focus is on sale around your budget from Wiggle (who do a 7 day test) - then i would go for the trek but for no reason in particular other than its a nice paint job..

[Rich_W]

Can anyone give me a guide for fit on a TT bike? As a MTBer. I'm used to the old adage. Stand over the bike and if you have 3" clearence to the top tube that's (probably) the right size. Obviously Road bikes have higher top tubes. And TT bikes have lower ones. Any pointers? I did one of those online fitting guides and it suggested a XL frame! Compared to the Medium my GT is.

I very nearly bought a 07 Specialized Transition Comp in Large (eBay - went for £500!) but backed off as although the guy selling it said it was Ok for guys 5'10 to 6'1 (which I am) I wasn't sure.

[anonymous-user]

Rich_W said:

Can anyone give me a guide for fit on a TT bike? As a MTBer. I'm used to the old adage. Stand over the bike and if you have 3" clearence to the top tube that's (probably) the right size. Obviously Road bikes have higher top tubes. And TT bikes have lower ones. Any pointers? I did one of those online fitting guides and it suggested a XL frame! Compared to the Medium my GT is.

I very nearly bought a 07 Specialized Transition Comp in Large (eBay - went for £500!) but backed off as although the guy selling it said it was Ok for guys 5'10 to 6'1 (which I am) I wasn't sure.

if you can afford it, you are well worth spending the £100 or so on a professional fitting to ensure that you get the right size and position to optimise performance.

if you do buy a frame on its own, there are plenty of things that you can do to get it comfortable that dont cost too much money but they might be a compromise.

there must be plenty of places in your area to help, if you bought a frame second hand and took it to them to help build up (you would only need bb/cranks fitted), they could advise on seat/post and stem/bars for a good fit.

they should lend you some wheels to assit in the process too. go on a weekday and you will get their full time and attention.

[Mr Gear]

To the OP: I was in your exact position this time last year, and I had a similar budget too. I'd never run a triathlon before and wanted a fast reliable bike that was also easy to get used to.

One thing I learned is that if you walk into a bike shop and say "I want a triathlon bike" they might try and sell you something totally unsuitable. A general road racing bike might suit you and your training much better than a tightly focused tri bike, which will be heads-down, arse-up, solid as a rock and absolute torture for anything but the race distance.

I narrowed it down to trying to find a bike that had an aluminium frame and carbon forks with a good quality wheel-set. There was NOTHING on ebay for less than £400 at the time, but quite by chance I found this bike (BH L20 Volan) covered in dust in my local dealers and I managed to negotiate a really nice price!

I have since used the bike for some long distance races and commuting, and so it has proved better value than a tri bike because I can use it for all sorts of things, not just sprint racing.

That said, if you want to finish 1st or 2nd at a triathlon, perhaps you are not of the same mindset as me, and will want a dedicated bike. I was only doing the Triathlon to get fit and race a friend.

As for pedals/shoes - I saw all sorts of combos at the Blenheim palace triathlon. Some people use different shoes for the run and the ride, in which case dedicated cycle shoes and pedals are perfect, but myself and many others wore the same shoes for the run and the ride, in which case, pedals and toeclips work best. Mind you, my transition times were awful.... That is an art in itself and worth practising!

Edited by Mr Gear on Tuesday 2nd February 15:59

[Nick_F]

Rich_W said:

Can anyone give me a guide for fit on a TT bike? As a MTBer. I'm used to the old adage. Stand over the bike and if you have 3" clearence to the top tube that's (probably) the right size. Obviously Road bikes have higher top tubes. And TT bikes have lower ones. Any pointers? I did one of those online fitting guides and it suggested a XL frame! Compared to the Medium my GT is.

I very nearly bought a 07 Specialized Transition Comp in Large (eBay - went for £500!) but backed off as although the guy selling it said it was Ok for guys 5'10 to 6'1 (which I am) I wasn't sure.

Most manufacturers have sizing guides online: the difference between sizes is not great and given the choice between 'just too big a frame with a very short stem to compensate' and 'just too small a frame with a long stem to compensate' the latter option will be easier to ride on aerobars.

[dubbs]

Rich_W said:

Can anyone give me a guide for fit on a TT bike? As a MTBer. I'm used to the old adage. Stand over the bike and if you have 3" clearence to the top tube that's (probably) the right size. Obviously Road bikes have higher top tubes. And TT bikes have lower ones. Any pointers? I did one of those online fitting guides and it suggested a XL frame! Compared to the Medium my GT is.

I very nearly bought a 07 Specialized Transition Comp in Large (eBay - went for £500!) but backed off as although the guy selling it said it was Ok for guys 5'10 to 6'1 (which I am) I wasn't sure.

If going to the point of getting a TT bike I would strongly recommend not listening to any of us and get to a proper fitter

They'll assess things like height, inside leg, hip to shoulder, shoulder to elbow, elbow to wrist, etc., to work out what frame geometry suits you, some suit long legged people, other long torso/arm.

In addition to this the saddle angle and positioning needs to be done correctly to get you in a 78 degree (or more) angle for triathlon to ensure you're using you muscles effectively to allow you to still run but also get max power from them.

I'm ordering a Cervelo S2 at the weekend so just been through all this. Went for the S2 as the P2 and TT type bikes get frowned upon in sportives (which are useful for a bit of enjoyable training), don't have massive aero benefit unless you're right up there in terms of competition and pedal at 25mph+ constantly and aren't comfy for longer distance rides as they are super aggressive.

[Nick_F]

Useful article

There are lots of approaches, and few, if any, legitimate rules of thumb, but the author makes sense to me.

[matt-ITR]

For £600 you will get a half decent road bike, but not a triathlon/TT bike.

If you get serious about Triathlons then you will end up getting a proper Tri bike because they are faster than a road bike + aero bar extensions.

I would consider the [url=http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Focus_Culebro_Tria_2009/5360037593/]Focus Culebro tria[/url]. 2009 model is on Wiggle for £800.
I know its above your budget, but better value in the long run.

Trek, Boardman, Spesh... all good bikes. But they are just road bikes at the end of the day. Depends how serious you take it.

[dubbs]

Of course that depends on "how" good you are... most people with tri-specific bikes could probably get a better benefit buy just getting fitter Also many for Half ironman and ironman seem to go back to road geometry for comfort...

[anonymous-user]

dubbs said:

Also many for Half ironman and ironman seem to go back to road geometry for comfort...

this is really dependant upon the course, for some courses like Florida or Kona they use pretty much tt geometry, for others then an aggressive road position is more preferable but i would reckon the top 50 in almost all "m dot" events are on what we would consider as tt bikes.

[Nick_F]

pablo said:

dubbs said:

Also many for Half ironman and ironman seem to go back to road geometry for comfort...

this is really dependant upon the course, for some courses like Florida or Kona they use pretty much tt geometry, for others then an aggressive road position is more preferable but i would reckon the top 50 in almost all "m dot" events are on what we would consider as tt bikes.

I'd say the vast majority of the top 500, and all of the top 50. Unless the course is so hilly that you're forever having to sit back to climb, a correctly set-up TT bike will always use less energy than a road bike - and will tax your running muscles less to boot.

First time IM competitors do get nervous about spending so long in the saddle of a TT bike, but that's often because their TT bikes are set up for the shorter events that they're used to, or for time trials, with the most aggressive position they can tolerate for the race distance.

Do all of your riding on a TT bike, and stay down on the aero bars all of the time, and using one for IM becomes the obvious choice.

All assuming a given level of fitness - £1,000 worth of training will deliver better results than £1,000 worth of bike...

[anonymous-user]

Nick_F said:

pablo said:

dubbs said:

Also many for Half ironman and ironman seem to go back to road geometry for comfort...

this is really dependant upon the course, for some courses like Florida or Kona they use pretty much tt geometry, for others then an aggressive road position is more preferable but i would reckon the top 50 in almost all "m dot" events are on what we would consider as tt bikes.

I'd say the vast majority of the top 500, and all of the top 50. Unless the course is so hilly that you're forever having to sit back to climb, a correctly set-up TT bike will always use less energy than a road bike - and will tax your running muscles less to boot.

First time IM competitors do get nervous about spending so long in the saddle of a TT bike, but that's often because their TT bikes are set up for the shorter events that they're used to, or for time trials, with the most aggressive position they can tolerate for the race distance.

Do all of your riding on a TT bike, and stay down on the aero bars all of the time, and using one for IM becomes the obvious choice.

All assuming a given level of fitness - £1,000 worth of training will deliver better results than £1,000 worth of bike...

LOL, mrs pablo knows this only too well, she says i cant have a new bike until my results are worthy of such a reward.... i tried to explain that my results wont improve until i get a new bike but she laughed!....

[Merp]

The bike has been built up and ready to collect today!

http://www.leisurelakesbikes.com/product/trek12cer...

£450 can argue with that at all!

[Rolls]

Cheap as chips for 450 that is!!!!

[Mr Gear]

Sweet ride. Normally you pay extra for a white one!

Enjoy, but watch out for the morons in General Gassing who can't drive.