Advice one bike buying

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Comments

  • 3FR ... if you don't buy something soon mate you'll be looking at 2005 models ;-)
  • Gissa chance, I've been at work all week :-)
  • You can ride your new toy to the SW London social and we can all have a ride !
  • That'd be a good way to trash it - lots of drunken peeps in a busy high street!!!
  • doing wheelies around Sutton ....
    get one with the horizontal top bar so we can get 3-4 peeps on at once, plus at least one in the basket !
  • FFFR – Slightly off to one side question here, but has anyone measured you and compared your results to the geometry of these various frames?

    If you want to tri on it as well as train (and particularly if you intend to stick aerobars on it) you're probably going to need something a little different from the run of the mill.

    oli
  • I was looking ar a Principia at the weekend - very nice
  • And almost certainly more than I want to spend at the moment Will!

    The guys in Pearson's and Evans both assessed me and came up with 60cms.

    Would I need something different if I had aero bars on it?
  • Thing is FFFR, most of the time you won't be using your aerobars. So you do need the correct sized normal road bike. Then adjust the tri-bars so they are comfy for you. I'd take it back to Pearsons when you are ready for them and ask if they'll set you up on a few pairs to see what they look and feel like for you.
  • You mean I can't eat them?

    But I live the mint flavoured ones :o(
  • Ooooooooooh. I geddit.

    Bit slow today.

    Please don't confuse the two. Could be dangerous.
  • Have you decided yet ? Suspense is killing me !
  • Decided to leave it - it's a lot of money to spend when I don't know if I'm going to be serious about tri - decided to get by with a secondhand one for the mo at least.
  • Cougie, I couldn't disagree more. If you're committed to racing well, you should be spending most of your racing time on your aerobars, and a significant amount of your training time (especially any quality work given that the muscular recruitment is so specific).

    That said it all depends what you want to race. A good bike for ironman is not always a good bike for sprint racing (though in the draft -free age group races it usually is.

    There is always a trade-off, but simply sticking areobars on a normal road frame is not the best way to go about this.
  • Well if you look at Chris Boardman - I didn't see him out training on his tri bars very often, and he was just about the best Time Triallist ever.

    FFFR is looking at getting into Triathlon, and so is pretty new to cycling. I would suggest that he'll get a better workout, and be more in control by using a normal roadbike for most of his training.

    On the turbo though would be a good time to use them.

    Fine to use them enough to get used to handling the bike with them, and being comfy on them, but he'd only be on them for an hour or so.

    If we are talking Ironman - then it would be different though. A position you can hold for 25 miles is not necessarily the same as the one for 112 miles.

    I do agree that sticking aerobars on a bike isn't the best option, but I would advise any new cyclists to do this, rather than spend a grand on an out and out Low Pro racing machine that they just can't handle, and it gets left unused in the shed.
  • Cougie

    With you totally on not buying a low pro with all the trimmings straight out, but I do think a halfway house is necc.

    When you look at someone like Boardman, you need to balance the fact that what he and other top-level TTers do is ride the long base stuff on the road bike and the hard and fast quality work and cruise intervals on the low-pro in the aero position. (plus Boardman was/is a freak with an extra hing joint in his spine ;-) !)

    My main concern comes when people slap aerobars on a bike and end up aerodynamically/biomechanically worse because they sit higher, slide to the front of the saddle (because a lot of clip on bars are too long for a road bike) and tend to hunch.

    I also think there's a lot to be gained from spending a reasonable amount of long, slow riding on the aerobars (say 2-3hrs at a time), in terms of settling into the position, comfort and specific muscle recruitment. It's not enough to do base work in one position, then shift to a new position, start recruiting your muscles slightly differently AND expect your body to cope with higher intensity at the same time.

    As for Ironman, I race here in the same position I use for shorter races (and even TTs), because IMO the most comfortable position is the most comfortable position, irrespective of distance.

    I think the real trick is to take all three elements at once (rider, bike and aerobars) and make all three match as best you can.

    For what it's worth, my top tip would be a highly adjustable set of clip-ons (Speedliners, Profile Jammers or such like), and preferably a set that doesn't have a huge height increase above the handlebar – the pad-less Jammers for eg.
  • fade - I'm with you there on comfortable positions, I race sprints, Olympic and IM all on my aero bars and train quite a bit on them too, because I'm more comfortable in that position than any other.
  • IW
    When you think about it, it makes sense that it should be more comfortable anyway, simply because your weight is supported by your skeleton, not the muscles of your arms at the front.

    I raced the Icnield RC 12-hour two weekends ago in the same position I've been using for 10 and 25-mile TTs (which is VERY low for a triathlete!). It was supremely comfortable, and I plan on racing IM next year in the same position.

    Bike position is a favourite topic of mine (though I haven't managed to get it into the mag yet, for some reason!)

    My coach and I have started from the premise that back is better than forwards for muscle recruitment, and that higher is not always more comfortable. These days, aero-wise, Steve Larsen has nothing on me!
  • I see what you are saying Fade, but I'm a bikie and used to see Chris out training as well as a fair few of our Pursuit team. Chris was almost always on his road bike, and pretty hot at intervals on it. And that was when he was training for the hour record, so that's an hours intensity so close to what the Olympic distance is.

    (in time -not distance !!!)

    A newby to Tri should concentrate on getting the hang of the bike first. And after that worry about getting the Tri Bars sorted out.

    I did say that FFR should go back to the shop after a while and try out a few pairs with the people at the shop looking on, and hopefully advising him on his position. As you say - different ones are different positions.

    I used to get really annoyed with the clip ons for TT's - getting them on and off, and making sure they wouldn't come loose in the event.

    So I bit the bullet and built up a Lo Pro. Much easier, but my normal road bike served well for a few years.
  • Cougie

    I think we're approaching the same point from slightly different routes.

    Current thinking for TT and track pursuiting would be to get as close to specific racing position as possible for maximum benefit. I know that a lot of the WCPP guys use road bikes a lot, but they use their low-pros almost as much (we just don't tend to see it because it happens on the turbo or during track sessions).

    For what it's worth, I do the bulk of my work on a road frame, but I do do a significant amount on the low-pro, too.

    But that aside, I just think you want to know for definite that you are going to be riding clip-ons at some point, so a 'classic' road frame with a really relaxed seat angle is poss. a bad idea (particularly if you're not used to the traditional TT-type position). Being able to ride well and comfortably in a good aero position is so much faster for a given effort than riding a standard road frame it's worth moving as close to that point as possible right from the word go (which doesn't necc. mean 90mm head tubes, 80 degree seat angles and a disc wheel, it just means, there's more to the dark art of geometry than what's the standover height etc) if you see what I mean.

    IMO it's also possible and even advisable to get used to aerobars and the bike at the same time, paticularly since a novice triathlete isn't likely to be racing within a pack.

  • Must make an effort to do more on the Lo Pro for next year I think. Poor thing must be lonely.

    So what we are saying here is that a newby should bear in mind that the new bike will be raced with tribars on, and so suitable for that purpose too ? Yeah, I agree. I just think that it might be a bit much to foist a racing bike and tribars onto them at the same time. Very different from the MTB's that most people are used to.

    I think its very interesting to see Tri is getting so popular, whilst TTing seems to be declining. I was thinking that cost of kit might be a factor, but I'm not sure it is given the bikes you see in the Transition area.

    Although - you do see a HUGE range of bikes there. I think its the taking part that seems to count more with Tris. And that's great to see.
  • *adopting silly fake Swiss Tony voice* "You know, Cougie, riding a low pro is very much like making love to a beautiful woman…"

    I think triathlon's popularity stems partly from the prevelance of bright shiny toys in the transition area! But that said, TTing is almost willfully obscure – all those odd course codes and the impenetrable handbook. (Once you get inside the sport, it's actually really friendly and very low-key. When was the last time you were offered home-made cakes and a cuppa at the end of a triathlon?!)
  • <<<Sssssh - don't blow my cover - I've only ever done Duathlons>>>>

    But I am planning on learning that swimmy thing. How hard can it be eh ???

    Mmmm - tea and cakes. Only reason for cycling as far as I can see, to reach far flung cafes. Oh, and sunbathe.
  • If you want a bike for general riding that you also compete on wouldn't you be better with a standard road bike - I've never ridden a bike with really steep angles but aren't they a bit twitchy and I wouldn't imagine it would absorb shock so well. More of a question really not having ridded those bikes.
  • I don't think there's a need for any steep seat angles, just not a hideously relaxed one (say 63 degrees).

    Guys like Spencer Smith, AJ, Tim Don and Richard Stannard are all racing and training on similar bikes with a mig range goemetry (around 74-78 degree seat angle).

    These bike handle perfectly well, but can easily be ridden well on the aerobars.
  • Hmmm, I don't know, I'd have thought a 78 degree seat angle is pushing the definition of mid range.
  • Find something that is comfortable and that you enjoy riding - thatway you will ride it more - more riding means more miles - more miles makes a fitter rider

    sod the maths - comfort is what counts
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