Road bike with tri setup (Page 2)

The bike that's BEST for you is the bike that's the "right tool for the job" and FITS. 

Tri bikes in general are built for speed with a small cost in comfort (to a point).  They are meant to be riden in areo.  They have steeper seat tubes and shorter top tubes due to the reduced reach while in aero (in general) but also have a balance in power and comfort.  There are also differences in head tube parameters as well, to accomidate the steering in aero.

You can make a road bike "fit" you in aero, but it will NEVER by a tri bike.  Will that make a difference to "joe average"?  Maybe not.  But if you make it "fit" in aero, it won't "fit" as well if riding on the hoods.  I would set it up the way you plan to do your training/racing and leave it that way.

I guess you could get a professional fit for both positions, and constantly change.  But I think it could be more than just a seat position change.  It could be stem length, rise of the bars, etc.

I guess you are getting a debate because if you are asking on a tri website, we are assuming you want to go fast as you can in triathlon.

If you just want a "do everything" bike.  That's great.  Get a beach cruiser, road bike, tri bike, whatever.  Switch whatever you want on it whenever you want.

But you said you wanted to go as fast as you can as comfortably as you can.  Catch 22.  Do you want speed or comfort?  What's more important?  When you say you don't want to spend all your time and money doing it.  What does that mean?  You don't need math majors to do this.

Pick the "tool for the job" and go to a reputable fitter.  Have them fit you and leave it and race with it IMO.

That what I have done.  I had a professional fit before I bought my road bike, and did a fitting for both road and tri positions.  Then I bought the bike that would work the best for both positions.  I change seat height, seat fore/aft position, # of spaces and either slap on or take of the aerobars.

I change pretty often.  The bike stays as a road bike through the winter.  The closer I get to the race season, the more it stays in the aero setup.  At this point in the year, I change it back to a road setup only when I am doing a lot of climbing (I live at the base of the Rockies), othewise it stays in the aero setup.  After my HIM on June 15, it will go back to being a road bike most of the time. 

I just couldn't get forward enough without the forward seat post.  Plus, it sucked having to move the seat up and back everytime since I was fitted with and without aero bars and the seat position was different for each.  Plus, it makes setting up the trainer bike easy. 

My bike is a true roadie, and one day, he'll have a brother that will be a true tri bike.  For the time being, I just have him set up to be adaptable as quickly as possible.  Never know when somebody posts a ride I want to go on.

When people say "agressive" what they mean typically is 80+ degree seat tube angle, and a lot of drop between the seat and the bars. It basically just means your head is as low as possible and your back is flat. It hard to get into a position like this on a road bike because the frame is typically built with a 74-ish degree STA, and the head tube is too tall.

By merely buying a FF seatpost and tri bars, it doesnt convert your bike into a tri setup the same exact way a tri bike does it. The tri-bike is specifically designed to rotate your whole body around the bottom bracket, to allow this "agressive" position.

All that said, "agressive" doesnt necessarily mean fast. There are considerations such as breathing, hip angle, being able to hold your head up, overall comfort, power output... etc... to think about as well.

I'll mirror the "train the way you race" and that you're not going to want to keep switching your bike setup around once you get it set up right.

I do all of my long rides on the weekend on my tri bike.  I do commute to work on a bike, so typically M-F I am riding my commuter.  I do solid mileage on the weekends, but because of my commuting, I do more miles on a hybrid!

I have a road bike too that has pro. design T2 Aero bars. It is working fine for now. You can also reverse the stem to get lower, the guys at my bike shop I go too did this for me to increase aero efficiency.

However I am currently in the process of making some $$$$ bling bling to get a tri bike because they are even more aero.

 Yeah, you don't use aero bars in group rides you can cause a wreck. However, I feel more comfo. in my aero bars than the regular drop bars.

I was interpeting the OP as wanting to change on a weekly basis (Constantly). 

To me, what you describe is not constantly changing.  It's "occasionaly" changing.  Simantics maybe.  I don't see as much of an issue if you were fitted for both, and you switch once in the winder and once in June (with maybe a couple changes for the MTN's).

Would you want to make the changes back and forth on your bike once/twice a week for different rides?  They don't seem as simple as moving a seat post fore or aft....

That's interesting.  So do I.  I can sit in Aero all day.  I get into the drop bars of a road bike and feel nervous....  Guess it's just getting used to it....

There was a period of a couple of month where I was changing twice a week.  After doing it a few times, it doesn't take long.  At this point, I am less than 5 weeks out from my HIM, and I am trying to do all of my riding in the aero position.

The bike is very comfortable when riding as a road bike or when riding in the aero position when it is set up aero.  It is not comforable to ride sitting up when the bike is set up aero, so if I am doing much climbing, I will always change the setup. 

Back to the forward seat post debate.

I tend to agree that if your using PD Jammer GT or other SHORT REACH aero bar it is not neccessary. IMHO if you are NOT using a short reach bar your options become to either use the regular seat post and be pretty stretched out, or use a forward seat post and end up with your center of gravity way forward possibly causing stability issues.

My only bike (road bike) has PD Jammer GT aero bars on it and a regular seat post. I am very comfortable and very stable.