Question for those who own a road and Tri bike (Page 2)

Do you think you're going to get enough $$$ out of selling a used road bike to make it worth offsetting you giving up the flexibity of having 2 bikes??  Maybe you will...but I'd hate to give up my road bike and be left with just my tri bike.

i have a tri bike and road bike.

i ride the road bike more.

agreed with chris, and because i know what he is doing.

most people have a crappy tt position that is inefficient.  i just had a friend riding with me at 280 watts ave only 22 mph.  he is about my size.  i can do this with about 50 watts less. 

there is alot of misinformation and tt position in not really the most comfortable thing.  so in order to put up with it you got to do some riding in it. 

This.

I would have skipped getting the TT bike if it meant selling the road bike first! 

For me, the difference between the two bikes in traffic isn't only the position of the brakes as much as it is MY position.  In aero, my visibility is so limited!  I don't know about everyone else, but my TT bike is not very comfortable on the horns for more than a minute or two at a time.  If I can't (or don't want to) be in aero for most of the ride, I don't ride the TT bike.

Thanks for all the responses. It seems like everyone is split down the middle and it is just personal preference.  

I think I will keep the my road bike and look at getting a TT bike early next season. Then if i don't ride my road bke that much i will look into selling it then.

Thanks

Good call. Like Birkie said, the used bike market isn't the best place to get your money back. You will definitely take a hit selling a used bike, probably better to save and keep both bikes.

90%+ on road bike but I ride 90%+ with a cycling group.

I find the road bike much more versatile...but I predominantly do short course racing (Sprints/Olys - probably 1 HIM a year).

I ride my TT bike on the trainer and when I get close to races just to get used to the handling.

The scariest group ride I've ever done was a bunch of triathletes on TT bikes (20+).  In a small group with experienced cyclists, it's not a big deal, but in a group of mixed experience/abilities, it's absolutely silly what some people were doing  like being down on their aerobars going downhill in a middle of a pack, and a few almost caused a crash (first downhill turn, several ran wide - one of which forced me to go straight).

If you're a 'train-by-yourself' kind of person and never does group rides, I don't think it matters, but if you ride with groups a lot (like me), the road bike is much more versatile and I feel that I'm not giving away more than about 1mph at worst.

no worries he already has retul fitting scheduled next week.    he is my size about 6'1 168-170. 

Again, my answer will be that handling and comfort are on a spectrum. 

You can go right ahead and set up your tri bike such that that you have a reduced field of vision and weight distribution that impacts your reaction time, but it's very aero and fast.  I wouldn't take that out on the road except during a closed-course race.  Or you can make it a bit less aggressive but safer for riding down the road.

That's how I set up my tri bike.  Not as aggressive as some, not as slack as others.  And yes it handles just as well as my road bike at 20mph, on or off the aerobars. And it's certainly a lot more stable at 40 mph on a downhill on the aerobars than my road bike with clip-ons ever was.

I'm glad your crash wasn't as bad as it could have been, but I feel compelled to point out the difference was aero position vs. not aero position, not tri bike vs. road bike. 

If you were riding aero on a road bike's clip-ons, then you'd have the been in the same world of trouble.  Riding aero (road or tri bike) can be very problematic if you need those brakes...

I realize some tri bikes are set up such that riding on the horns is very uncomfortable.  Mine used to be, I bought a new base bar, problem solved.  I don't ride it aero unless I feel it's safe to do so.

And I agree - the best answer to "road or tri bike" is BOTH.

Right now you may not need a roadie & a TT bike, but what about next year or the year after?  I have a roadie, TT, CX, full suspension mtn and hardtail mtn and wouldn't give up any of them.  I buy used so that has probably averaged 50% off the price of new -- maybe you can afford to have both.

I ride them about equally, as well as spending time on my MTB. It's all good. In fact I rode both the tri and road bike on the same ride a few days ago. I let a friend use one and we swapped halfway through the ride.

What's this about selling a bike? I've never sold a bike. My garage is full of bikes. I have 5, my son has 3, and my wife has 2. Can't ever have too many bikes! ;-)

I have 3 bikes and a studio apt. ha

The TT bike I take out for long rides and use it on the trainer 2 times a week.

The roadie goes out Sun mornings for my 20 miles trip hill climb and sprint intervals.

My commuter goes from home to work, 3 miles round trip.  And that in Los Angeles is worth its weight in gold!