Ironman Training Bike

Well, actually, there is another option.

As you've figured out, triathletes considering their first serious race/training bike purchase, often have a dilemma: what kind of bike to get when you're starting out? A road bike with traditional geometry and road drop bars? Or, a tri bike with a steeper seat tube angle and full aerobars?

Each type of bike has advantages. The road bike has the brakes and shifters in easy reach, the drop bars have lots of good hand position options, the bike will be welcome at fondos, centuries, and group rides, it's faster (and far safer) for fast descending and cornering, it's more versatile for utility riding like riding in traffic, trips to the store, commuting, etc. But a tri bike is typically faster and the frame is more aero (both pretty important qualities for a tri race bike), allows you to get in a better position for generating good power while in the aero position, can often be more comfortable for riding on the aerobars (if fit correctly), etc.

But there's also a third option that gives you the best of both worlds (and might even save you some money and from buying too many bikes). That option is a tri bike but fitted with road drop bars and well-designed clip-on aerobars. In many ways, it is the true multisport bike because it makes for an aero tri bike that is equally fast on super fast descents as it is on pancake-flat time trial courses.

It also give you three options as you progress in skill and experience: (1) keep the drop bars and clip-ons on the bike and keep on using it that way for training and multisport racing. Or, (2) keep the drop bars on the bike, take the clip-ons off, and use it for road riding if your triathlon passion morphs to a bike racing passion (easily 95% of tri frames, with a few small position tweaks, can--and do--function perfectly well as a road frame). Or, (3) switch out the drop bars and clip-ons for full aerobars if you want fully maximize your aero advantage on flat courses (depending on your set up, only about 10 sec of aero savings per 40K).

For some visuals, here and here are a few photos of a Felt tri bike set up exactly this way (this bike belonged to 2X IM Kona winner Tim DeBoom).

How are you so sure you're gonna like biking that you want to spend so much money straight away?

What most people do is to get a cheap road bike (3-$500), try a quick sprint to see if they really like it, then upgrade to a moderately priced tri bike in the low thousand dollar range once they get hooked. This is what I did. I bought a cheap Fuji, then a Trek Equinox TT, and now own a "superbike," within the space of 3 years. However, that being said, I knew I was hooked on tri before I even tried my first race, and if I would've bought a nice tri bike right off, it wouldn't have been a bad decision...for me. If you have the money to "burn," then get a decent tri bike. Even if you decide to get out of racing, the resale value is excellent.