Originally Posted by
canklecat
BTW, if you're not absolute sure about committing much money to an aero bar setup, check craigslist and used ads for used TT/tri-bikes. For some reason these seem to go for cheaper asking prices than comparable road bikes. My best guess is one or both of two possibilities:
- People dabble in triathlons, decide it's not for them or life stuff gets in the way and they sell good bikes very cheaply.
- They're diehard tri-folk with good income and get upgrade fever every year or two while they're making progress or nths of second of a personal best or placing in a race.
Or, in my case, the seller finds a minor crack in the frame and dumps the bike for less than the cost of the components priced separately. So I got a decent set of Profile bars, a mish-mash of Dura Ace and Ultegra components and a few other goodies.
There's a whole lot that factors into that.
1) Just like bike booms, there was a tri boom about a decade ago, and then a steady slump through now. This most affected local short-distance races, so there are a lot of casual folks who stopped racing, whether they drove the slump or gave it up when their favorite race disappeared.
2) Tri geek gearheads make the upgradeitis of roadies look amateur. In a similar thread I related the story of one of my local buddies who was so smitten with the Zipp 858s that he sold his one-year-old 808s for them. Yes, he's a dentist.
3) The cost of a nice tri bike is roughly equal to the all-in price of an Ironman (counting entry, travel, hotel, etc), so in a sense it's not absurd to show up with the newest, fastest bike you can (and the bike actually matters in this sport).
4) Most tri geeks like riding best anyway, so a non-trivial number convert to roadie-dom over time.
That all said, there's not as much difference between a good tri bike and the best tri bike as the manufacturers would like you to believe, and there is a world of difference between a tri bike and a converted roadie. If you're serious about this, I'd strongly recommend a used P2 (the "New" model, which I think debuted in 2014), or a felt IAx, Trek Speed Concept 7, or a few others of the common and sensible variety, with TriRig Omega brakes, Hed Jet wheels, and Di2 if you can afford it (shifting from the brakes is amazing). That setup will give up basically no speed to the top-end superbikes for a lot less (and with an upgraded aerobar, can equal them). Disc brakes in tri, roadie debate aside, is absolutely meaningless on almost all courses in the world.
And on a tri bike, fit is even more critical than on a road bike, and even less intuitive. In Cervelo, I ride a 56 road and 51 tri, and inn Quintana Roo sizing I'm a 48. Others ride the same numbered size in both, so there's no rule to follow.
As for clip-ons, I was never able to get those to feel right (possibly because of that frame size disparity). And while clip-ons can give you a bit of speed on the flat, what they can't do is change your seat tube angle to the steeper one that allows you to ride with a flat back while keeping your hip angle open enough to run well afterwards. That becomes more and more important as the distances increase as well.