Originally Posted by
SpeedofLite
I believe, like many C&V members, the Centurion Ironman makes for a fine road bike.
The only thing "triathlon" about it is marketing (Dave Scott and Ironman) because it essentially has classic road bike frame geometry.
However, it was around that same time period (1988/89) that Quintana Roo ushered in the design of bike frames with steeper seat tube angles meant to be ridden with aero bars.
They also pioneered 650C wheels with these frames for most sizes.
This configuration (steep seat tube angles 76-80 degrees, aerobars,) quickly became the norm for triathletes of the 1990s and became somewhat standard for tri-bike frame geometry.
Centurion Ironman was never a part of this.
Yup. Up until the late 80's 'triathlon' was mostly a marketing term. The only difference between a 'triathlon' bike and a regular road bike was that the 'tri' bike had clincher tires whereas the road race bike would come with tubulars. On some Miyatas they would have a 3rd set of bottle mounts, and some bikes would have CO2 cartridge mounts (which go on the bottle mounts) as well.
Of course, once Scott came out with the aero bar with elbow rests, tri bikes quickly evolved into a different species.