chieflim11

I'm just starting to get into triathlons and I've been told it would be better to get a road bike. I can't decide if I should go with the Cannondale R900 or the Felt F75. Any opinions or advice would be appreciated.

cjbruin

Why did the person tell you that it would be better to get a road bike? Do you train with others?

chieflim11

The person at the bike shop said it would be a good idea to get a road bike because it is more versatile incase I do not continue with triathlons. No I havent found a training group yet.

jennings780

Makes sense to me. I agree if you are going to have one bike it should be a road bike.
I don't know much about Felts. I do know that the R900 is a CAAD8 frame, which is the same frame that won the '04 Giro D'Italia. Cannondale is a big company and puts a lot of $$$ into R&D on their bikes. From a review in '04:

“What sets Cannondale frames apart from all other aluminum frames is their manufacturing process. Cannondale starts with a heat-treated 6061 T6 aluminum tube set. The tubes are TIG-welded together in a similar manner to most other manufacturers. This is where the similarity ends. Once the welds are complete a hand finishing process smoothes the welds on the Cannondale frames at each joint. The combination of the heat generated from the welding process and the grinding done during the smoothing process creates a large "heat affected zone" where the joint is actually weakened. This requires Cannondale's unique second heat treating process. The welded, smoothed frame is then heat treated as a unit in a process exclusive to Cannondale. The process is closely guarded. Guests on tour at the Cannondale factory are not allowed in the heat-treating room. The purpose of smoothing the weld beads is not aesthetic, it is structural. An engineer will tell you the distinct edges of an unfinished weld bead are "stress raisers", or a point where cracks can get a start and spread or "propagate". Cannondale has removed these stress raisers and improved the strength of their frames over other brands of aluminum bikes by over 30%. That's huge. “

EPC

+1 for Cannondale, best AL frames available. If you can come up with some extra dough the Cervelo Soloist Team might be a good option. It is one of the few bikes that has the geometry that will allow you to switch between a tri style ride and a "classic" ride. I mean really switch and not just throw aero bars on a road bike.

LBonney

l just love how discussions about other bike brands always get hijacked by my Cervelo loving breatheren. :-)

MHR

Cannondale

bonehead

What is the difference between the CAAD8 and the frame on a C'dale cyclocross bike: Triple butted, Optimo tubing? Unschooled in all of this.

LiteSS

Cannondale.

If you can afford it, get the Six13 frame. Truly an unbelievable ride.

svpatel

I've ridden a lot of miles on a road bike. I've never seen a cracked frame before. Makes me wonder why that canondale frame process is so important..

chieflim11

...I ended up getting a cervelo dual!

Richyd

id go with the cannondale r900, my uncle uses that for triathlons and loves it. i own an r700 (im a college student, so i couldnt get the extra money for an r900) and love its ride. and cannondales are handmade in USA

rexford

I cross shopped cannondale and felt last year and went with a felt f70 (i have an older cannondale mountain bike, though). with the carbon fork and seat stays it gives a pretty smooth ride. i chose felt because it was more unique and, mainly, better priced. dont think you would go wrong with either. i went road in case i eventually do group rides (still too slow, afraid of getting in some horific wreck as described in the road cycling section), but still havent done one yet so i'm not sure if that was the right choice.

psycofish

I just got the Felt s32 tri bike this year and love it. To be fair last year I did all my races on a 15 year old 30 lb Japanese knockoff, so I probably would have been happy with anything from this century.