trisaiah

Okay so someone stole the road bike I have been training on for about a year and a half () and so I've decided to max out my credit card on a dedicated tri-bike. My question is this: is the aero position (tri geometry) in any way deleterious to climbing training?

My cycling is exclusively dedicated to triathlons, but I love to climb. I think it gives improvement better and faster than any other workout. But I've seen some comments around these forums giving me the impression that lots of climbing is not good on an exclusively tri-geometry (for reasons which are unclear to me). Is this true? Does it contain a germ of truth?

ZIPP2001

Everyone is different ! I presently have 5 bikes which are all tri-bikes, and I live in an area which has plenty of climbing. I also ride in the Berkshire Mountian section of the state quite a bit. I am a person who also enjoys standing when climbing more than seated. I have ridden tri-bike set-ups for the last 10+ years since I stopped racing. like I said everyone is different, i've had riders question me about using my set-up on long hilly centuries.

kakman

let me guess, you're single...

cjbruin

Sometimes I feel like my tri bike climbs better than my roadie.

ZIPP2001

Hi Kakman ! Married 26 years, 3 kids, the youngest 2 are in college. I have 3 Zipp2001, Lightspeed Blade, and a Cannondale Multi-Sport. I have been thinking of selling one of my Zipps and getting a road bike this winter. I had a new paint job put on one of my Zipps last winter and have never rebuild it. So might put it on ebay.

TysonB

Aero-position and climbing? One hint: DON'T stand out of the saddle while in the aero bars!! I don't know whatever possessed me to do it four weeks ago, but that didn't work out too well for me. The doc says my boken arm should be as good as new sometime after the first of the year.

TysonB
Cushing, OK

trisaiah

Thanks for the replies. I think I get the picture. I went down to my lbs today and proposed dropping $2xxx on a Cervelo P2C, but when the guys there found out it would be my only training bike, and that I do a lot of climbing, they looked at me like I was kind of wacky.

Their feeling was that if I trained and raced (triathlons exclusively) on the same bike, it should be a roadie, with clip on aero bars and an aero helmet for races.

How do yall feel about this? Agree/disagree? bike recommendations? the guys at the lbs were big on the Specialized Roubaix and Tarmac.

kakman

I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination but when looking for a bike I knew I was a only going to have one. I went for a Soloist team, bought a second seatpost head and a set of profile clip ons. I have my roadie and a fairly handy tri bike.

kninetik

Climbing on a tri-bike geometry has one drawback for me. Due to a steeper geometry, my saddle's nose is a fraction in front of the BB. When I stand up, the nose of the saddle will hit the back of my thighs like a metronome with every rotation of the crank. It is annoying enough to keep me planted on the seat. On a road setup with the saddle relatively further back, I enjoy standing now and then.

trisaiah

Hi Kakman, thanks for the reco. Just did some research on the Soloist Team... all I can say is
... WANT!!

I don't know why no one's ever suggested it before. Cervelo tech, $2k exactly, and the seatpost head can be flipped around to get pseudo-aero geometry!! WANT!!

kakman

I don't think I've ever read a bad word about them (OK, they can have a squeaky seatpost if it's not assembled with the correct paste). Chrissie won Korean IM on one I believe and I'm sure Stuart O'Grady won a major race on one. I'm sure if you do a bit of looking you'll find a wealth of information.

I'm very happy with mine. If you only want one bike I think it's an excellent compromise. If you want answers to specifics, sign up to the Cervelo forums - there's some pretty knowledgeable folks there.

/k

Triguy

This is a little like a Soloist as well. Probably equally aero(maybe even more so)...

https://store.tri-sports.com/2008-kes...hlon-bike.html

trisaiah

Triguy, that link is to the Kestrel Talon? That's a pure aero geometry, while the Soloist is a roadie. I'd expect the Talon to be quite a bit more aerodynamic; the advantage of the Soloist looks to me like versatility (can be used in climbs, descents, pack riding).

RFC

This configuration works well for me as a hybrid road/tri bike. Moving the shifters to the bars gives me more control when I need it, yet is not difficult to reach while on the aerobars. And it climbs just fine.

mgbguy

I don't think I've ever seen one set up like that. Interesting.

senatorw

I have a road bike and a P2C (well, I did until last week when I totaled the frame). Because of bad knees, I have a compact double on the road bike and I have standard on my Cervelo, except that I put a SRAM 28-11 on it. I almost always ride my P2C, by choice, and I live in the Bay Area where we have some hills. My Cervelo climbs great and I actually think it feels better than my Look. I am faster on the Cervelo, cut 45 minutes off my bike split beween Cancun and Hawaii, and part of it was how fantastic the P2C fits me and how aero is.

I'm sure the Soloist is a great bike (I think the carbons were sweet), but don't underestimate how the P2C climbs.

tflorko1617

i really don't see why a tri-bike would be "soo terrible" if you're climbing often... I think that you should be fine, if needed, see if you are able to rent the bike for a day or so taken it to the hills and find out for yourself.

agarose2000

I just did a pretty decent hill climb route on my Cervelo p2c today. It's true in that compared to a true road bike, you will notice that you won't be able to pull as ergonomically due to the forward seat position and the lack of dropbars, but it's really not significantly different than riding a roadie. In fact, on the biggest hill today, which was short but steep, I dropped all 5 roadies who were riding with me, and stayed in the aerobars for half the hill. (Went out of saddle at the end.)

I like the idea of training in your race bike. If anything, I don't notice problems with hill climbing at all, but I do occasionally wish that I could reach my bar-end shifters from the horns like a road-bike when riding in groups or in traffic. However, when the road opens up, and it's aerobar time, my Cervelo ROCKS.

I wouldn't worry about the tri-configuration being a problem for training. At least 5 guys in the triclub here only own a carbon tri bike, and use it for everything without problem or hesitation.

(Incidentally, I believe Chrissie Wellington's non-Kona Cervelo P2C is setup as the bike pictured above, with road-bar drops and shifters and aerobars without bar-end shifters.)