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What will be a decent road bike to convert for Triathlons?


supersubs

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I have been riding with my RC2000 since 2013 and have had great fun with it. Good quality and no hassles type of hardware. Have been training really hard this year to get past comrades and into ironman next year and found out during emperors as well as recent races that I am running out of gears...... I am not thinking about a TT bike, too expensive and cant be used for normal races. What would you guys recommend I look for?? 

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Any Aero bike should do... like a Giant Propel?

 

EDIT: Or the Merida Reacto - available at multiple price points.

Edited by Smartie
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Almost every band has an aero bike nowadays. There are plenty to choose from. Good value ones include those mentioned above, Silverback Scalera, Scott Foil etc. If money is no object, I'll go for the Colnago Concept or Trek Madone.

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Agree with all of the above. Have a Merida Reacto that has served me well for multiple Ironman and 70.3’s with some Profile Design tri bars.

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Personal opinion.... get a tribike frame and use that as your basis. Build it with road parts and add or remove tri bars as needed. Then you wont hassle to try and get the right tri bike geometry when you need it. Many tri bikes have very adjustable saddle positions. Otherwise look at the older Cervelo’s like Soloist they had nice multi postion seatposts. Remember a tribike has a huge steep seatube angle of 78-80 degrees if memory serves me right versus road bikes of 74 degrees according to uci standards. You will thank that seat tube angle on the run.

You want to be more forward of your bb on a tri bike. Slamming your seat forward simply does not cut it on a road bike.

Edited by Jeepdude
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Personal opinion.... get a tribike frame and use that as your basis. Build it with road parts and add or remove tri bars as needed. Then you wont hassle to try and get the right tri bike geometry when you need it. Many tri bikes have very adjustable saddle positions. Otherwise look at the older Cervelo’s like Soloist they had nice multi postion seatposts. Remember a tribike has a huge steep seatube angle of 78-80 degrees if memory serves me right versus road bikes of 74 degrees according to uci standards. You will thank that seat tube angle on the run.

You want to be more forward of your bb on a tri bike. Slamming your seat forward simply does not cut it on a road bike.

 

Except that there are not many used tri frames in the classifieds section.

Been looking for a while.

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Except that there are not many used tri frames in the classifieds section.

Been looking for a while.

Bargains often pop up be pasient Edited by Jeepdude
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Have a look for a used 2211-2014 Cervelo S5 frame or bike.

There road race legal but are pretty much the old TT frame. They have the two position seatpost so you can get your position dialed, only downside is the ride is pretty hard and you can't go bigger than a 23c tyre.

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If you are happy with your current Raleigh, why not look at the TT bikes from Raleigh? 

They were well specced, and as you know from experience, Raleighs are reliable as hell.

Keep your eye on the classifieds, they do pop up from time to time, at ridiculously low prices.

 

See this currently available:

https://www.bikehub.co.za/classifieds/318156-raleigh-team-time-trial-bike/

Edited by Wannabe
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I have been riding with my RC2000 since 2013 and have had great fun with it. Good quality and no hassles type of hardware. Have been training really hard this year to get past comrades and into ironman next year and found out during emperors as well as recent races that I am running out of gears...... I am not thinking about a TT bike, too expensive and cant be used for normal races. What would you guys recommend I look for?? 

Keep your Rc2000 for road events and buy a entry level TT bike for longer triathlons.

 

What do you mean by running out of gears?What gearing is on your bike now?

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Cannondale System 6

 

Just add tri bars. Seat post clamp is reversible but just purchase a 2nd post and saddle for Tri set up when using it in that mode

Edited by DieselnDust
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Personally, any half decent road bike. If you are the level of rider that will be converting bikes back 'n forth between road and tri, then you probably won't be winning any tri's any time soon. Thus, don't sweat it. Half decent roadbike, slap a fast forward seatpost on and some clipon bars and off you go. Exactly what I did with my 2004 Cannondale. Still has its Tri dress on from 2015 Ironman, haven't taken it off yet. If you are going to go into Tri seriously, get a proper tri bike.

Edited by TheJ
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I have been riding with my RC2000 since 2013 and have had great fun with it. Good quality and no hassles type of hardware. Have been training really hard this year to get past comrades and into ironman next year and found out during emperors as well as recent races that I am running out of gears...... I am not thinking about a TT bike, too expensive and cant be used for normal races. What would you guys recommend I look for?? 

 

 

If you are running out of gears, get a 56 big blade. Nothing wrong with an RC2000. It took me from YY batch to A bunch to Licensed Vets.

I did not mention, but I have a small Raleigh TT frame, fork, bars collecting dust in a store room. Basically the whole bicycle sans wheels and RD.... I bought it new, and it has done 100km or less as my neck is not TT friendly.

 

You're welcome to make me an offer...

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