Time Trial Daily Rider?

[colafreak]

Hi All,

Thanks to Uncle Kevin, I'm going to get out there and stimulate the economy with a new bike! It's just the push I needed!

One thing though, I'm looking at getting a time trial bike and putting drops on it.

Just wanted opinions from anyone out there that has one that they ride outside of normal TT/Triathlon conditions.

My reasoning is thus:

On average the TT bike is going to be a kilo or so heavier in the price range I'm looking at. I can handle that. I can't consciously feel the difference between doing a hill climb with a full water bottle and without.

I also expect the TT bike will be way stiffer for the price than any road-specific bike I'd be looking at. I really like that.

It's of course going to be more slippery through the air and more sexy/interesting...

The Geometry might not be so comfortable, but I really think that if I set the seat on the rear seatpost mount and slide the seat back, I reckon I can get a pretty comfortable shape out of the thing...


Discuss. Anything you guys think I"m missing?

[JV911]

The Geometry might not be so comfortable

bingo

[colafreak]

but like I said, seatpost has two holes, with the rear one bringing it almost back to standard road-bike seatpost angle. Or is that a gimmick?

[familyguy]

The Geometry might not be so comfortable, but I really think that if I set the seat on the rear seatpost mount and slide the seat back, I reckon I can get a pretty comfortable shape out of the thing...

Discuss. Anything you guys think I"m missing?

The seat to bar height relationship will be quite agressive too, I'd reckon. May not make for a pleasant experience day after day. Nothing a high-rise stem wouldnt fix, though it'd look weird.

Rear seat post mount? Its not just a set back seat post? You've seen the bike you're talking about someplace?

Jim

[colafreak]

Yeah Felt B16.

It's got two holes in the seatpost for the clamp.

On a cervelo they have the same thing and on cervelo's website they say that the rear one is equivalent to the traditional seatpost angle. Plus a higher stem (and perhaps a bit shorter too) and I feel like I'd have a pretty comfortable bike.

Not forgetting that Ironman Triathletes spend 160kms on a TT bike and then run a marathon straight after it.

Really looking at what the issues are with the bike that you can't change, i.e. would it maybe be TOO stiff and not compliant enough???

I just don't know, and since i'm going to be spending hours at a time on it, I really think it's hard to know what it's going to be like unless you do (or talk to someone who's done) a lot of hours on one.

[Ant.]

I have a cervelo P3C and a cervelo R3. The P3 was my second bike ever, and I bought it about 3 months before the R3, so essentially, I had a POS entry road bike, and a kickass time trial bike for quite a while, and was doing ~400km per week on it (during the TT and tri off-season, so it saw no racing).

After 2 months of it, I still loved riding it, and didn't think it was too aggressive or the handling sucked or anything bad, it was a gem. Now I've got an equivalent roadie, the TT geometry is noticably worse for cornering, but it's not that big of an issue that people may make it out to be. I'll grab the roadie in preference of the TT bike nine times outta ten for going to the shops/mates place/etc, just because it's a little friendlier to handle, but it's still no big deal (to me at least). Go for it.

I should say though, on the horns, my bike positioning is the same as my roadie on the hoods (i'm in the set back seat position)

Don't put drops on it I done a fair bit of my non-race riding on the horns, out of aero. Nothing wrong with tucking in aero when the road and conditions (ie traffic) call for it though.

[colafreak]

Do you find it too stiff?

[Andrew69]

Nope.

Have you looked into the availabilty of the Felt?
The Aussie distributors are pretty damn hopeless and dont seem to give a crap about potential customers.

[colafreak]

No I haven't actually. But I don't mind if I have to wait.

[Chaderotti]

Sorry for the hijack

But is it a sin to put clip on aero bars to some road bikes?
Thinking of putting clip ons onto my Pinarello if the time trial days ever come my way.

[colafreak]

As long as they're nice ones!

Get onto the aero bars as often as practical as that'll help your body adapt to producing power in that position.

Anyone else use a TT bike as a daily rider?

[Ant.]

Sorry for the hijack

But is it a sin to put clip on aero bars to some road bikes?
Thinking of putting clip ons onto my Pinarello if the time trial days ever come my way.

It wouldn't be a sin to put clipons on a midrange roadie, however, if I put clipons on my R3....

[Ant.]

Oh, and colafreak - don't expect to do much (any!) no-handed riding. Apart from that you'll be fine. There's a reason for the "sit-up-and-point-both-hands-to-the sky-when-winning-a-road-race" as oppose to the single arm pump when one knows they've swept the floor in a TT.

[Andrew69]

No I haven't actually. But I don't mind if I have to wait.

What, for ever?

I know that sounds stupid, but you have obviously never tried to deal with southcott (aussie distributor)

[Chaderotti]

I was following a guy last week or the week before on a Cervelo soloist. He was on a MUP with TT bars, he didn't have much problem with a group of girls popping out of no where (as in, he was able to reach the brake leavers in time) and he wasn't to bad at cornering either.

Not to brag or anything, but I don't think clip on aero bars will look good on Pinarello. You have Cervelo which is for racing, then you have Pinarello which is art. I'm not bagging Cervelo and I'm not cheering on Pinarello. just IMHO

[toolonglegs]

You think?

[Kev365428]

Ooohhhh my lordy........

*drooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooolllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll*
Kev.

[Chaderotti]

You think?

I was talking about a pinny roadie with clip ons.

To me that Montello is art

[colafreak]

nice pinny.

I was following a guy last week or the week before on a Cervelo soloist. He was on a MUP with TT bars, he didn't have much problem with a group of girls popping out of no where (as in, he was able to reach the brake leavers in time) and he wasn't to bad at cornering either.

Not to brag or anything, but I don't think clip on aero bars will look good on Pinarello. You have Cervelo which is for racing, then you have Pinarello which is art. I'm not bagging Cervelo and I'm not cheering on Pinarello. just IMHO

Good to know, although the soloist is like a border bike isn't it? like an aero road bike?

Was just thinking, what would a carbon TT bike be like compared to an Al road bike as far as compliance and vibration damping?

[Chaderotti]

I just recently went from aluminium to carbon and the difference is very noticeable. My ass is happy

[toolonglegs]

Ask Dave Z how a TT bike handles in traffic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIZUnYfd ... 1&index=72

[colafreak]

Just went to a bike shop for a test ride.

Jumped on a Malvern Star Oppy with Dura Ace which was super light 7.3kg I think. and real twitchy, I actually couldn't get the thing to ride smooth and straight, but I guess that comes with familiarity, especially considering my old giant weighs a ton in comparison

Then I jumped on an aluminium Felt Tri-Bike and man was it nice.

It felt much smoother to ride, bizarrely.

Don't know what to make of it. It was a bit heavier, something like 9-ish kilos I think. Pity there was no serious hills to try them out on.