Viewing 26 posts - 1 through 26 (of 26 total)
  • first ironman-TT bike needed?
  • melissagaye
    Free Member

    I’m competing in my first Ironman in a few weeks. Done plenty of long distance cycle trips on my racer but just wondering if i shd now keep that as a training bike and invest in an old season TT bike?! Budget is about £1300- which i’ve managed to find, but is it worth it. If it could shave off 45 mins then i’d be very keen.

    Many thanks 🙂

    uplink
    Free Member

    45 mins

    You’re gonna need an engine for that

    psychle
    Free Member

    at a guess, we’re talking (as an example, to get a 45 min improvement over 180km) a 30km/hr average vs 34km/hr average… don’t know if a TT bike will give that much of an advantage? Have you got aero bars on your racer? Are you comfortable in an aero position for long periods (5-6hrs)? I reckon these’d be the things to focus on, especially if your comfortable on your current bike already, ‘a few weeks’ out from a major undertaking such as this seems a bit too late to be changing your bike? Just IMHO of course, I’m no expert!

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    melissagaye
    Free Member

    I do already have aerobars and yup comfy on them. Not sure if am just buying into the marketers dream of TT’s shave off loads of seconds!

    chickenslippers
    Free Member

    I bought a planetx carbon stealth tri bike so I could do the Balla half. At the time they were £1500 and came with Ultegra groupset. This bike was easily the best specced bike for the price.

    Although I had tri bars fitted to my road bike the position was not as agressive as the Stealth. Lots of hours on the bike in that postion will be needed unless you have a flexable back.

    My road times certainly came down once I had the Stealth, (not sure about 45mins worth though), and this had to be because of the bike, there was just no way I had improved that much. I’m guessing it was down to how light and stiff(all the power going through to the rear wheel) the bike was, but problably the biggest factor was the aerodynamics with my body position on the bike.

    Just my two penneth worth, the Stealth is an awesome bike.

    Good luck with the Ironman.

    Hope this helps.

    Cheers Si

    melissagaye
    Free Member

    Brilliant Si. Thanks very much x

    cp
    Full Member

    I’ve managed to get my road bike into a very aggresive TT position by putting a shortish mtb stem which flipped gives a lot of lowering of the bars. An inline seatpost with a tri-specific saddle has brought me more forwards, so I’m not pretty much flat back on the tri bars.

    Yes, it definitely makes a difference on flat and flattish courses, but I don’t think you’ll be looking at huge time savings. Might be worth investing in a new cheap stem and seatpost and see if you can re-create a more extreme TT position without shelling out on a complete new bike.

    cp
    Full Member

    PS. a couple of training weeks in somewhere warm early season will prob make more difference than a TT bike, and probably work out less than £1300!

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    I actually find the tt position or the drops more comfortable than the hoods /flats !

    finbar
    Free Member

    To the OP – if you buy a TT bike with a position radically different enough to save you 45 minutes on the bike (or even 15 or 30), there’s no way you can get the necessary flexibility to ride it for 5-6 hours in a couple of weeks. Especially when you should be tapering.

    Stick with what you know and save the upgrade for next season.

    SurroundedByZulus
    Free Member

    I was talking to an ironman competitor the other day and he reckoned that whilst the tt bike was a good few minutes faster for him on the bike leg, it had huge advantages for him during the running leg as he wasnt as tired going into it.

    mrmo
    Free Member

    if your talking a few weeks, don’t. your body will be used to riding in a certain way and changing late is not a good idea. If by a few weeks you actually mean a few months then shouldn’t be such an issue.

    kcr
    Free Member

    I’m competing in my first Ironman in a few weeks

    As above – very bad idea to try and get used to a new bike if the event is as close as that, especially when you are racing iron man distances.

    aracer
    Free Member

    Even the top guys will also have a bit less aggressive position on the bike for an ironman. The last thing you want to be doing is attempting more aggressive at this stage.

    problably the biggest factor was the aerodynamics with my body position on the bike

    By far the most significant factor with a proper TT bike is the aero position it gives you. As cp says, you can also recreate this on a normal bike with creative use of parts, the downside being that it will spoil the weight balance and handling – not a problem if you’re just riding flat straight roads, but maybe more of an issue if you’re riding hills and corners.

    The-Swedish-Chef
    Free Member

    As much as I think they look silly, get an aero helmet. Changing your bike so close to the event is not a good idea. You may save some time, certainly not 45 minutes, but at what cost to your run time?

    Its no good ripping the bike part up if you’re crippled on the run and only manage to stagger round in 5 hours!

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    “I was talking to an ironman competitor the other day and he reckoned that whilst the tt bike was a good few minutes faster for him on the bike leg, it had huge advantages for him during the running leg as he wasnt as tired going into it. “

    think you have TT bike and Tri bike mixxed up smee … although similar there are subtle differences that save the legs

    1freezingpenguin
    Free Member

    How about some deep section aero wheels?

    The-Swedish-Chef
    Free Member

    How about some deep section aero wheels?

    Depends on how good the OP is. At speeds over roughly 35-40 kph then yes, deep rims may well be a good investment, at lower speeds then lighter wheels will give more benefit.

    oldgit
    Free Member

    Bah humbug…normal bike for the full Ironman with Tri-Bars.
    Third fastest on bike leg for mine, however I think I put my running shoes on backwards after that.

    1freezingpenguin
    Free Member

    Went to the TCR show a couple of years ago and talking to one bike retailer who’s done the Hawaii IM and others he said for the average triathlete comfort is more important than speed over the long distance. He said for his last one he used a carbon Cannondale Synapse.

    IainGillam
    Free Member

    I wouldn’t be changing anything if you are only a few weeks out, even an aero helmet of wheels will take a bit of getting used to. The helmet will be useless (or worse) if you don’t hold your head in the correct position if you look down for a bit then the tail will be in the air acting as a sail! Unless you go for one with no tail ala Casco Warp. If it’s a windy course you might waste energy fighting the wheels unless you have put the miles in on them. Maybe set yourself a target and then if you reach it spoil yourself with a new bike/wheels/helmet for next time.

    Iain

    oldgit
    Free Member

    Get new wheels and join the ‘spokes fell out on the first race’ club 👿

    It has a growing membership.

    iDave
    Free Member

    Don’t change anything this close to the event, use it as a learning experience, and good luck.

    qwerty
    Free Member

    dude i know who did one rode and trained on a S-Works Roubaix custom build as it was a hilly / undulating course (French ?) and a TT bike was deemed of no benefit

    as above stick with what you have

    finbar
    Free Member

    Bah humbug…normal bike for the full Ironman with Tri-Bars.

    Same here, though i put a short stem on and push my seat right the way forward. I’ll be doing the same again at the Outlaw iron-distance tri in July.

    aracer
    Free Member

    At speeds over roughly 35-40 kph then yes, deep rims may well be a good investment, at lower speeds then lighter wheels will give more benefit.

    Not if the course is flat, and unlikely even if the course is a bit hilly. Even for a slow rider. In fact the absolute time gain due to aero wheels is greater the slower you go.

Viewing 26 posts - 1 through 26 (of 26 total)

The topic ‘first ironman-TT bike needed?’ is closed to new replies.

Members Notice New deal added to Members Discounts