Cheap Vs Expensive

[Rob3rt]

I ride alot on my own at weekend, wanted a TT bike because I want to do triathlons, the angle of the seat post haveing somthing to do with saving muscle energy for the run, somthing like that. I would keep my old bike or commuting.

You can do triathlon on a road bike, many people do, lots even use hybrids etc. In fact in the highest level Olympic and shorter distance triathlon's the pro's use road bikes because the events are draft legal.

The angle of the seatpost on a TT bike is steeper for one main reason, to rotate the whole riding position forward around the ankle joint in order to avoid closing the hip angle when lowering the front end. This maintains power output as much as possible while minimising frontal area.

Further geometry considerations are a slacker head tube angle and more fork rake, this gives a more stable straight line ride quality to contend with the forward shift of weight distribution but comes at a price of impaired handling in bends etc.

An additional consideration, a TT bike is only going to be of much benefit if you manage to hold the aero tuck for a substantial portion of the ride time, if you are riding in hills etc a lot, then you will be honking on the base bars and may as well be on drop bars with brake hoods (this would give easier access to the shifters aswell). In steep or bendy descent's again you will be out of the tuck position so you can brake and maintain reasonable handling to get you through the bends.

Oh and TT bikes are generally heavier than an equivalently priced road bike!

 

[GrasB]

You can do triathlon on a road bike, many people do, lots even use hybrids etc. In fact in the highest level Olympic and shorter distance triathlon's the pro's use road bikes because the events are draft legal.

The angle of the seatpost on a TT bike is steeper for one main reason, to rotate the whole riding position forward around the ankle joint in order to avoid closing the hip angle when lowering the front end. This maintains power output as much as possible while minimising frontal area.

Further geometry considerations are a slacker head tube angle and more fork rake, this gives a more stable straight line ride quality to contend with the forward shift of weight distribution but comes at a price of impaired handling in bends etc.

An additional consideration, a TT bike is only going to be of much benefit if you manage to hold the aero tuck for a substantial position of the ride time, if you are riding in hills etc a lot, then you will be honking on the base bars and may as well be on drop bars with brake hoods (this would give easier access to the shifters aswell).

I have used the same base TT/Tri frame for my Road & TT bikes. The reason is that I do hill climbs, lots of them, so I need more options for climbing than best possible aero for the flat sections.

 

[mickle]

This thread perfectly sums up why I've given up with cycling forums other than Weight Weenies (which is only good for a bit of bike porn.)

Cyclists aren't half an annoying bunch!
I'm not referring to OP, fyi.

I used to think that cyclists were an annoying bunch when I worked in cycle retail. And then I worked in the real world for a bit and realised that it's humans in general that are annoying.

But there's nothing more annoying than someone who posts on a cycling forum about how they've 'given up' on cycling forums. It begs the question: 'Why are you still here'?

 

[VamP]

Thank you for everyone’s input, I’m wondering how to justify spending +£500 on a bike to my GF and if I’m actually going to get any faster. I’m also planning some triathlons and would be embarrassed on my steel bike compared to the hardcore carbon TT bikes.

See, i would be more embarrassed to show up at a tri with a top end TT bike, and have loads of people overtake me, than on a steel bike and overtake others. So long as it was well maintained and didn't squeak!

Also most tri's will have a full mixture of bikes, shopping bikes, hybrids you name it. Just go and do one.

 

[4F]

See, i would be more embarrassed to show up at a tri with a top end TT bike, and have loads of people overtake me, than on a steel bike and overtake others. So long as it was well maintained and didn't squeak!

Also most tri's will have a full mixture of bikes, shopping bikes, hybrids you name it. Just go and do one.

This, I would go for the road bike option as well and work on your own fitness first.

 

[HovR]

OT: I wouldn't be spending my money on a £500 laptop. They tend to be slow for the specification, don't age well at all & if you're a heavy user they tend to break well within 3 years. Generally you need to be looking ay £800-1500 for something which is quick, well made & will last upwards of 5 years.

Tell that to my £400 HP laptop, bought 5 years ago, very heavily used - But well looked after.

Still as fast as the day I bought it (fast enough for 3D graphics rendering, CAD, word processing, HD video editing etc) and haven't had to spend any money on it as of yet.

 

[redcard]

OT: I wouldn't be spending my money on a £500 laptop. They tend to be slow for the specification, don't age well at all & if you're a heavy user they tend to break well within 3 years. Generally you need to be looking ay £800-1500 for something which is quick, well made & will last upwards of 5 years.

A £500 core i5 laptop is perfectly fine and will last years if taken care of.

 

[Peter Armstrong]

Can you stop talking about laptops, please got to Laptopchat.net for that

 

[Peter Armstrong]

Ha Ha just check, its actualy a website

 

[Rob3rt]

If you really want to get a TT bike though, you should try riding one and not feel pushed to buy a road bike without giving it a go. But an experienced opinion (having made mistakes) is don't bother unless you start taking tri or TT seriously. I own a TT bike and it never gets used. I bought it when I had the money and I talked myself into it as I too was planning on doing triathlons and time trials. I test rode a few and settled on one that fit the best despite it being a bit more expensive than I was initially intending to pay. I bought it and I loved it. Since then it has seen zero use other than the occasional round the block or turbo session. I ride my geared road bike 95% of the time and my fixed wheel road bike the other 5% of the time (the opposite of what used to be the case actually).

Having seen the errors of my purchase, I did regret it for some time and contemplated cutting my losses and selling up, but my girlfriend talked me out of that. On the plus side, I am riding in a club again and training properly, having revived my desire to ride fast. Assuming I maintain momentum it will get a lashing next year.

 

[trampyjoe]

Can you stop talking about laptops, please got to Laptopchat.net for that

surely http://geekschat.net/forums/servers-pcs-and-notebooks.32/ would be a better choice!?

 

[rb58]

There is another dimension to all this I think. A bike is not just a means of transport, it says something about the rider. It's a lifestyle thing. I'm not a competitive cyclist and have no ambitions to be, so the 'it's faster' argument holds no sway with me. But I do like nice things. And my best bike is indeed A Nice Thing which, if Mrs rb58 had any sense, would be adorning the living room wall when it wasn't being ridden on dry sunny days.

 

[Ethan]

I used to think that cyclists were an annoying bunch when I worked in cycle retail. And then I worked in the real world for a bit and realised that it's humans in general that are annoying.

But there's nothing more annoying than someone who posts on a cycling forum about how they've 'given up' on cycling forums. It begs the question: 'Why are you still here'?

Maybe you have a talent for attracting the annoying type - I find people are generally very pleasant. Probably something to do with your personality, I often find that people behaving like abrasive little plebs are more likely to receive similar treatment in return.

I came back to see if I could stop the site sending me emails, seeing as I had sod all to do the rest of the day I thought I'd have little gander around.
I rapidly remembered why I avoid sites like this!

 

[Graham1426]

No one ever regrets buying quality...........and quality is expensive...

 

[Peter Armstrong]

Maybe you have a talent for attracting the annoying type - I find people are generally very pleasant. Probably something to do with your personality, I often find that people behaving like abrasive little plebs are more likely to receive similar treatment in return.

I came back to see if I could stop the site sending me emails, seeing as I had sod all to do the rest of the day I thought I'd have little gander around.
I rapidly remembered why I avoid sites like this!

Not doing a very good job of avoiding it then..........