I’ve used my tri bike for six or seven years, leashed to the trainer and raced two or three times a year. I built it myself, It’s very comfortable but it’s not in a great state and it’s well “out of date” now; quick release skewers, rim brake, the adjustable cockpit is functional but seized in place, the rear brake caliper doesn’t operate well and the rear wheel is distorted.
I could get a new tri bike. But.
I’ve ditched two old bikes in the last twelve months that were clinging on for dear life. I’ve got a lovely urban bike I haven’t ridden in over a year that needs attention. But I should probably sell. My roadie is new and great…in twelve months I’ve only put 3250km on the clock.
So there are things that we want and things that we need and, well saving 20mins in an Ironman…
I wasn’t suggesting 12km as a warm up! Just that that day I felt better after the first 3 or 4km.
If it were me I’d keep my existing bike but get a shop to give it a complete strip down and rebuild, maybe take the chance to upgrade a few bits. It will feel like a new bike, you’ll still be used to how it fits and it will be a whole lot cheaper.
If you’re not in a hurry, and are comfortable with what to look for (pretty sure that’s not a problem) you could spend some time in the used bike market. I did that two years ago when I finally moved from a road bike with clip on aero bars to a dedicated tri bike and was able to pick up a nice P2 that was only 2 years old and had just a couple hundred miles on it. I even got the original receipt and a few extra things like bottle cages, BTB bottle mount, and extra saddle. I paid $1000 for it and am quite happy!
My roadbike is a Canyon Aeroad CFR. What a beast. Very fast. And I am a newbie so a brand new TT bike was no option.
But I do all my bike stuff, repair, maintenance, builds myself so I purchased a BXT chines TT frame and started on creating my own Tri bike. All components carefully looked for best price/quality without spending too much. (And I can use my wheelset from my roadbike when do a tri race).
Currently 1x12 setup with SRAM etap HRD so 4 blips to change gears. Pretty handy I find this setup.
So instead of spending 4000-5000euro on a new bike. I just created my own for 1200-1400euro.
Now it is time to train as much as possible on this bike because my power is 15-20W lower than on my roadbike.
ps: my first Triathlon is a 700m/38km/10km race and the bike part is pretty technical so I am even thinking on using my canyon for this one because this bike is fast as hell. But the running part after will be better I guess after using a Tri bike instead of Road bike (and because newbie, my running is still not on the same level as my biking)
