Road v TT Frame Difference

Never having ridden TT or Tri bikes much, is there a major difference with road frames ?

I know the geometry is slightly tighter but would it make a big difference to a rider ?

The reason I ask is that a young chap here has been into triathlon and got himself a new Planet X Stealth Pro Carbon TT/Tri bike less than a year ago.

Now he has seen the error of his ways 😉 and decided he should do more general road riding. I think that’s a good idea, he’s far too young to be specialising in TT style riding I think.

He was talking about getting a new bike – Planet X also have some big discounts on their road frames at the moment and he’s thinking of the Nanolight Carbon Fibre (there’s a distributor here, hence the Planet X interest). He hasn’t got a big budget and he’ll lose on his current bike if he sells it.

I suggested he just take his Stealth frame and convert it with some road bars and gearing. Seems the cheapest and easiest option.

But someone has told him that TT bikes will work out his quads but not his hamstrings and he should get a proper road frame.

I find it hard to believe a few degrees of seat tube angle makes that much difference, but as I haven’t ridden TT or Tri bikes much I don’t really know.