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Aero Road Bike or TT Bike?

by Johnnywb
Mon, Feb 23, 2015 17:33
10

Hi all, new here, but have lurked for a while.

I'm now in the market to upgrade my current steed or maybe acquire a second steed.

Primary use is going to be rides out and about from London, some sportives (like the Dragon Ride) and Triathlons. Mainly olympic distance in the UK and the Budapest Half Ironman this year. Maybe leading to more next year and potentially a full ironman. There may also be some trips to the Alps.

Current thinking has been towards an aero road bike, was thinking Specialized Venge, but now eyeing up a Canyon Aeroad. The reason for this are a few-fold;
Riding about in London traffic on a TT bike won't be a lot of fun
TT bikes are great if it's flat, not so great if it's up and down, which a lot of courses are
TT bike can't be used on sportives

I don't have a huge flat, so the opportunity to just have one bike, rather than two, is appealing.

Anyone have any thoughts? Most of the Canyon's now come with their integrated cockpit, which makes adding Tri bars difficult without swapping the bars and stem (but that could be done).

Thanks in advance

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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10 comments

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Johnnywb | 9 years ago
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In the end i decided to go down the route of an aero road bike. If i do more tri's in the future, i'll look again at a full TT bike, but talking to friends, it seems that unless you use one a lot, over the distances i'm doing (half and full iron) the benefit is neglible, as whilst the position is more aero, if you're not used to it, it can limit the amount of oxygen you can take in.

Given my limited ability to get out on a TT bike, i plumped for an aero road instead.

I got measured up with a bike fit prior to ordering, and the outcome was that a Cervelo S3 was the best 'off the shelf' fit, so i went for one of those and had it fitted. Have tri bars for it as well, but not overly convinced about them.

Love the bike, it's fantastic, very light, quick and feels great.

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dastott | 9 years ago
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Maybe an old thread but the Canyon Aeroad 7.0 comes with a regular cockpit so attaching TT bars looks easy. https://www.canyon.com/en/road/aeroad/aeroad-cf-slx-7-0.html

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cully1984 | 9 years ago
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Hi, I was just wondering if you ever bought an aero road bike in the end? I'm in a similar position. Thinking seriously about the aeroad, but also considering Boardman Air 9.8. Heard a few good things about the Ceepo Mamba as well which is a more tri orientated road bike. Thanks

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Richard1982 | 10 years ago
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Another option you could look at is the NeilPryde Alize (they reviewed it on here I think). It's an aero bike and you can get a seat post that converts it to 78degrees.
At some point the name was changed to Nazare just to add to the confusion!

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LondonDynaslow | 10 years ago
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You can find a lot of TT bikes on sale at the moment (especially "old" models or ones with 10sp) but if you don't have room for 2 bikes and you need a bike for other kinds of riding, then it's not for you. You'll need to change your position a lot for tri/TT and might need a different saddle and seatpost but that's doable.

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2 Wheeled Idiot | 10 years ago
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I think the venge has a reversible seat post (iirc) so can be made into a pretty decent triathlon bike with a very steep seat tube angle...a fair few other aero road bikes also have reversible posts but obv check before you buy.
Also slamming the saddle as far for was as possible can have the same effect depending on how long the rails are.

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nopants | 10 years ago
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I have just gone through exactly the same dilemma, and ended up with an aeroad. If you go for the straight seat post you can get the saddle quite far forward, and you can get a longer stem to help with this (although be aware that the aeroad takes a 1 1/4 stem clamp).

I've not used a TT bike, but don't believe there will be a huge difference between that and a road bike with clip ons. I won my age group in an IM and olympic tri last year on a road bike, and I think it was an advantage both uphill, and on steeper downs, where you have just that little bit more control.

Also, you'll be doing all your riding on the one bike, so should have it really dialled in!

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Johnnywb | 10 years ago
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Thanks guys.

The fact that a lot of my training rides are going to be sportives or similar is swinging me as well.

I'm going to go and speak to a bike fitter and get their thoughts. Obviously part of the reason for the position on a Tri bike is to help leave you some legs for the run, so i just want to see how close to that position i might be able to get.

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2 Wheeled Idiot | 10 years ago
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Your position is mostly responsible for your CDA, this means that if you get a decent aero fit on an aero road bike (with aerbars for triathlons) you will get most of the benefit of a full TT bike.... I have done late 23 min TT's on a road bike with clipons.
Also riding a full blown TT bike would be horrible in London, tho I wouldn't ride a properly nice road bike either 7

basically I would say an aero road bike is your better option, and the canyon bars would sell for quite a bit on fleabay I reckon as these aren't available separately.

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fenix | 10 years ago
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Sounds as if a tt bike is out. If you are serious about your triathlons then you need one. But it's not the bike for the alps or sportives or city cycling.

Get an aero road bike and you can mentally knock off the ten minutes or so that the tt bike woukd have saved you after the race.

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