Do you REALLY need a triathlon bike?

Want to get into triathlon but only have a road bike? A whole new bike takes up space and costs money, so James is here to show you how you can transform your road bike into a triathlon bike with some easy tips and tricks! 🚴

0:00 - Intro
1:24 - Clip on bars
3:49 - Your positioning
8:52 - Hydration
10:27 - Nutrition
11:14 - Spares

Useful Links

Were any of these tips useful for your road bike? 🚴 Let us know in the comment section below! 💬

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[gtn]

Do you think you need a Tri bike? 🚴 Let us know what you think below 👇

[joshmadeley]

I have seen a bunch of videos talking about this topic. This one hit all the points I needed at the right amount of detail. Talking about the seat and aero adjustments without getting overly technical was great. Thank you.

[brentcharlton]

It would have been great to also factor in these suggestions based on distance/time on bike. Interested in how much benefit there really is over just 40k in an Olympic distance…

[driventomadness]

I have both. The tri bike is just more comfortable because of the better hip angle. Going into the aero position on the road bike is much less comfortable even with the seat slammed forward. I started doing F1 neck exercises and this helped tremendously with neck pain.

[christianb]

A standard roadbike worked fine for me for twelve years. From sprint distance to middel distance it was absolutely okay. Last year i have bought a second hand time trial bike. It is quite a difference, but i still believe the biggest difference is "training" 😉.
So i would say, you don't need a triathlon bike, but you want one.

[steveosborne]

Great tips regarding Aero Bars and Hydration. Together, both make a huge difference in reduced times but does require some practice. It can feel a little unsettling at first, but becomes second nature after a few runs...

[lesliereissner]

I like the trend in road cycling for time trial bikes to be substituted by normal road bikes, given how few time trials there are and even smaller teams as well as amateurs are concerned about budgets. With its lack of rules, triathlon will always be the big market for manufacturers of aero tt bikes.

[washedup_adventurer]

Perfect timing. Swapped to different aerobars and made a bunch of other aero changes last night. Time to compare.

[jonathanzappala]

If you wanted a Quintana Roo (good option for USA) they would help you get the right fit. Canyon works with you after the sale too to get it right if you got the wrong fit. Also find a bike shop with a tri fitter even if they don’t have stock. You could also buy an older 2000’s inexpensive one, get it to fit, then order a modern one.

[rodneyjones]

Thanks for the timely and relevant content. Planning my first tri this summer, thinking I’ll just go the the bar extensions and see how that goes.

[jeromeibanez]

In my opinion, you don't need it if:

1. You're not ready to commit to middle/full distance consistently over the next 5 years
2. Your bike handling is not there yet - riding in TT is going to be strange for most people and a lot can't even hold the position for more than 30 minutes at a time
3. You're planning on racing hill courses with technical descents (related to point 2).

In my opinion, you should stick to your road bike and install an aerobar. If you have decided that you will indeed commit to middle/full distance racing but your bike handling is not there yet, invest on a biking camp instead of a tribike. When I raced Lanza 70.3 last March, I saw people in normal race bikes obliterate people on tribikes. A nice bike can only take you so far and if you can, invest on skill. Tribikes are also useless in hilly courses with technical descents UNLESS you have the bike skills. Why? Most hilly courses, especially in Europe, have winding descents. If you're not comfortable on the bike you will inevitably get off of the TT position which kinda ruins the purpose of the bike.

[PaulioNZ]

I have used a Redshift seat post in the past and it worked wonderfully. It allows you to shift the position of your seat on the fly from a road position to a TT position. I had it on my bike when I went for a TT bike fit on my roadie and the fitter was amazed at how well it worked.

[victorfb]

Glad to see this video! Gustav Iden won 70.3 world champs on a road bike, that should be proof enough that it's a valid option. If your road bike geometry allows you to get a good and comfortable aero position, a good aero tri suit would be a much more cost effective upgrade than a fancy tri bike or a set of deep section wheels.

[ljadf]

I've been using the 'CamBamBox' as an aero seat tube mount for a while now.

[allancox]

Very helpful DIY setup. I've been play8ing around with some and this will help with fine adjusting. Thanks GTN!

[nizam_mr]

i dont know if i need one yet for my skill level, but im eyeing the VanRysel XCR releasing to public next year

[Whiskeytango]

Excellent well detailed and easy to understand! Thank you GTN!

[ralfmimoun]

I did all that for my first triathlons last year :-) Because of the ridiculous prices of tri bikes, that will be my setup for this year, too. But I got some nice aero wheels (Sigma Vel 6085 RL) for a great price. So, if you have some spare money, that's a great upgrade for 570 Euros.

And I am really curious how the Sensah Empire performs ;-)

[Krilin]

I have made almost every modification I can to my road bike to tailor it for triathlon: good aerobars with bottle, fast forward seat post with ism saddle, shorter cranks. The only thing missing is an aero wheelset. I'm very comfortable on it and I think ride geometry and fit wise it's pretty close a real triathlon bike. I don't have shifters on the aerobars, but it's not a big issue to briefly move my hand to shift on the hoods when needed. The only real disadvantage is aero, but given that my ride position is fairly close to optimal and that the rider makes up the dominant part of the drag, I wonder how much speed I would really gain from a proper TT frame compared to my current setup, especially if I were to get some proper wheels. You'd argue that I would've been better off buying a used tt bike instead of a cheap new road bike and modifying it so extensively. But the thing is I have a brand new bike with DISC brakes, with a groupset that works great and yet is cheap to replace when worn out. The maintenance savings and disc brakes means I'm probably still saving about 5k euro by just taking a relatively minimal aero disadvantage. I don't know. That's my current line of thinking anyway. I'd love a real tri bike just for the nice looks alone, but they're just too pricy and lacking in terms of configuration, to my mind. Show me a new, modern alu tt frame with tiagra components for 3-4k euro and I'd seriously consider buying it.

[jonathanzappala]

I just traveled for Multisport national championship week. I only wanted to fly with one bike. I worked out through testing I was at an 8 second disadvantage in the super sprint(4.75k), and 1:30 for 40km. That includes tires and no disc wheel, not just clip one vs tri. In the super sprint I made some of that back with sharp turns. If I had only brought the tri bike it would have been no draft legal race for me.
So first time I’ve qualified for both non draft and draft legal world champs, I will do the same traveling with one bike.
Unfortunately I don’t own a disc brake disk wheel, and my wheels are two wide to put vitreous corsa speeds on. I’m as low as the road bike can go but I’ll accept that for convenience.