Triathlon Bike Vs Road Bike - What’s The Difference?

For triathletes, there are two different bike options: a road bike with clip-on aero bars, or a dedicated triathlon bike, also known as a TT bike. Tri bikes are made to be fast & aerodynamic, but being heavier than road bikes, there is a penalty when riding uphill or on technical courses. Mark & James put the two bikes head-to-head in three different races to see which is best!

0:00 Intro
2:01 Hill climb
4:35 Technical course
7:09 Flat time trial
8:50 Results

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Which do you ride: a TT bike or a road bike? Let us know in the comments below! 💬

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[gtn]

Which do you ride: a TT bike or a road bike?

[deanb]

Someone close to me was selling an old TT bike so I couldn't resist giving it a go. I was surprised just how much faster it was than my carbon frame road bike (Giant Defy). I upgraded it slightly, alloy aero wheels, 165 cranks etc, and took a trip to Matt Bottrill, who replaced the old style flat aero bars with something more raised. Overall, it's about 5kph faster than the Giant. Doesn't sound like much, but it's about an hour in an ironman!

[lewisdacris]

Would be interested to see how much of a TT set up you could get a road bike. As you say you could adjust saddle position & slam the stem, have the same deep section wheels, mount the bottle cage behind the seat, add storage boxes that fill in some of the frame space, even add electronic shifters to the ends of the aero bars. I'm sure you guys could think of more! Be cool to see how much you can cut down the difference between the two, and how much that will cost to do!

[coachjohn]

Totally correct information. Only 2 reasons to ride a roadie in a triathlon
1. It's your only bike
2. You don't trust your abilities to go downhill at a fast pace

[danmckenzie]

I understand that another advantage of a Triathlon bike (even as opposed to a TT bike) is that the geometry suits muscle saving for the run. I'd be curious to see a challenge where you do a brick session off of a Triathlon bike and a road bike and see how you feel and your times for the run?

[niceracleous]

Prefer a comparison would’ve been to use an Aero road bike with deep section wheels, this is far more likely to be used for triathlon,

[funguy]

If money is an issue the answer is simple, use a road bike for training and rent a bad ass tri bike for race day. Maybe rent one for a few practice day too to get the feel for it. That's the practical thing to do.

[nightsfalling]

I like that Mark and James rodé both bikes in all the scenarios. I have done the same and I’m faster on my TT bike. The results seem pretty consistent.

[stolts]

For normal humans who will never crack the top half, a road bike is by far the better choice because of it's versatility and weight. Saving 2-8 minutes on the bike ain't doing nothing but give me more time in transition to have an extra peanut butter cup and do a little more people watching while I absorb the experience.

[miguelbrito]

I should be training now, even if it's cold and miserable outside, but you guys had to go ahead and drop a new video... thanks a lot, GTN... :)

[JoeBackspaced]

Incredible video guys, this is what I’ve needed. I would really liked to have seen an older bike like a p1 and maybe an older road bike with clip on bars added to the mix to see exactly how different each level is. Most people who are new to triathlon would like to see where the money would best be spent and I think testing all 4 kinds of bikes would make that decision much easier- even if we know which one would win it is nice to see how much speed you are buying at each price point. Thank you! And great job

[Aeronwor]

My first triathlon was a draft legal sprint distance, where the bike course was 5 laps of a 4km flat route with 6 tight corners per lap, this more or less meant I felt no disadvantage on my old steel road bike compared to the guys on fancy new road or TT bikes. I did feel a disadvantage, when I went an extra lap because I cannot count beyond 4.
I felt a slight disadvantage, on my 2nd, an olympic distance, non-drafting race, but nothing compared to my crappy swim and nothing, that couldn't be fixed with just peddling harder and faster. I have more work to do on my swim before I can justify a bike upgrade (also a long talk with my better half on why I *need* a new bike).

[SBoots]

I was scared you guys were going to take my dream of owning a TT bike away. Currently I only have a LOOK 695 road bike with clip on aero bars. It does the job and I have fun. I want to get a TT bike if nothing else just to look fast. When you're an old age grouper Vanity is everything.

[DigininjaRobin]

I asked this very question on two forums last, both agreed I should be going for a TT bike so I'm off for a fit for one next week. I'm going to ride through the winter with clip ons on my indoor bike then get a TT in the spring when I'll be able to take it outside to ride.

[jeansim]

I love Marks style of presenting, he just seems like a genuinely nice bloke.

[joshspencer]

I've got a gravel bike 😬. I bought it before trying triathlon. I could switch, but invested a lot in it and I do appreciate the occasional versatility. To try to cut down on the disparity, I bought a super deep wheel set, fast tires, and aero bottles.

I'm also traveling at a lower speed than you guys (~35kph) so the aero penalties are reduced. I had seen one formula for aero conversions where you cube the two comparative speeds, so 35^3/45^3=0.471, meaning I might only experience 47% of the aero penalty you guys do.

[nickbell]

this will be my first year of triathlon and after a gym membership to get access to a pool, a wetsuit and a couple race entries the bill are steadily totting up, so for now it'll be a set of clip on bars and a clip on disc wheel cover to get some gains for much less cash.

[RafaelTorres-llbl]

I think that a good demonstration will be after ride around 2 hours (TT and Road with clip) check the performance running.
This case is not only about speed but muscle conservation to complete the triathlon.

[alansmith]

I think it would be cool to have a cheap bike only triathlon:)

[Cookefan]

After a few years with a beautiful Specialized Carbon fiber road bike, I was elated when I first found out about clip on aero bars. My first time out on them I noticed I was going 2-3 mph faster on a flat surface. Going downhill, in a tuck, I was 5-7 mph faster! My economical situation demands I buy a used TTbike. There are actually some very good deals out there. My issue will be finding the right one for my size at 6’2” and 220 pounds.
Great video although Mark seemed to be talking over his co-host a bit much to the point where I couldn’t understand what he was trying to say. Cheers!