First triathlon help needed/advice!

[dandaman2011]

Hi all,

I've got my first triathlon in June, which i've started training for. I'm not looking to break records, but i am going to take it seriously. I've saved the bike training until now as i'm fairly confident that my riding is good - i've been riding for a while and done a lot of long distance stuff - Redhill to paris for example.

This is just a sprint triathlon, so its only a 32km ride (1 hour ish i reckon).

I'm thinking of buying either of these bikes - but before i do, i have 2 questions....

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/felt-s22-2010/

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/giant-trinity-0-2010/


1 - Which one would you say is better? I personally prefer the look of the Felt S22, but i'm not an expert - hence the advice required.

2 - Are these types of bikes just for events, or are they ok to train on too? I.E. is it ok to spend 4 months with this on the british roads and then race on it? They're both not cheap, so i dont want to ruin them if they're only designed for race performance only type thing.

Thanks in advance for your help and guidance.

Dan

 

[Reid2]

[COLOR= rgb(0, 0, 205)]Man is humble as is Dan[/COLOR]

[COLOR= rgb(0, 0, 205)]in longing for a cycling plan.[/COLOR]

[COLOR= rgb(0, 0, 205)]We endeavor for success; [/COLOR]

[COLOR= rgb(0, 0, 205)]does triumph owe to Providence?[/COLOR]

http://www.cyclingforums.com/forum/thread/482913/history-wonderful-articles-are-best-recalled



[COLOR= rgb(0, 0, 205)]rw[/COLOR]

 

[dabac]

Not many people use dedicated tri bikes for their bulk training, not b/c there are any serious lifetime issues but because of their somewhat special ride/handling characteristics. Their gearing is also a bit high for "general purpose" riding, which again might make it harder to achieve "good" training sessions on them.
But sure, if you have a good training loop figured out, flattish, good quality roads and with little traffic I can't see anything impossible in using the same bike for training and racing.

In terms of longevity though I wouldn't worry, with the exception of the wheels on the Giant. All things being equal, higher spoke counts tend to make for more durable wheels, both in terms of longevity but also accident survivability.

OTOH there's nothing preventing you from picking up a relatively cheap, compatible wheel set to train on, maybe with a tad wider tires as well(if the frame/fork has the clearance for it).

 

[inverse137]

Umm, by no means an expert here... but my unsolicited opinion:

What is the course like? If there are a lot of curves are you sure a full-aero tri-bike is what you want? The last tri I did (I was on a road bike) I saw 2 guys crash because they were on tri-bikes on a course that was essentially a bike trail along a river. Too many curves for a tri-bike.

I train and race on the same bike. I just swap out wheels. (Again, a road bike.)