Speed components - Trek2200

I know nothing about the Treck 2200 but, I would buy the wheels. You can allways upgrade the frame later. Wheels, especially good wheels, make a big difference. A marginally better frame will not.

What Zipp wheels are you looking at? 606, 808 and 909 generally go for more than $1,500 404's are about $1,500. I'm sure you can get them cheaper but...

Soparklion said:

I currently plan to ride my Trek 2200 (yr 2003) with aero bars in an Ironman triathlon. I've got a seat forward position as well. How much will Zipp race wheels help as compared to my current Rolf Vectors? How much faster would a new bike ($1,500 range) ride for me? I can't figure out if it is worth the $😕

To answer your questions:
1. Zipp wheels: Maybe a little faster but not worth the high cost.
2. New bike at $1500 range: Probably not much faster-you would likely need to spend alot more to get a bike that would be sufficiently lighter or aero than your current bike to make much of a difference.

Now I offer you this unsolicited advice from my former triathlon and Ironman racing which has now been exchanged for marriage and parenthood. Take it or leave it as you please.

Your current bike and set up are fine and it is probably not worth the money for what you will get from a high cost expenditure in terms of time improvements versus other cheaper forms of speed. Unless you are already an elite athlete who has maxed out all aspects of your fitness and training, the best way to improve your triathlon times is to improve your conditioning and technique.

If you are not already a top level swimmer (less than 50-55 min for the 2.4 mile swim), you will improve your overall triathlon time much more by spending your money on some professional swim coaching and additional time in the pool rather than on expensive equipment. If your swim time for the Ironman swim is projected to be over 80 minutes, you will likely benefit tremendously from improved swim technique-perhaps more than 10 minutes. It is amazing to me that people will spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on equipment that gives them seconds in a triathlon bike ride when they have already given away minutes (or dozens of minutes) in the swim through poor swimming technique.

For an Ironman length race, getting to the run with something left is key, and therefore comfort on the bike is critical. Good body position (aero but not uncomfortable) will help you more than the differences in the wheels. If you can already keep a low, flat-back aero position for 5 or so hours (or 7+ hours depending on how fast you are over the 112 miles), then you can probably begin to look for the small gains from new wheels. Cheaper ways to help you get instant speed are things that help keep you in that position such as aero position shifting and aero position hydration system.

How fast can you transition? People dilly-dally around in the transition area doing who knows what when they should be on the road.

Do you use a heart-rate monitor in your training? That can be a great $80-100 investment. Learning to keep the right intensity on the bike will help you pace better and have more left for the run. If you expend too much energy on the bike and have to walk on the run, you will lose minutes to hours.

Obviously it is far more sexy to think about new wheels or a new bike rather than body position on the bike, swimming lessons, more time in the pool or on the road, heart rate ranges, or practicing transitions in your driveway. But trust me, these will improve your Ironman time way more than a $1500 set of wheels.

Good luck and I am envious of you. I wish that I still had the time to train and race that type of distance.

Amazing maybe to you...People would much rather take the easy way out and purchase some components that give them that quick fix rather than put in the hard work that it takes to obtain a higher fitness level. Not saying that this is the issue here, but it certainly is an issue in general.

Perfecting technique, heck, even learning to swim at an older age is damn near impossible. I see 11 and 12 year old that can swim twice as fast (and faster) than some older swimmers. The problem is not fitness, but technique. So to look at the other side, spending that much money on wheels may be justified if perfecting technique is ultimately going to be a waste of time. Also, swimming is a sport in which gains are measured in seconds, and more often, fractions of s second. A lot of my brother's swimming training had to do with accepting this (at first) because it can be excessively frustrating to put in hours and hours daily only to get to a race and find that you've improved maybe .03 seconds (and still lose that race) or even gain time.

However, swimming at all will increase your overall fitness, so...do both.