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- CommentAuthorlickedwicked
- CommentTimeJul 15th 2009
are the differences so big that it's a seperate catagory of bike? i don't see the need for a special type of bike when the bike used is only a small portion of the race. -
- CommentAuthorwes m.
- CommentTimeJul 15th 2009 edited
Its not a small portion, its a third. Also, its claimed that the geometry of a triathlon bike allows riders to use their non-running muscles to a greater degree than ordinary road bikes. Finally, triathletes are allowed to use forward facing bars because there is less of a chance of impaling someone in an event that is not mass start. A tri bike is more comparable to a time trial bike than a road bike. -
- CommentAuthorcarbon fiber15
- CommentTimeJul 15th 2009
tri bikes are made to go faster just look at them compared to a road bike they are much more aero.road bikes are more comfort or distance orented not to say they all are but a lot of them are. -
- CommentAuthorWalkingDead
- CommentTimeJul 15th 2009
A Triathalon bike is also known as a time trial bike. They normally have a bigger gearing and more aerodynamic specific things, like frame shapes, wheel cut outs, tucked and hidden brakes. They're usually set up more aggressively, because you're usually in a time trial for a shorter period of time, so you can stay in a more aero aka uncomfortable position for longer. Look up any major bike company and look at their rode frames vs. their time trial frames. Its a huge difference. Even though the changes may only make the rider a few seconds faster over the distance of the race, sometimes those few seconds are all you need between 5th and 1st place. Check out Cervelo's site and look at the difference between their P4 and the R series bikes. -
- CommentAuthorRuffinit
- CommentTimeJul 16th 2009
There's a lot of theory on Tri bikes. The original Triathalon competitions came about because each of the three races worked out a different muscle group. The distances were created (in the beginning) because each of the three legs gave a similar workout to that specific muscle group. When the first Tri bikes came out the idea was (Bridgestone Mile 112, Centurion Ironman) to have a road bike with a bit more relaxed geometry than a road bike almost equating to a touring bike so that you could relax the part of you body that wasn't being worked or had already been. The Tri bikes today are more like WalkingDead says in that they are more like TT bikes, but not particularly for the reasons that TT bikes have critical geometry, but because unless you've put a lot of time in riding, most triatheletes cannot achieve the the flattened aerodynamic back that a road racer has developed, so the muscles at play cannot achieve the same power output that a runner can and therefore they bring the saddle forward so that they can ride very similar to the way they run, with more of a pumping type output to the bike than a cyclist's circular power band. IF you are a cyclist and running a triathalon, then you could be better off with a road bike than a TT or Crit bike in the same given distance. A cyclist can run up a mountain easier than a runner because of the difference in the muscles they have developed.
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