TriNewbie - confused about bike

SW1000

Hi all,

I am training for my first triathlon(Olympic distance) and am looking at getting a bike. I am considering getting a hybrid bike such as a Giant FCR3 and putting tri-bars on it as opposed to getting a racer bike such as a Giant SCR3.

My reason for this is that I am not used to racer type bikes and think the hybrid would be a bit sturdier for me but quicker than a mountain bike for example. I currently have a mountain bike and I have only ever really had mountain bikes, and also I have never cycled more seriously than getting about town from A to B.

I am a total beginner and am a little overwhelmed by all the gear and info that is out there. Can anybody suggest what kind of bike I should look at or help me in my situation?

Any help is much appreciated.

TriNewbie!!

Dowee

I did something similar to this last year for my first sprint tri. I converted a Ridgeback Genesis Day 01. There was alot of pain involved as, like you I was a complete newbie and I didn't find the cycle shop alot of help. If you are just planning to get aerobars and clipping them onto your existing handlebars then you should be ok. Things could be cramped on the handlebars though in terms of the gear shifters and brakes so you should check the spacing out before buying. However if you are planning to change the handlebars to tri ones like this http://www.probikekit.com/display.php?code=A0133 or something similar then it is a very different story because you will need to change your brake and gear setup. You'll need new brakes which sit into the top of the bars. For your gears then you can either get shifters that sit into the top of the aerobars or you can get the old style shifters and put them on the downtube. I chose the latter because the bike was primarily my commuting bike and having the shifters on the aerobars wasn't really suitable IMHO. However you need to ensure that the bike you get has the holes on the dowtube to enable this and I don't think the FCR 3 has these (based on a picture I saw of it online).

Anyway personally if I were you I'd buy a road bike and put clip on aerobars on it. I have since bought a road bike and will use that this year for any triathlons I do. I still use the ridgeback with the tribars for cycling to work.

SW1000

Thanks for your reply. I decided to go with a road bike and purchased a Giant SCR4. It seems to be a decent bike to start off with and it was probably the right choice for me as I would probably end up getting one in the future anyway if I stick with the triathlons.

911sc

Have you read this thread?

If you want the bike to last you few years and can afford to spend a bit more now, i think you should consider SCR2 and up. The shifters on SCR4 and SCR3 are really not great.
Have you tried a SCR4/3?