1st carbon Bike - For Tris

Diamondmaker

Hi

Tri Season is just around the corner here.

Last season was my 1st and I was competitive overall but it is definitely time to stop throwing time away to others purely because they have a faster bike.

Im completely new to cycling and the run is and always be my strong point so I dont know much about bikes.

Im looking for an all Carbon,
probably Ultegra gears ?,
I want a good ratio for climbing also as I love to climb mountains as part of training,
Disc wheels ?
Will a good climbing ration however hamper me on the flat time trials of Tri ?
Im medium height, 72kg

What else of the techie info should I look out for ?

I wish to spend ¬e1500 ( 2000AUD ) - e2000 abosolute max.

However if I continue to get more serious am I just better off going up a level now,it is not a fad for me. Its definitely a past time I intend to continue as I am hitting my mid 30s and these endurance sports are one thing I iwll be getting better at rather than losing the edge of youth

All help appreciated.

kenmc

I think you'll find that this is the cycling forum.
I'd recommend a hybrid for your needs. Halfords have some for around 100 euro or so. Get suspension as well, it's really handy.
It's Friday over there as well, right?

Lemag

I don't know what the market is like down under but I'd say that you'd be hard pushed to find a carbon TT bike for €1500/$2000AUD. Poke your nose in on some popular Australian Tri/Cycling forums looking specifically for 'recommend me a bike' type threads. For your budget you'll probably be getting a bike with crap wheels. Upgrading them to something more appropriate will be expensive.

blorg

From your post it doesn't sound like you have a road bike currently? If you don't, and want to use the bike for hill training and other cycling, get a road bike with clip on bars, not a Tri/TT bike. A TT bike is for doing TTs, you wouldn't use it for anything else.

The cassette ratio is easily changed so don't worry too much about that. You can have a race cassette and a hill cassette.

What do you have currently, and what are your times?

FISMA

Diamondmaker wrote: »

probably Ultegra gears ?,

An Ultegra Groupo is more than adequate. It is close to Dura Ace which is one of the best there is.

Diamondmaker wrote: »

Disc wheels ?

No, absoultely not. Get a set of good hubs and a light rim. I remember more than once where during a time trial (TT), riders would use a TT bike with discs on the flat part and when it came time for the hill/mountain, they actually stopped and got a new bike for the remainder

In the hills, you want spokes.

blorg

@FISMA- I am not sure you know what you are on about, a disc or deep-section wheels will be of greater benefit in a TT than "good hubs and light rims." Aero is almost always more important than weight; the reason everyone doesn't use them racing is simply cost.

We don't have mountains in Ireland never mind having them in races, and even if we did good deep section tubs will weigh less than the lightest box section clincher.

Aero bars, position, training, and a pointy hat will be cheaper and of more benefit though.

Diamondmaker

kenmc wrote: »

I think you'll find that this is the cycling forum.
I'd recommend a hybrid for your needs. Halfords have some for around 100 euro or so. Get suspension as well, it's really handy.
It's Friday over there as well, right?

Your time is obviously of such little value that you would bother posting that reply.

Lumen

@Diamondmaker, I think you're focusing on the wrong things.

Ultegra, carbon, none of that matters at all on a flat tri.

You need a bike that gives you a comfortable, aerodynamic position, that you can train on, a lot.

If I was in Australia I'd get myself along to Steve Hogg and get myself properly fitted.

TinyExplosions

Diamondmaker wrote: »

Your time is obviously of such little value that you would bother posting that reply.

Not really, he's just correct in that this is the cycling forum, not the "dressing up in weird outfits and poncing about at three sports" forum, which is thisaway.

There might also be the undercurrent that again, being a forum for a specific sport, rather than a multiway combo (kind of like a 3in1 from the Chinese -can that count as a meal?), the majority of posters on here wouldn't have much knowledge of the sort of bikes you are looking for... there are some TTers here, and that's fairly close, but there would be many folk who have specific opinions on the types of yoke you're looking for (except maybe Tunney, but he's a bit grumpy at times and hasn't been seen here in a while).

Though in the spirit of boards, get a Planet-X, or a Canyon or even a Boardman -Halfords do them ones...

Also, it's Friday!

FISMA

blorg wrote: »

@FISMA- I am not sure you know what you are on about, a disc or deep-section wheels will be of greater benefit in a TT than "good hubs and light rims." Aero is almost always more important than weight; the reason everyone doesn't use them racing is simply cost.

blorg,
Disc wheels are not synonymous with deep sectioned rims. Here are a set of discs

Watch out for cross winds!

blorg wrote: »

We don't have mountains in Ireland never mind having them in races, ...

No mountains in Ireland? I wonder what those bumps on the horizon are?

FWIW, if you care to read the OP's Location, it's a little more south than Mizen.

Also, I was replying to and talking about the stated requirements of the OP

Diamondmaker wrote: »

I want a good ratio for climbing also as I love to climb mountains as part of training,
Disc wheels ?
...

My statement was answering the OP's specific constraint. I really don't want to get into a punctuation or semantics debate. When I read this statement it appeared, and still appears, to ask if disc wheels would be recommended for climbing mountains as a part of training.

The only way I would advise someone interested in hill training to use discs would be to handicap them as they are the worst possible set up to use for hill climbs.

As for the comment on light rims, you're missing the concept of the moment of Inertia.

OP - discs are fine for flat stages where there are no cross winds. However, they will be a severe handicap when you are going into hills. They are also dead in a sprint or in general during accelerations.

Don't take my word for it. Get some video from the tour and see if there are any in the mountain stages.

As for gears. On a road bike I believe the biggest gear you can put in the rear is a 28tooth.

If you run a 28-11 tooth cassette, you'll be fine. You'll lose a few nice ratios and shifting will not be as smooth as it would if you were running as an 11-21 or 23.

With a cassette, you will have some leeway for customizing gears to what you want.

If you find that you are still in need of a bigger gear in the rear, then buy a mountain cassette which will go up to 34 or 36. However, you will have to use a mountain bike derailleur since road derailleurs will hit the gears.

Don't overlook other materials such as steel and Ti bikes. Some of the cheaper carbon frames out there are FAR more spongy than steel, Al or Ti. All that flex is costing you energy/work.

Best of luck.

Lemag

Diamondmaker wrote: »

Your time is obviously of such little value that you would bother posting that reply.

..and you choose to use your time to negatively respond to a respected frequent poster's little joke rather than to acknowledge any of the helpful advice which has been given to you with the other posts here :rolleyes:

Lemag

FISMA wrote: »

As for gears. On a road bike I believe the biggest gear you can put in the rear is a 28tooth.

I don't think that there's anything to limit the tooth count at the back except for the size RD cage length. One can get Apex with 32, maybe even bigger.


Edit -

FISMA wrote: »

If you find that you are still in need of a bigger gear in the rear, then buy a mountain cassette which will go up to 34 or 36. However, you will have to use a mountain bike derailleur since road derailleurs will hit the gears.

D'oh!

TinyExplosions

FISMA wrote: »

Don't take my word for it. Get some video from the tour and see if there are any in the mountain stages.

Discs can only be used in TT's, so you would never see them used in mountain stages on the Tour.

As for crosswinds, a disc on the back is not hugely different in feel to a deep section rim, it's more the front that gets skittish (and if it is a side crosswind, a disc will act a bit like a sail making you faster!)

We don't really have mountains here, just foothills

Beasty

kenmc wrote: »

I think you'll find that this is the cycling forum.
I'd recommend a hybrid for your needs. Halfords have some for around 100 euro or so. Get suspension as well, it's really handy.
It's Friday over there as well, right?

The OP is asking for advice on a bike, not a wet-suit or runners, and is as entitled as any other member to ask here.

We get a lot of posters here from the "other side", and no it wasn't Friday when the OP or you made your posts.

At least Tiny made his post in a humourous fashion (and on Friday;))

TinyExplosions

Beasty wrote: »

The OP is asking for advice on a bike, not a wet-suit or runners, and is as entitled as any other member to ask here.

We get a lot of posters here from the "other side", and no it wasn't Friday when the OP or you made your posts.

At least Tiny made his post in a humourous fashion (and on Friday;))

It was Friday in Australia when it was posted by the OP

And I try to be funny from time to time!

kenmc

Beasty wrote: »

no it wasn't Friday when the OP or you made your posts.

Actually I think you'll find it was Friday in Australia when both of us posted..

Eamonnator

"Dark Side" not "Other side"