Frequently I get asked what the difference is between a road bike and a tri(athlon) bike.
Usually this question is asked by someone who has never own either type of bike–and is contacting me about buying their first bike–and is planning (or hoping) to do a triathlon in the near future. They want to know if they should buy a road bike or a tri bike if they are planning to do road riding / training AND participate in the occasional triathlon (or duathlon).
I recently ran across this article which explains the differences between those two types of bike:
http://www.trinewbies.com/tno_cycling/tno_cyclearticle_02.asp
I think the above article covers most of the historical and technical bases rather well. I do have some personal, anecdotal information specific to my own region and my own cycling experience that I can add:
First, if your goal is simply to “participate” in a triathlon–vs “competing”–a typical road bike will work perfectly well for any short to medium distance triathlon and they are very commonly seen / used in these types of events by beginner to intermediate athletes. Once you’ve gotten into the sport a bit and participated in a few events, you may get bitten by the tri bug and decide you want to start “competing”–and start working on getting your times down in the run, bike, an swim events. In which case you will likely choose to upgrade to a pure tri bike.
Second, if you plan on riding / training with other cyclists on the road (in general), you don’t want to use a tri bike for that. Why? Because most group rides either specifically exclude or strongly prefer “no tri bikes” on their rides. The reason? Because the normal position on a tri bike makes it cumbersome to reach the brake levers–because there is very little braking in a typical time trial / triathlon–since drafting is illegal in those events–and the course is usually closed, fairly straight / out and back–and fairly flat.
Road cycling, on the other hand, happens at very close quarters–nose to tail–with lots of surging and braking and turning and twisting. And that requires your hands to be on or very close to the brake levers at all times–so you can apply a little or a lot of brake in a split second. IF you are going to ride a tri bike at close quarters with other riders (i.e. “drafting”), you should never ride in the aero position unless (1) you are in the front position of the pace line (“pulling” the group) or (2) you are in the last position in the pace line (in which case you can hang far enough back off the second-to-last rider to be able to get up and get your hands on the brakes before you crash into them).
A great option that gives you the group training flexibility of a road bike and the aero position of a tri bike is to add clip-on aero bars to your road bike.
Clip-ons can be relatively inexpensive and easy to install and remove as needed–or left on the bike to give you another position option no matter what type of training or competing you are doing.
Have any personal experiences, observations, or advice to add? We’d love to hear from you.