First Bike - What to get....

[paulmac118]

Hi all, this has probably been answered before, but anyways....

I have ridden a roadie for the last 12 months, and got into Triathlon over summer. I bought some clip on bars for the roadie (second hand Cell Blade). I have gotten into cycling and tri's and now have decided to focus 100% on triathlon (more fun!!) - which means buying a dedicated TT bike. My budget was initially $2k, however since researching bikes I am stuck on whether to buy new or used. Here are my options:

1. 2010 Felt S22 Alloy (+/- $950) with mid end groupset (105 I think);
2. 2010 Felt B12 Carbon (+/- $1,300) with higher end groupset (Ultegra/DA combo);
3. 2013 new QRoo Kilo Carbon (+/- $1,750) with SRAM Rival.
4. 2013 Cervelo P1 Alloy ($2,000) with Ultegra.

Obviously the advantage of the QRoo is my LBS will fit me up, etc, however I am unsure of if I should buy a second hand given its my first TT bike or spend the extra $$ to get a brand new bike that I could potentially upgrade the components later on?

The advantage of a second hand bike is that I could use the left over $$ to fund wheels, etc - however like buying a used car the true history of the bike is unknown!

I am doing Sprint races at this stage, so the cycle is only 20km, however have the goal to do Olympic distance than eventually 70.3.

Also, the FELT's are 56cm. I am 6'2 (185cm) and told that you need to ride a little smaller on a TT bike. I currently ride a 58cm road bike. Does this sound right!?

Any feedback, comments, advice is greatly appreciated, or any other bikes I should consider?
Paulmac118

[Jazwolfe]

I went through the same thing a while ago. From that exercise I think bike fit would probably be the most important thing. I ended up putting together a bike that was a bit small and have since built a new bike to get a bit more comfortable and it has made a massive difference. I had the first bike for around 6 months before I changed. It may not be so much of an issue for 20k but for 40k plus it will become more of an issue. The Competetive Cyclist website had a tt bike fit calculator that worked well for me on my new set up, the fit between tt and roadie is slightly different. Another considerations is on how agressive you want to be in the aero position, I went slightly on the more comfortable side than super aero. Nothing wrong with a secondhand bike as long a the fit is ok. I am 183cm and have a large frame with a 58cm effective top tube. It would be the Qroo, upgrade wheels first and groupset after that or Felt B12 for me.

[lucky7]

Given what you're looking to buy, I assume you're doing long course races? If you're doing sprint, ITU and Olympic - a properly fitted road bike with clip on bars is probably the way to go. That said, they are great fun to ride (in a straight line) fast. Are you intending to continue training on your current roadie?

[paulmac118]

Hi Lucky, I have completed a few sprint distance races and will be doing the duathlon series over Winter. My goal is to do longer course tri's and have started training for longer distance events.

I ended up with a second hand Carbon TT bike which fit me perfectly, and I got a great price on - with a new SRAM groupset too. I will keep the Cell roadie for now too, as I may want to ride in groups in the future. However at the moment I am riding by myself, and will be participating in tri's so this was my main reason for deciding on the TT bike.

[Slowcoach]

I hired a Felt B12 for the London Triathlon a few weeks ago. Cheap nasty (training?) wheels, but otherwise I have to say it was a VERY nice bike to ride. Very well balanced and had great feel - not twitchy on the downhills (70km/h) when in the aero position - something that I can't say about my own TT bike!!!

For the price I don't think you can go wrong. Just add a nice set of race wheels as a raceday upgrade and you are done.

[gospeedracergo]

I hope you got the Cervelo ... My S1 has geometry inbetween road and tri to protect the hammies