Rider on tri bike

When Should A Triathlete Upgrade From A Road Bike With Clipon Aerobars To A Dedicated Triathlon Bike?

If you are a passionate triathlete, then it is obvious that you will have many reasons to find this article interesting and informative.

There are reasons to believe that triathletes are often considered to be complete athletes. This is because of a number of obvious reasons.

Triathletes are into a sport known as triathlon. It basically is an endurance multisport race. It consists of cycling, swimming and running over various distances.

The winners of this event are decided by the overall time taken for completion of the above three activities.

Each segment is sequentially arranged and the time transition that is required from one event to another is also included when calculating the winner.

While swimming and running do not require any mechanical intervention, cycling of course calls for having the right machine in place.

What is this article all about?

In this article, we will try to give the readers a suitable answer to the common question. The question is, when a triathlete should decide to move from a road bike to a more professional and dedicated triathlon bike.

This bike also is known as tri bike and is considered to be an integral part of any professional or competitive triathlon sports activity.

Bike Technology Has Evolved

If you follow the models and makes of various bicycle manufacturers, you will come across a few obvious changes.

The bicycle manufacturers are always looking to upgrade technology. Their main objective is to come with faster, lighter and cooler bicycles.

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Yes, the cost element also goes up when new and advanced features but customers are ready to pay for it.

If you are into such competitive sports like triathlon, you certainly would look for the best of tri bikes so that you are able to perform well in this segment and stand a better chance of winning.

However, making a switchover from a road bike, fitted perhaps with clip on aerobars and other such accessories to a real triathlon bike is what matters.

There is no point in making a fast switchover before time or delaying the switchover too long.

The switchover should be done at the most perfect time and situation.

We hope that the following few tips could be helpful for those who have been using a road bike thus far for their triathlon bike but are keen on moving over to a quality and professional triathlon bike.

There could be many articles that may even talk about retaining your road bike and perhaps adding some new accessories so that it might become as good as a tri bike.

However, if you ask experts and experienced professionals who have been into triathlon events, they will certainly suggest moving over to a good triathlon bike.

We sincerely believe that the next few lines will help such decision seekers to make the right move.

Will You Enjoy Moving From a Road Bike To a Triathlon Bike?

Will you enjoy moving from a road bike to a triathlon bike?

This is one of the most basic and common questions that you have to ask before you decide to make the move.

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You should have fun moving over to a more advanced biking option that may also come with some new technologies, gadgets and other such things.

If you believe that you will enjoy the new change and also if you are comfortable with these new bikes, only then should you make the change.

Yes, you may have some teething problems adjusting to a new tri bike, but it should not take more than a few days to get fully used to it.

Has Your Road Bike Been Damaged?

This could be one more reason for you to move from a road bike to a tri bike.

Many triathlon participants are into it just as a hobby and are not too career-minded or do not want to be too professionally involved in it.

However, they may find that their road bike has been either damaged because of an accident or it may also have been damaged beyond repair because of overuse, age and other related factors.

In such cases, it would make a lot of sense to replace the road bike with a more advanced and more event-friendly tri bike.

It will help them to perform better in this athletic event, though they may have changed bikes just to replace the old and unusable road bike.

Better Timings

There are many athletes who may have excellent timings in swimming and running but may find that their bicycling could be letting them down.

If they pause, take a break and look at the reasons for the same, they may find that the lukewarm performance could be because of the quality of road bike.

They could be up against tough opponents and most of them could be using tri bikes.

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In such a situation, athletes who are using road bikes may be up against an uneven battle and this could perhaps be the reason that they should move to more advanced, reliable and faster tri bikes.

It may help them to clock better timings overall and of course the bicycling aspect which so far may have been a letdown for them.

Better Fit & Better Aerodynamics

Many athletes may have grown in height and perhaps even in size. In such cases, the road bike that they have been using so far may have become too small for them.

In such situations, instead of buying a bigger sized road bike, going in for a quality triathlon bike would obviously be a much better choice.

They will be able to adjust to the new bike easily and they also may stand a better chance of winning.

Further, if you look at these tri bikes, you will for sure feel that these bikes will offer much better aerodynamics.

This is because of their design and build features. They are generally lighter than road bikes while also being sturdy, tough and perfectly suited for such competitive activities in difficult situations and terrains.

These bikes come with technology that helps in overcoming wind resistance better and it may help the riders to clip a few precious seconds from their previous best timings.

A few precious seconds or milliseconds is what separates winners from the losers and this should always be kept in mind.

Whether you are an avid triathlon participant, or someone who is into this sport for the sake of hobby, there is no doubt that there will be a time when you may have to seriously think about moving to road bikes to triathlon bikes because of the obvious benefits and advantages associated with them.