Hi guys...I'm a newbie and going through the tri vs road bike thing but as an aside to that, I was wondering how many people have had bikes custom built. Is there a huge adantage to it or is it a bit like buying a suit (ie some can get them off the rack, others get the off the rack with a few adjustments and lastly some have to get them made to measure)?
Thanks...
You can get pretty much any bke on the market to fit you, assuming you are inside the norms as far as height and limb lengths. However,a custom fit is a pretty nice thing. It's not gonna save you 2 minutes over a 40k or anything, but it will make your ride more comfortable. I would think I would prefer custom built road bike over a custom tri bike. To me, the tri position in itself is fairly comfortable, and helps smooth out the ride. If I had to be in the drops or on the hoods all day, I'd want that little extra edge.
Thanks TriGuy...I've been reading up as much as I can and am getting conflicting information regarding what is more suitable for ironman distance rides. Some say road bikes are better / other say tri bikes are better. It's probably time i put the books down and just got on a bike and started riding... Today I looked at a Trek Madone 5.2. Mind you, I also lost an argument with a bus today riding my mountain bike to work, so i wasn't all that enthusiastic shopping...
My goal is to do an ironman and I really can't see me doing group rides etc. I'll keep asking around for info.
Cheers
The road bike/ tri bike choice is a personal one, and one that is effected by a lot of factors (local geography, where you plan on riding, plan on any road racing, budget, the whole yards.) As far as what is better for IM, I refer you to slowtwitch.
[url]http://www.slowtwitch.com/cgi-bin/parse.pl?url=http://www.slowtwitch.com...
Forgot this one:
[url]http://www.slowtwitch.com/cgi-bin/parse.pl?url=http://www.slowtwitch.com...