Hi Oz,

Im on a 2006 carbon Orbea roadie with Mavic ES race wheels. All up weighs circa 7.5-8kg. I rekon that for sprint this setup is plenty and since forking out another 3k+ to go for a tri specific frame only to save minimal time (even on the 1/2 IM) needs to be seriously justified. If you were planning to update anyway, then thats different. My previous bike was a Giant OCR 3 2001 model. I log my workouts on excel and I didn't pick up much time after changing to a 5kg lighter setup. The upside is I train more efficiently, and while my times haven't improved much, I get off the Orbea fresher the I did on the Giant. I hope this helps.

Also as I hail from Geelong, I am planning to enter the 70.3 in Feb 2008 on the Geelong Waterfront. Hope to see you there:)

Angelo

i agree with the comments above, but...everyone i know who's switched is just downright giddy on their new tribikes!!!

I broke into the bank this year, new Cervelo P2C with HED disc and Hed Jet front three hundred miles and one race on this bike and feeling like a made a wise chioce. Much fresher off the bike into the run was the first thing I noticed, my times have went down maybe five-fifteen minutes depending on wind and amount of climbing over my road bike (a Cervelo R3) But you really are the one who would know what's best for you. I had been road biking 15 years all the time thinking and looking at a tri bike, it wasn't until I got the R3 that I saw a huge jump in my times that made me say "yeah, okay now I'm ready to lay it out and hammer" I should note that I pushed around a 24 pound Binachi for all those years, so droping weight, better group and, wheels have let me truely unleash all the power I had been building up on my pervious bike.

Hi grappler!
I have a mate who's planning on doing that one, I'm going to wait till '09. Going to do my first Oly(used to be Geelong so not sure where it will be this season). But because it's so close i'll be down there to watch for sure!

I have the money there, but I think I will also go for the option of setting myself some training goals with cycling to prove to myself that i'm serious about all of this. Then, when i've improved as much as possible.. I'll think about a tri bike..

Actually.. I've just found out about getting my bike resprayed, and it's not that expensive! So I might get a respray to keep the love alive.. Pink bike here I come!
Thanks everyone!

great to see so many of my fellow aussies out in force on trifuel! OZtrigirl race wheels will make a big difference if you can get your hands on them. So will and aero helmet if you can stand the weird looks you wil get! the only draw back is you need to be averaging about 35-40 km/h before you get the benifit. otherwise it's just eye candy!

as for your olympic tri, have a look at Noosa or Mooloolaba, they are both great courses and really well organised. You could also try the national series in gelong. there is a big calender on triathlon.org.au :cool:

I love my tri bike. So much so that I sold my road bike due to lack of use.

And one of the added benefits when I do take my Cervelo out on local 'road bike' routes it seems to piss a lot of roadies off. Kind of like showing up to a Harley ride on an R6 if you know what I mean: they can't hide their consternation, but neither can they keep up when the pace increases. I see no benefits at all anymore to owning a road bike.

You need to find some new friends to ride with on your group rides. If you're a good, curtious rider with good handling skills it should make no difference what bike you show up for the ride on. I organize a weekly ride with mosly roadies and have gone out of my way to let the tri geeks know that they're welcome on our ride on their tri bikes just so long as they cover their brakes when they're in the middle of the pack. I sometimes ride my Cervelo Dual on these rides when I'm in the mood to up the speed and impart a little more pain on the group. When I am on the tri bike I spend a ton of time at the front pulling. I've found that roadies are much more accepting if you do your fair share of the work at the front. If you're getting aero at inappropriate times you'll be a potential hazard to yourself and others.

As far as touring goes, I did a week long tour on my tri bike last year (GRABAAWR) without one bad comment from anyone. I suppose the only tour I could ever think of where a tri bike might be out of place would be RAGBRAI. And that's only because there aren't enough places to carry beer on a typical tri bike.

Once you get your road bike you'll start wanting a cruiser, commuter, fixie, tandem, cross, and mountain bike too. Can't have too many.

I am also thinking about upgrading to a tri-bike. I need some advice on which brand will fit me best. I am 6' 6", 36" inseam and 37" arm length, 220 lbs. What are some manufacturers that make a bike that would fit me?

Thank you.