Difference between a road bike and triathlon bike

This weekend, I tried out a new to me class at a local studio lead by a pro triathlete. We did a brick workout consisting of a 90 minute workout on the bike (most participants brought their bikes and put them on trainers provided by the studio) followed by a short run off the bike.

Source

This program is an example of why I love working with my coach. He doesn’t just give his athletes workouts, he connects us with professionals to ensure that we execute our workouts with proper technique and have the resources from athletes around us. Next weekend, we have a threshold test to test where our off season fitness is and I am a little nervous.

One thing I AM excited about is that I have settled on a bike and will be picking it up this week! I wanted to do a quick post on some of the things I have learned  in my research on finding a new bike. I was looking at either getting a road bike and a triathlon bike. Essentially, I could get either one because I am using it almost exclusively for long training rides either solo or with a small group of friends. Here are the main things that separate the bikes:

Road Bike:

 This bike is meant for a wide variety of things that the road can throw at you including hill climbing, sharp cornering, descending, and riding in tighter groups or in town. The bike’s geometry is built so that the rider’s weight is distributed about 50/50 between the handle bars and the saddle. This gives the riders a relatively upright position which provides good visibility and handling as well as maintaining an open hip angle which allows for smooth, efficient peddling. The seat angle (the angle on the tube of the frame that holds the seat in relation to the ground) of a road bike is usually close to 73 degrees and is designed to allow the rider’s knee to be centered over pedals.

Triathlon Bike: 

This is a more specialized bike and the key difference between this and a road bike is the geometry of the bike frame. For a triathlon bike, the seat tube angle is typically 76-78 degrees which is much steeper than the 73-degree angle on traditional road bikes. The steeper angle places the rider further forward on the bike creating a more aerodynamic body position. When a rider is in the aerobars, significantly more of their weight is distributed on the front of the bike (often up to 70% on the front and 30% on the saddle). The steeper seat angle helps the rider’s hip remain open as they ride in the lower aerobar position, while also facilitating more hamstring activation to preserve the quadricep power for the run portion of the race.

I have ultimately chosen to go with the road bike, despite the fact I had some absolutely GORGEOUS tri bikes presented to me at a tempting price because due to speed, weight distribution and group safety, most road groups do not allow triathlon bikes. Also, if I want to participate in grand fondo races in the future, (and let’s be honest, this is me we are talking about), they don’t allow tri bikes either.

If you are a cyclist, do you prefer a road bike or a triathlon bike?