I’d say that you should upgrade your bike when you feel as though your current set-up is a limiting factor, and when you’re willing to invest the time, effort and, obviously, money in getting the most out of a very different type of bike.
I’ve seen many triathletes spend a lot of money on a tri bike and end up less comfortable, less confident and slower.
The key thing to remember is that 80%+ of drag is created by the rider and not the bike, so to see significant gains from your new wheels, your position has to be better and you have to be able to ride in it.
A new position is going to take getting used to and there’s no doubt, in terms of feel and handling, that a tri bike is a very different beast to a road bike.
So it's important to remember that graduating to a tri bike is not a magic bullet and, although some decent speed gains are possible, there are a few caveats.
Get a bike fit
First off, you need to ensure that by switching to a tri bike and an invariably more aggressive position, you’re not shipping a load of watts. Losing a few watts can easily be offset by aerodynamic gains but not if you’ve sacrificed a bucket-load.
I’d strongly advise factoring in a physio-led bike fit into your budget to ensure that your initial position is efficient, sustainable and not unrealistically aggressive.
Spend time in the aero position
Second is that sustainable word. There’s no point having a triathlon bike if you spend most of the bike leg sat up on the bullhorns.
You need to be comfortable as well as powerful in that position and, as well as not being too aggressive aero-wise with your initial set-up, there’ll inevitably be a period of adaptation required.
This may be some dedicated strength and flexibility work given to you by the physio who did your fit, but it’ll also mean simply spending time in that position.
It’s why spring-time can be a good time to make the switch, as you can bolt your triathlon bike to the turbo trainer and give your body plenty of adaptation time.
Another bonus of spending a decent amount of turbo time on a triathlon bike is that you can easily tweak and finesse your position as your body adapts to it. You can take photos and videos of your position while riding, maybe share them with your bike fitter and evolve your position though the winter.
Get out and ride it
Third, get out and ride the thing on the roads for real. Far too many triathletes hang their race bike on the wall like some kind of work of art, only getting it down for races and the odd pre-race ride, and do most of their training on their road bike.
This is insanity – you can’t hope to race a bike to its and your potential unless riding it is second nature to you.
Buy a set of training wheels for it and do as much of your training on it as you possibly can. This means hilly rides, flat rides and yes, even wet rides! Don’t be that triathlete who looks like Bambi on ice on their race bike!
Enter some races
I’d also strongly advise entering some club and local time trials, and maybe some early-season duathlons to log some competitive kilometres on it before the season starts for real and work until riding it seems like second nature to you.
Top image credit: Jan Hetfleisch/Getty Images for Ironman
