Mdthbs

Why hasn't the U.S. government paid war reparations to any country it attacked?

Was all the fuel expended in each stage of a Saturn V launch?

Clarification on defining FFT bin sizes

I have accepted an internship offer. Should I inform companies I have applied to that have not gotten back to me yet?

Can't update Ubuntu 18.04.2

Why does the Trade Federation become so alarmed upon learning the ambassadors are Jedi Knights?

What is this called? A tube flange bearing threaded for threaded pushrod

Do aircraft cabins have suspension?

What alternatives exist to at-will employment?

In Adventurers League, is there any way for an 5th-level wizard to gain heavy armor proficiency?

Why do candidates not quit if they no longer have a realistic chance to win in the 2020 US presidents election

What is the German word or phrase for "village returning to forest"?

I won USD 50K! Now what should I do with it?

What do these three diagonal lines that cross through three measures and both staves mean, and what are they called?

Do First Order blasters maintain a record of when they were fired?

Why does FFmpeg choose 10+20+20 ms instead of an even 16 ms for 60 fps GIF images?

What made Windows ME so crash-prone?

FPGA CPU's, how to find the max speed?

Is the Warlock's Hexblade Curse unaffected by an Antimagic Field?

Can I send medicine to an American visitor in Canada?

Using two linked programs, output ordinal numbers up to n

Accidentally deleted python and yum is not working in centos7

If a player tries to persuade somebody, what should that creature roll not to be persuaded?

Why is "dark" an adverb in this sentence?

Why are road bikes (not time trial bikes) used in many triathlons?

triathlon beginners guideAre there any manufacturers of steel road bikes today?Software for time-trial raceWhy am I not seeing improvement in my bike split time?What is the difference between Time-Trial and Triathlon bikes?Aero bike vs climbing bike for running in CritsThru axle for rim brake road bikesRoad bikes for tall guysHire road bike for one day for race (never ridden one before)?What are the benefits of purchasing a complete bike from a respectable brand? (Road cycling)

.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty{ margin-bottom:0;
}

1

I've been watching triathlon videos lately and I couldn't help but notice that, with the exception of Ironman Competitions, only road bikes and not time trial bikes are being used. Is there any reason for that?

road-bike aerodynamics triathlon time-trial

share|improve this question

edited 7 hours ago

DavidW

43811 silver badge99 bronze badges

asked 9 hours ago

EyadEyad

611 bronze badge

New contributor

Eyad is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Not mentioned (so far) in any answers is Tris are, well, tris - there are three sports involved. Competitors need to optimize performance across three disciplines, for many the effort optimizing cycling on a TT bike is worth less than putting it elsewhere.
  
  – mattnz
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

1

I've been watching triathlon videos lately and I couldn't help but notice that, with the exception of Ironman Competitions, only road bikes and not time trial bikes are being used. Is there any reason for that?

road-bike aerodynamics triathlon time-trial

share|improve this question

edited 7 hours ago

DavidW

43811 silver badge99 bronze badges

asked 9 hours ago

EyadEyad

611 bronze badge

New contributor

Eyad is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Not mentioned (so far) in any answers is Tris are, well, tris - there are three sports involved. Competitors need to optimize performance across three disciplines, for many the effort optimizing cycling on a TT bike is worth less than putting it elsewhere.
  
  – mattnz
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

I've been watching triathlon videos lately and I couldn't help but notice that, with the exception of Ironman Competitions, only road bikes and not time trial bikes are being used. Is there any reason for that?

road-bike aerodynamics triathlon time-trial

share|improve this question

edited 7 hours ago

DavidW

43811 silver badge99 bronze badges

asked 9 hours ago

EyadEyad

611 bronze badge

New contributor

Eyad is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

edited 7 hours ago

DavidW

43811 silver badge99 bronze badges

asked 9 hours ago

EyadEyad

611 bronze badge

New contributor

Eyad is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

edited 7 hours ago

DavidW

43811 silver badge99 bronze badges

asked 9 hours ago

EyadEyad

611 bronze badge

New contributor

Eyad is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

edited 7 hours ago

DavidW

43811 silver badge99 bronze badges

edited 7 hours ago

DavidW

43811 silver badge99 bronze badges

asked 9 hours ago

EyadEyad

611 bronze badge

New contributor

Eyad is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

asked 9 hours ago

EyadEyad

611 bronze badge

3 Answers
3

active

oldest

votes

3

Triathlon and time trial bikes are quite expensive and not wonderful to ride on open courses, hills, and in groups (in other words, general cycling).

So, if you're not so serious about triathlons that you're willing to spend several thousand dollars on a bike that will see relatively little use, you'll likely be content with your existing road bike whose handling and fit works well with your body and riding style.

share|improve this answer

answered 8 hours ago

Paul HPaul H

63833 silver badges1616 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I have limited personal experience, but based on people I've talked to it takes dedicated training on the time trial bike to become good/experienced enough for the bike to be a worthwhile investment. So there's the training cost to consider in addition to the monetary cost.
  
  – DavidW
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  that's a great point @DavidW
  
  – Paul H
  8 hours ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  All of the videos were of either pro's or elite amateurs. The road bikes in the videos were carbon with deep section carbon wheels, easily over $6K. So these are serious competitors who would have been using a TT bike if it was the right tool.
  
  – Rider_X
  7 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

3

The videos linked were road bikes were used were of pros or elite amateurs who will have multiple bikes and would be using a Time Trial (TT) bike if it was the right tool.

Originally, all triathlons used to have a no-drafting policy, which made optimizing your personal aerodynamics critical. Hence the rise of TT bikes in the early history of triathlons.

Relatively recently drafting has been made legal in many short track triathlons, making TT bikes both dangerous and not suitable for the format. When you have drafting you essentially have a road race, which a road bike is the right tool. Quick handling is key as you need to be able to maneuver and keep your front wheel within 2-6 inches of the bike you are drafting in order to get the full draft effect. You also need to be able to accelerate, brake, and change direction quickly to close gaps and respond to group dynamics. Groups can at times move incredibly fast, 65 kph on the flat is not uncommon for pros or elites.

In contrast, Ironman events still have no-drafting rules in place making TT bikes the right tool as its about individual riders against the wind and not responses to group dynamics.

share|improve this answer

edited 7 hours ago

answered 7 hours ago

Rider_XRider_X

25.6k11 gold badge4848 silver badges100100 bronze badges

add a comment | 

0

In addition to Paul H's answer, there are several different triathlon distances from sprint to full iron man. In shorter races with hilly bike courses, or where there are many tight turns a regular road bike may be preferable.

share|improve this answer

answered 8 hours ago

Argenti ApparatusArgenti Apparatus

43k33 gold badges4545 silver badges104104 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Drafting is also allowed in many short course races. Very different type of racing.
  
  – Rider_X
  7 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

Your Answer

StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "126"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});

function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});


}
});

Eyad is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.

draft saved

draft discarded

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});

Sign up using Google

Sign up using Facebook

Sign up using Email and Password

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fbicycles.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f63126%2fwhy-are-road-bikes-not-time-trial-bikes-used-in-many-triathlons%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

3

Triathlon and time trial bikes are quite expensive and not wonderful to ride on open courses, hills, and in groups (in other words, general cycling).

So, if you're not so serious about triathlons that you're willing to spend several thousand dollars on a bike that will see relatively little use, you'll likely be content with your existing road bike whose handling and fit works well with your body and riding style.

share|improve this answer

answered 8 hours ago

Paul HPaul H

63833 silver badges1616 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I have limited personal experience, but based on people I've talked to it takes dedicated training on the time trial bike to become good/experienced enough for the bike to be a worthwhile investment. So there's the training cost to consider in addition to the monetary cost.
  
  – DavidW
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  that's a great point @DavidW
  
  – Paul H
  8 hours ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  All of the videos were of either pro's or elite amateurs. The road bikes in the videos were carbon with deep section carbon wheels, easily over $6K. So these are serious competitors who would have been using a TT bike if it was the right tool.
  
  – Rider_X
  7 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

3

Triathlon and time trial bikes are quite expensive and not wonderful to ride on open courses, hills, and in groups (in other words, general cycling).

So, if you're not so serious about triathlons that you're willing to spend several thousand dollars on a bike that will see relatively little use, you'll likely be content with your existing road bike whose handling and fit works well with your body and riding style.

share|improve this answer

answered 8 hours ago

Paul HPaul H

63833 silver badges1616 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I have limited personal experience, but based on people I've talked to it takes dedicated training on the time trial bike to become good/experienced enough for the bike to be a worthwhile investment. So there's the training cost to consider in addition to the monetary cost.
  
  – DavidW
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  that's a great point @DavidW
  
  – Paul H
  8 hours ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  All of the videos were of either pro's or elite amateurs. The road bikes in the videos were carbon with deep section carbon wheels, easily over $6K. So these are serious competitors who would have been using a TT bike if it was the right tool.
  
  – Rider_X
  7 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

Triathlon and time trial bikes are quite expensive and not wonderful to ride on open courses, hills, and in groups (in other words, general cycling).

So, if you're not so serious about triathlons that you're willing to spend several thousand dollars on a bike that will see relatively little use, you'll likely be content with your existing road bike whose handling and fit works well with your body and riding style.

share|improve this answer

answered 8 hours ago

Paul HPaul H

63833 silver badges1616 bronze badges

share|improve this answer

answered 8 hours ago

Paul HPaul H

63833 silver badges1616 bronze badges

answered 8 hours ago

Paul HPaul H

63833 silver badges1616 bronze badges

answered 8 hours ago

Paul HPaul H

63833 silver badges1616 bronze badges

3

The videos linked were road bikes were used were of pros or elite amateurs who will have multiple bikes and would be using a Time Trial (TT) bike if it was the right tool.

Originally, all triathlons used to have a no-drafting policy, which made optimizing your personal aerodynamics critical. Hence the rise of TT bikes in the early history of triathlons.

Relatively recently drafting has been made legal in many short track triathlons, making TT bikes both dangerous and not suitable for the format. When you have drafting you essentially have a road race, which a road bike is the right tool. Quick handling is key as you need to be able to maneuver and keep your front wheel within 2-6 inches of the bike you are drafting in order to get the full draft effect. You also need to be able to accelerate, brake, and change direction quickly to close gaps and respond to group dynamics. Groups can at times move incredibly fast, 65 kph on the flat is not uncommon for pros or elites.

In contrast, Ironman events still have no-drafting rules in place making TT bikes the right tool as its about individual riders against the wind and not responses to group dynamics.

share|improve this answer

edited 7 hours ago

answered 7 hours ago

Rider_XRider_X

25.6k11 gold badge4848 silver badges100100 bronze badges

add a comment | 

3

The videos linked were road bikes were used were of pros or elite amateurs who will have multiple bikes and would be using a Time Trial (TT) bike if it was the right tool.

Originally, all triathlons used to have a no-drafting policy, which made optimizing your personal aerodynamics critical. Hence the rise of TT bikes in the early history of triathlons.

Relatively recently drafting has been made legal in many short track triathlons, making TT bikes both dangerous and not suitable for the format. When you have drafting you essentially have a road race, which a road bike is the right tool. Quick handling is key as you need to be able to maneuver and keep your front wheel within 2-6 inches of the bike you are drafting in order to get the full draft effect. You also need to be able to accelerate, brake, and change direction quickly to close gaps and respond to group dynamics. Groups can at times move incredibly fast, 65 kph on the flat is not uncommon for pros or elites.

In contrast, Ironman events still have no-drafting rules in place making TT bikes the right tool as its about individual riders against the wind and not responses to group dynamics.

share|improve this answer

edited 7 hours ago

answered 7 hours ago

Rider_XRider_X

25.6k11 gold badge4848 silver badges100100 bronze badges

add a comment | 

The videos linked were road bikes were used were of pros or elite amateurs who will have multiple bikes and would be using a Time Trial (TT) bike if it was the right tool.

Originally, all triathlons used to have a no-drafting policy, which made optimizing your personal aerodynamics critical. Hence the rise of TT bikes in the early history of triathlons.

Relatively recently drafting has been made legal in many short track triathlons, making TT bikes both dangerous and not suitable for the format. When you have drafting you essentially have a road race, which a road bike is the right tool. Quick handling is key as you need to be able to maneuver and keep your front wheel within 2-6 inches of the bike you are drafting in order to get the full draft effect. You also need to be able to accelerate, brake, and change direction quickly to close gaps and respond to group dynamics. Groups can at times move incredibly fast, 65 kph on the flat is not uncommon for pros or elites.

In contrast, Ironman events still have no-drafting rules in place making TT bikes the right tool as its about individual riders against the wind and not responses to group dynamics.

share|improve this answer

edited 7 hours ago

answered 7 hours ago

Rider_XRider_X

25.6k11 gold badge4848 silver badges100100 bronze badges

share|improve this answer

edited 7 hours ago

answered 7 hours ago

Rider_XRider_X

25.6k11 gold badge4848 silver badges100100 bronze badges

answered 7 hours ago

Rider_XRider_X

25.6k11 gold badge4848 silver badges100100 bronze badges

answered 7 hours ago

Rider_XRider_X

25.6k11 gold badge4848 silver badges100100 bronze badges

0

In addition to Paul H's answer, there are several different triathlon distances from sprint to full iron man. In shorter races with hilly bike courses, or where there are many tight turns a regular road bike may be preferable.

share|improve this answer

answered 8 hours ago

Argenti ApparatusArgenti Apparatus

43k33 gold badges4545 silver badges104104 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Drafting is also allowed in many short course races. Very different type of racing.
  
  – Rider_X
  7 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

0

In addition to Paul H's answer, there are several different triathlon distances from sprint to full iron man. In shorter races with hilly bike courses, or where there are many tight turns a regular road bike may be preferable.

share|improve this answer

answered 8 hours ago

Argenti ApparatusArgenti Apparatus

43k33 gold badges4545 silver badges104104 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Drafting is also allowed in many short course races. Very different type of racing.
  
  – Rider_X
  7 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

In addition to Paul H's answer, there are several different triathlon distances from sprint to full iron man. In shorter races with hilly bike courses, or where there are many tight turns a regular road bike may be preferable.

share|improve this answer

answered 8 hours ago

Argenti ApparatusArgenti Apparatus

43k33 gold badges4545 silver badges104104 bronze badges

share|improve this answer

answered 8 hours ago

Argenti ApparatusArgenti Apparatus

43k33 gold badges4545 silver badges104104 bronze badges

answered 8 hours ago

Argenti ApparatusArgenti Apparatus

43k33 gold badges4545 silver badges104104 bronze badges

answered 8 hours ago

Argenti ApparatusArgenti Apparatus

43k33 gold badges4545 silver badges104104 bronze badges