Can you put clip-ons on your road bike? Will you be comfortable enough?
For me, I couldn’t justify getting even a 2nd hand bike to do one tri a year which is all I do & I don’t TT. I trained with my clip-ons, tinkered with my position a bit & wasn’t completely shit compared to my peers.
Don’t let me dissuade you from getting something new & shiny though if it brings you joy.
Nope that’s very useful, I always struggled to make the most of a dedicated tri bike because I struggled to hold the position. I need to do a bit of training on clip-ons to see what is possible.
I have been reading up on the subject and the most consistent piece of advice across the articles is that you need to do a big chunk of your training in the position; if you spend a lot of time sat up on the bars then you have wasted your money.
If the goal is to just to finish then the bike doesn’t really matter, If the time you finish is important to you then so is the bike.
If you buy at 2nd hand prices you can sell on at second hand prices too.
Obvs you need to hold the aero position for the entirety of the bike else it’s not much point having an aero bike, I’ve never had any trouble training on a roadie & switching to holding a TT position but guess everyone is different.
Planet X Stealth/Exocet? Both used to be able to be picked up very cheaply, mine was £400 a few years ago.
There’s a lot of second hand TT bikes out there for good money. I paid £900 for mine including Ultegra Di2 with the extra shifter buttons. Could probably sell it for not much less than that now, 2 years later.
I have a large Planet X Stealth doing absolutely nothing.
Bought it years ago but it’s in great order. I’ve put in some half decent tri performances on it. TBF I only stopped using it once I bought Fatpoms P3
No idea what the going rate is but would be more than happy to do a deal
It’s a 10 speed which is a bit old hat these days, has a combo of SRAM Force and Rival components, Speah Sitero saddle, aero coach angle adaptors. I did swap the high sided elbow pads to the P3 though. I’ve got the Planet X 82/101 wheel combo fitted but they’re tubs and again a bit out of touch. Not an issue if you’ve got your own wheels though
It’s white though and a pain in the arse to keep clean
Thanks Adam, that is exactly the kind of thing, alas it is too big; despite being average height 5’10 I have a 28/29 inch inside leg, so a Large would probably be a struggle.
As things stand, I am going to fit my road bike with clip ons to see how I get on - my odd shape and ability to hold the position need to be assessed before I buy anything else.
No worries!
Sounds sensible, if I only had the option of a road bike for a single 70.3 I’d go with clip ons.
Assess after if the bug bites!
Yeah same.
Did ‘ok’ on my Canyon with clip ons last year at Cots. Bought a TT bike, and think i ended up going slower, or at least very similar! haha. Though there were extenuating factors. 
So this is basically an itch scratch; I have done 70.3 distance before, but I have not done a Tri of any sort since 2015, a couple of Duos and an Xterra type race, but no full tris.
I never managed to do the full Ironman distance and it bothers me, cant say why, but it does.
So going to try a few events up to and including a 70.3 around this time next year, at that point I will decide if I have that Ironman in me.
Anyway, back to bikes, I need to read the thread from the start.
Not wishing to hijack this, but I’ll be selling a Medium Stealth frameset in a few weeks. Also in white.
Hmm, DM me when you are ready, I dislike black bikes, so the colour isn’t an issue
Depends on your definition of budget
Not sure if this is the right thread for this. My LBS is selling this:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CkQe0QQtCaG/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=
Half tempted to check it out, although I’m 6ft 1 so not sure a 56cm frame is going to be big enough? If it would fit, is that a good deal? Seems to be a 2017 release model that was £2.3k new and has had its Fulcrum Racing wheels upgraded to the Carbon Primes.
I’m not in desperate need of a new road bike, my 2014 Pinnacle still does the trick, and don’t really need a dedicated racier one. But I’m also human and so would like one, and be tempted to buy one, anyway 
Just not sure whether, given I’m in no rush, I could do better for £1-1.2k?
Just be aware that when those came out, they had a reputation for being FO stiff.
Apologies for ignorance, what is “FO”?
‘fuck off’ = very 
Haha got it!
I know its gravel specific but…
Amongst some of the great bits of info in there. I think it confirms the large Watt savings of shaved legs vs hairy. Aero socks, 4 watt saving! Its given me some things to think about for TCR!
Oh wow you’re doing TCR as in across Europe?!
I think the guy I rode Brevet Cymru with had done it a few times. Just Googled him, yes he’d done it 4x (Stu Birnie). Now following him on Twitter; he’s called ‘Hippy’ on there. @Sowler might be a good person to follow on Socials for info/advice? He’s also former World 24h TT Champ.
https://twitter.com/firsthippy?t=zrOsmHpnegVhDzyW5hXIoQ&s=09