Invest in a time trial/triathlon bike , aero road bike with clip ons or my current regular round tubed steel bike with clip ons? *

[thetortiserunner]

Question for experienced triathletes, as per the question in the title. What should I get with a budget of about 4-5k

*Or upgrade my current bike

Additional info

27M, Long time cyclist for about 10 years, more structured in the last 4.
Recently just began trying out triathlon, been at it since June last year. Pretty weak at flat road riding
More of a climber type since I am 63kg at 1.8m.

I do my own maintenance and would much prefer a mechanical drivetrain and Rim brakes

 

[thetortiserunner]

Question for experienced triathletes, as per the question in the title. What should I get with a budget of about 5k

*Or upgrade my current bike

Additional info

27M, Long time cyclist , recently just began trying out triathlon, been at it since June last year. Pretty weak at flat road riding
More of a climber type since I am 63kg at 1.8m.

I do my own maintenance and would much prefer a mechanical drivetrain

@Sadisticnoob I remember you are a pro here so I tagged you

 

[Sadisticnoob]

Sorry saw this , nowadays rim brake bikes are extinct liao . Best to go with disc brakes unless you don’t mind China parts

 

[Can Or Not]

actually what you want?
Some road bike with straight forks are for events with lots of turnings…

 

[OneUpsize]

Question for experienced triathletes, as per the question in the title. What should I get with a budget of about 4-5k

*Or upgrade my current bike

Additional info

27M, Long time cyclist for about 10 years, more structured in the last 4.
Recently just began trying out triathlon, been at it since June last year. Pretty weak at flat road riding
More of a climber type since I am 63kg at 1.8m.

I do my own maintenance and would much prefer a mechanical drivetrain and Rim brakes

can share chiur experience cycling on the road, like cars don’t wanna give way to chiu or horn u, or exchange middle fingers with each other etc.

 

[thetortiserunner]

actually what you want?
Some road bike with straight forks are for events with lots of turnings…

Something more triathlon or TT geared. But I am stuck between the 2.

I've heard that TT bike is more versatile because a triathlon specific bike usually throws the UCI rules out of the window in pursuit of speed - which would make it illegal in any UCI events should I ever want to use them

However I don't see myself using participating in any TTs due to my physique and speed so a triathlon specific bike for triathlon even if I am slow would be better

Sorry I am a noob and new to triathlon

 

[thetortiserunner]

can share chiur experience cycling on the road, like cars don’t wanna give way to chiu or horn u, or exchange middle fingers with each other etc.

Do you want the troll answer or genuinely asking? I can't tell

 

[OneUpsize]

Do you want the troll answer or genuinely asking? I can't tell

genuinely asking

 

[thetortiserunner]

Sorry saw this , nowadays rim brake bikes are extinct liao . Best to go with disc brakes unless you don’t mind China parts

Tri bike with rim brakes are already a headache to cable up especially if there's internal routing , if throw in hydraulics will be even harder. I don't mind a (actually will likely be) 2nd hand bike. At least for the next decade it will be around imo. Saw the GCN where they resto modded the steel pinarello with 12 speed rim brake groupset

 

[Sadisticnoob]

Tri bike with rim brakes are already a headache to cable up especially if there's internal routing , if throw in hydraulics will be even harder. I don't mind a (actually will likely be) 2nd hand bike. At least for the next decade it will be around imo. Saw the GCN where they resto modded the steel pinarello with 12 speed rim brake groupset

Current market price ; you can’t get anything new at your price point
Actually is quite easy with the cable routing kit :

 

[Sadisticnoob]

Something more triathlon or TT geared. But I am stuck between the 2.

I've heard that TT bike is more versatile because a triathlon specific bike usually throws the UCI rules out of the window in pursuit of speed - which would make it illegal in any UCI events should I ever want to use them

However I don't see myself using participating in any TTs due to my physique and speed so a triathlon specific bike for triathlon even if I am slow would be better

Sorry I am a noob and new to triathlon

Just use your normal road bike and put clip on aerobar can liao don’t need waste money

 

[thetortiserunner]

Current market price ; you can’t get anything new at your price point
Actually is quite easy with the cable routing kit

Of course I don't expect top and or even di2 stuff. (Mechanical is fine and actually what I prefer. No need for 12 speed. 10 or 11 is fine for me, I am not a satki pro with 400w FTP like you )

But you never know sometimes you can get lucky. Maybe some rich guy just wants to get rid of it and doesn't care about losing money.

I've worked on di2 fully integrated hydraulic TT bike and it put me off ever wanting to own one myself

 

[thetortiserunner]

Just use your normal road bike and put clip on aerobar can liao don’t need waste money

Fun fact my main current road bike is actually older than I am. 7 Speed 105SC/ 600 ultegra and downtube shifters

I have a second one that's also with downtube shifters but that is more modern with 130 dropout spacing and can accommodate 10 speed or theoretically 11 if I do some out of the box modding

 

[Sadisticnoob]

Fun fact my main current road bike is actually older than I am. 7 Speed 105SC/ 600 ultegra and downtube shifters

I have a second one that's also with downtube shifters but that is more modern with 130 dropout spacing and can accommodate 10 speed or theoretically 11 if I do some out of the box modding

No point to spend your money to mod , mod liao worst case scenario is the part fail.

 

[Sadisticnoob]

Of course I don't expect top and or even di2 stuff. (Mechanical is fine and actually what I prefer. No need for 12 speed. 10 or 11 is fine for me, I am not a satki pro with 400w FTP like you )

But you never know sometimes you can get lucky. Maybe some rich guy just wants to get rid of it and doesn't care about losing money.

I've worked on di2 fully integrated hydraulic TT bike and it put me off ever wanting to own one myself

Since you already know what you want , then no advice is relevant , as rim brakes are obsolete , spare parts wil get rarer and rarer .

your budget you can get the trek madone with 105 mechanical 12 speed disc it retails at 4.999 sgd

 

[thetortiserunner]

genuinely asking

Ok, I will assume the best of your intentions and that you are not a troll.

CONTRARY to the popular believe MOST drivers are actually ok from my outward POV (of course what they are thinking or saying in their head or in their own privacy in the car I can't tell lah). Not joking when I say I can literally count on one hand when I say that I've been horned at before. There are close passes too but it's also super rare

Of course the caveat is that as a rider you have to be zhi4 dong4 too. Don't be like those guai Lan Kia YP fixie gang at raffles, shenton way and LPS , swarming all-over the road or those riding in groups over the legal limit.

Limit riding to those outside of peak hour and /or peak traffic roads I would say 99.9999 percent of the time you will me ok.

As for giving middle fingers, I don't. I have nothing to gain from it at all. Just chalk it up to a madman that I will never see again in my life after this incident

 

[thetortiserunner]

No point to spend your money to mod , mod liao worst case scenario is the part fail.

GCN has done it before with the pinarello,so has other channels.as long as it's steel it can be cold spreader. Whether it will ride nicely or not is another question

 

[Sadisticnoob]

One of the reason why I transited to disc brakes is the lack of spare parts especially around the mid range . Moved about 3-4 years ago and didn’t regret it

 

[Sadisticnoob]

GCN has done it before with the pinarello,so has other channels.as long as it's steel it can be cold spreader. Whether it will ride nicely or not is another question

it’s your own money , whatever floats your boat. Can argue till the cows come home

 

[thetortiserunner]

Since you already know what you want , then no advice is relevant , as rim brakes are obsolete , spare parts wil get rarer and rarer .

your budget you can get the trek madone with 105 mechanical 12 speed disc it retails at 4.999 sgd

I am not an absolutist. If a nice disc brake one comes along i am open to it as well if it checks all my boxes. Having rim means just 1 or a few less things to worry about.

I just looked on carousell typing in BMC Time machine there are a few options but at this point I am still looking and considering

PS. Parts getting rarer is why I stock up on spares whenever I can. (E.g) On my steel bike I have enough spare parts for every part to build the bike 3 times over and since it uses uniglide, I have 10NOS sets