Decisions, decisions

[Wahine]

Thanks Ladies,

Keep 'em coming. I'm checking it out as I can.

anakiwa - I had a fitting done on the Jolly Green Giant by Eric Moen a PT that specializes in this sort of thing. He got me set up really nicely on Jolly so I'll likely try to duplicate the geometry. I may go for a "cheaper" full on tri bike for racing, nurse Jolly along and buy a really nice road bike a little later. Jolly won't convert to a "hill" bike very well, I don't think. She's a little heavy.

As for material, I haven't decided. That's part of the reason for the post. It's been a long time since I've been in market and things have changed a lot. I haven't kept up with all the changes. Jolly is an aluminum alloy (Specialized M4 material) with a carbon fork.

[anakiwa]

I may go for a "cheaper" full on tri bike for racing, nurse Jolly along and buy a really nice road bike a little later.

That makes sense. I currently have a road bike and a tri bike. If I had it to do over again I might have started with the dream road bike- put clip on aerobars on it- and saved the money from the second bike for something else. (While I've found I really like the aero position for racing- I much prefer training on a road bike- so while I love the tri-bike, I'm not sure that it gets enough mileage to justify its existence.) But then again- I only do a few races each summer.

As far as materials go- that's where it makes sense to do some test-riding- and I think you have to do a long ride. Personally, I'm not as big a fan of carbon- it feels great at first, but after a while I find it too dampened. (I've never ridden aluminum on the road- most of my riding has been on either steel or carbon.)