Tri Bikes: What We Do and Why

We take a different approach to tri-bike fitting than that seen in many shops. We don’t have a ton of models on the floor, though we sell a marvelous selection of tri bikes, both in stock and custom geometries.

When you walk into Pedal and express an interest in a triathlon bike, we don’t start pointing you to models on the floor or in catalogs. Instead, we’ll start talking about the fit bike, about our protocol, our process. As a guy who’s spent a not-insignificant amount of time on a tri bike, I 100% believe that comfort and performance when training and racing a triathlon bike start and end with a bike that puts your bottom, elbows and hands in the right spot for you.

Could we figure this out with a bike on a trainer? Maybe, maybe not. The thing with a bike on a trainer is that we’re always working within the constraints of that particular frame and probably the components (notably the aerobars) on that bike. When we use the fit bike, we must only deal with its limitations, which are pretty darn tough to exceed (not to be construed as a challenge). Additionally, the fit bike is much, much quicker to adjust, so we can try more options and make double-darn sure that we arrive at your optimum position.

Once we determine your optimum contact points, we can figure out what bike(s) will work for you and begin the conversation about brands, models, components, etc. — the part of the bike buying process that many of us love so much.

All of these words boil down to the fact that, in triathlon as well as everything else, we don’t want to sell you a bike, we want to sell you THE bike, the bike on which you are most comfortable and awesome.