2017 Triathlon Bike Preview
- Coach Grainge
- Dec 23, 2016
- 4 min read
The triathlon season has come and gone, and no doubt you drooled over a few bikes in T1 this year. Wondering what’s in store for 2017? From £14,000 frames to bang-for-your-buck value, we’ve taken a look at the best new triathlon bikes available in the coming year.
Cervelo P5X

The complete redesign of the P5 makes it one of the fastest Tri bikes in the world and has turned plenty of heads as well. With SRAM eTap and ENVE7.8 wheelset the build of this bike doesn’t come cheap, (Around £14k mark in fact) but it is fast, very fast, so much so that it isn’t UCI legal. All in Cervelo claims that it is around 25-45 seconds faster than its predecessor over a 40k TT.
Felt IA6

Now we know you may not want to spend more than your family car is worth, so with that in mind the Felt IA6 is a great entry level option into Tri specific bikes. The components are solid but the wheelset could do with an upgrade. What you are paying for is a very good frame for the price point. Felt uses internal moulds which is the reserve of higher priced bikes, to reduce the weight and stress in critical areas, whilst maintaining strength. It also uses similar aero design aspects as their more top of end lines. They cut the cost by using slightly less expensive carbon fibre but all in its great value for money. However final Uk prices haven't been released yet but expect it to be around the £ 5/6k mark.
Trek Speed Concept 7.5

Now you wont be the envy of your Tri buddies because it isn’t as in your face as some of the bikes at this price point (Aprx £ 3,500), but that said, it is enough bike for almost everyone. It handles well, is comfortable and gets you to T3 quickly and with no nonsense. SRAM makes a showing on this and the component selection is solid, all you would need to do is upgrade the wheelset and you have a very quick bike that comparatively would cost twice as much.
QuintannaROO PRthree

At their high end of the spectrum you have the PRfive and PRsix, so where does the PRthree fit in? It utilises very similar frame designs as the high end models mentioned as well as sharing the geometry too. They have managed to build a bike at a fraction of the cost of their big brothers. An added bonus is that it can be built using just too sized Hex tools. This makes disassembly and reassembly super easy and dialling in the fit effortless. It comes in two builds, a Shimano 105 groupset for around £ 2,500 and with an upgraded wheelset option at £ 3,600
Pinarello Bolide TT

Lets get the price out of the way first, its nearly £15k for the frame, yes you read that right, for the frame only! So for the cost of new reasonably priced car you won’t be getting wheels, handlebars, well anything other than a frame and fork. What you do get though is almost the same frame that Sir Bradley Wiggins rode in the hour Record, so its fast! Yes Wiggo had something to do with that as well. The frame is also good enough to be used by Fromme and the new 2017 version is 350g lighter. It has new downtube shaping which improves its aerodynamics and redesigned rear brakes. Small improvements that makes an already near perfect bike, almost perfect.
Diamondback Andean

So if batman was going to ride a bike then this is probably the one he would choose, if it came in black. To say that Diamondback pushed the limits on design with no thought to UCI rules might be an understatement. So with no restrictions you get huge airfoil sections which improve straight-line speed, they claim that they have improved crosswind handling as well… Each and every bike is built to your own spec’s in their own design house with price starting at £ 4,800 going upwards.
The Ventum One.
Now in the interests of being impartial I have to say right away this is one, if not my favourite bike listed here. Its fast in a way that a Bugatti Veyron is compared to a Lada in a 0-60 test. In the same vein as the Bugatti it is in the class of Super bikes.

With only triathlon in mind, Ventum ditched the down tube altogether, oh and the seat stays, removing the air transition and also the tube’s own drag, which is one of the biggest drag points on a bike. Its super stiff thanks to aero grade carbon fibre and the sheer size of the top tube. They say that in tests it is a whopping 24% faster than a P5, and that was the golden standard in the industry. It is at present only available directly from the states, coming in around the £6,000 mark for the frame only.
They say they have taken technology used exclusively from fighter jets and formula one cars, its shows, you will either love it or covet it, me, well I want one.
Argon E-119 TRI+
Argon says that the E-119 Tri+ offers the absolute maximum aerodynamic advantage, the all-new E-119 Tri+ triathlon bike from Argon 18 is purpose-built for the most demanding triathletes, the pro-proven E-119 Tri+ pushes the boundaries of performance, technology and aerodynamics to create a powerful winning race machine. Crowie can't be wrong as he loves this bike.

In tests it was nearly 25% quicker than its predecessor, no mean feat and if the £4,000.00 mark for frameset only puts you off then you could always look at its little brother which is almost the same bike, but with a different carbon used and without the clever built in hydration and feed box.
Orbea Ordu M30

The last in the review but by no means a slow bike. They have great value bikes in their range and the m30 may well be the best of them all. A great cockpit by Vision, 105 groupset, strong and light OME carbon frame and a Prologo saddle. This is beginners dream bike especially at the £1,800 price point.
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