I've been doing sprint and olympic distance dus for several years...quite possibly my favorite way of combining my 2 sports.  I can hold my own on the bike and it's definitely my stronger leg, but quite often I wish I had a dedicated TT bike.  I can ride in the drops for a fairly long while, but after busting my right wrist in 2 spots nearly 3 years ago it gets a little achey.

Yesterday I competed in a tri/du...one of only TWO women in the oly du.  Frustrating to put that kind of work in and have no competition.  The woman who won was on a serious TT machine and 3.5mph faster.  She's still a somewhat faster runner than I am, but she's also not lugging a spare 20#s. I know that reaching my goal weight would have me at least matching her run speed...but no way will I ever touch her on my road bike (Cannondale SuperSix).

And next year I'm seriously considering a Powerman du (10k-60k-10k).  I think that would be a much more enjoyable on an actual aero bike.  I'm also thinking I need to consider some local time trials.  I'm about to sell my 29er, because the wrist business has made me far too gunshy to go off-road anymore (with the exception of CX).

So, I'm sorta eyeballing this Bianchi.  I believe it's about a grand cheaper than a BMC I'm also considering...with very similar components (105).  The primary difference appears to be aluminum frame vs. full carbon.  Both have the same cheap wheels.  For that $1k savings I could eventually upgrade the Bianchi's rims.

I really love the road smoothing ride of my carbon road bike.  My previous bike was aluminum with carbon fork and rattled my bones.  Granted, we lived with primarily chip-sealed roads at that time.  I guess my biggest concern is comfort.  Most TT bikes on the market appear to be carbon...would I hate the ride of aluminum, or am I better off spending the same and upgrading wheels?

I think you should look at the carbon rather than aluminum.

 

I don't know why, but I believe that if you're going to ride it frequently and own it for years, the extra money is worth it.

I had a used aluminum tri bike my first year, and the front derailler tab weld rattled itself broken, and it couldn't be fixed.  Threw it in the trash and bought a 105 Cannondale Slice.

 

If you don't have competition in the DU's due to lack of entries, the extra speed isn't your goal.  It's the comfort.

 

That's just my $0.02 (hopefully worth at least half that amount).

BTW, heading up to Benton Harbor to race on August 9.  Will you happen to be there?  If so, let me know.

They have a relay for the tri, and my wife is doing the swim portion and other family is doing the bike and run.  I'll be doing the whole thing.  Regardless, that race has a relay and may be a good option in the future for you to do the bike / run if you can recruit a swimmer.

 

Cheers,

Brian

Bummer, I'll be recovering from either riding or working ODRAM the day before and getting home super late.

I really need to find out the actual pricing for the BMC vs. the Bianchi (since we can get pretty amazing pricing by virtue of who we know...but the BMC is still bound to be a lot more $$).