Welcome to the first of our bike reviews on Tri247. Just as with other triathlon product, we actually intend to get out there and use the things that we test and so we have a house test rider, affectionately known as “The Snake”, who will put all the bikes through their paces. Each bike we test will be reviewed on its own unless there is a very good reason for a one on one comparison. Our reviews will be split into two parts: a technical assessment of the components, geometry, etc which will tell you the physical facts about the bike and then a subjective review by the tester to see if it actually delivers on its promises.

Our first bike to be tested is the Specialized Transition Comp. Priced at £1,399.99 it is the cheapest of their triathlon-specific models but has the same frame as the more expensive Elite so many of our comments should be applicable to both models. You can also buy the Transition as an S-Works frameset and build it up any way you like.

Componentry

Bikes, like everything, are built to a price. Well, actually two prices... First is the price that it will actually cost to make and the second is the price that the market will sustain -- hopefully the difference between the two will make enough profit that the whole enterprise is worthwhile! And that is why bikes get specified with equipment that is branded by the manufacturer rather than a recognizable market leader. The resulting "own brand" market is huge: Trek have their Bontrager components and Specialized have also begun to move into that area with bars, stems, saddles, etc. Before you turn your nose up at this stuff it's worth remembering that they make it in huge quantities but they also have to be very certain that it won't break, fail or otherwise let the customer down. In short, you are often getting much better value than you would with a brand name and the cost is kept artificially low because it's a direct supply - no middleman.

Pretty much all Specialized road bikes are based on Shimano components and the Transition uses the 10-speed 105 groupset as its base. Shimano only make one bar-end shifter and so these are the Dura-Ace ones and the rear derailleur, virtually the single hardest working component on a bike, gets an upgrade to Ultegra. All good, solid, reliable stuff... ...except that the brake levers are fairly generic alloy ones that do seem a bit cut price. Carbon ones would have been too good but there are better examples, Shimano R600s would have been in keeping with the rest of the components. Our tester also has some comments on the components later...

Geometry

Every "off the peg" bike design is based on a set of assumptions; what the bike will be used for, how it will be ridden, what the 'normal' body sizes are for the expected population of riders, etc, etc. A triathlon or time trial bike has a different set of assumptions than, say, a conventional road bike or a tourer. We expect to see a steeper seat angle and a shorter wheelbase because we want to have the rider driving down through the bottom bracket -- possibly even slightly in front of it -- yet we don't want to push all the weight onto the front end because that will affect the handling.

When the Transition models first came out in 2005 the immediate impression was that, for the first time in a long while, a mass producer of bikes had actually been listening and taking notice. The geometry is, basically, spot on for the kind of rider that will be buying an "off the peg" machine. To be sure, it's not extreme -- but then we would not expect it to be -- but, compared to the opposition that it had back then, it was light years ahead. The obvious major competition would have been from Trek with their Equinox but, in 2005, that model was still suffering from the Armstrong influence and simply didn't have the urgency and responsiveness that was immediately apparent with the Transition. [Trek have since overhauled the Equinox design and we will be testing a 2007 version very soon.]

The Snake's Report

Initial impressions and set up

“Well – it certainly looks like a triathlon bike” I said to myself on receipt of the Specialized Transition Comp. A bike designed purely for fast flat or rolling bike courses, a bike begging for a dual carriage-way and some slow overtaking Caravans to help suck you along. You ride this bike alone, the only company you might have when training would be Pizza delivery scooters or The Prodigy telling you to Smack You Bitch Up and urging you on.

The steep seat angle and the extremely long aerobars (one wonders if Graeme Obree was involved with the design of these bars!) put your weight right over the front of the bottom bracket. Great for power transfer, not so great for cornering and appalling for group riding and comfort. But as soon as you climb onto the bike you know it’s been designed for one thing only, and as mentioned above and below, that is neither comfort nor group riding.

The bars took some time to get set-up correctly – this is time well spent. All your body weight is ushered through your shoulders and down through your elbows into the arm supports, so these need to be in exactly the right place.

With the shifters being at the end of the bars, most riders with normal length forearms might also want to cut down the overall length of the bars, just to be able to reach the shifters without having to lift the elbow. Again, easily done and really worthwhile.

The brake levers were little disappointing – they worked fine, but the little covers on the top rattled and rattled and always fell open. Until you see them in the flesh it will be difficult to imagine this, but trust me – it’s pretty annoying. Easily solved with a bit of BluTack, but who wants to BluTack their new bike?

I’ve heard a lot of talk about the Specialized range of saddles, but being a creature of habit I have been reluctant to change from my trusty SLR. This was my first ride on one and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. Support in the right places and not too much padding. There is even a little gap up the middle – de rigueur at the moment with saddle manufacturers. So, thumbs up for the saddle.

So what’s it like to ride?

This bike is an unequivocal racing bike – it was never meant to be comfortable. It is about getting from point to point in the minimum of time. If you buy this bike, you are serious about going as fast as possible, comfort is not a consideration. That said, once you are set up correctly, it is easy to relax and really put the power down. The aerobars take a degree of sting out of the road bumps, but because your weight is so far forward you do tend to get lifted of the saddle a bit on bumpy roads.

In testing the bike I performed a standard repeatable ‘benchmark’ test so we can get a measure of performance; one lap of Richmond Park, early in the morning before the cars are allowed in. For those who don’t know, Richmond Park is a challenging little loop with some seated climbing as well as some out of the saddle climbs.

I ride the lap at a specific sub-threshold heart-rate for consistency. In cooking terms, the effort level would be best described as ‘simmering’ rather than boiling. On the flats the Specialized just ate the ground up, due to the real ‘tuck’ position you assume, it encourages you to go for bigger gears than you might usually. Spinning gently is not what this bike is about. You find yourself clicking through the gears on the flat just pushing more and more till you hit the 53x12. So far so good…

Climbing is not as much of a breeze, however. The Mavic wheels look like they have been built for durability rather than responsive climbing (despite being called the Aksium Race) and it’s hard to maintain speed even up the smallest of rises when seated. Out of the saddle though, the bike climbs well. The small frame is easy to rock ‘BMX’ style between your knees and the handlebars really force your weight forward and over the pedals. Again, the wheels made it more work than necessary but, as we discuss later, if you are considering buying this bike, then changing the wheels will also be in your mind.

As a general point, when climbing on this bike out of the saddle, forget about changing gears. As with all dedicated aero bikes the shifters out front make life very difficult at any time when you not ‘tucked’ in.

So, the first line in the sand for the Tri247 bike test was… 16:27. This is about 30 seconds faster than my standard road bike at the same heart-rate. Some may have expected it to be faster, but it reflects the nature of the loop – and the climbing. I wonder how that will stand against some of the others to come?

Tri247 says…

The Specialized is a dedicated race bike. It really should be viewed as a second bike rather than one that can used for lots of training as well as racing. Put your training miles in on something more comfortable and group friendly, upgrade the wheels to something more racy and let rip. It’s a ‘point and shoot’ bike and once you have it set up will be a very fast and rewarding race bike. On flat or even rolling bike courses it will be one of the fastest out there.

Specialized do offer a more expensive model (Transition Expert) with lighter and allegedly more durable components. However, you have to wonder why you would want to spend the extra on that. The 105 performed faultlessly and if it is only to be used a pure race bike, the added durability of Dura Ace and Ultegra won’t be needed. [Note, the upgraded bike does have better wheels, Mavic’s Ksyrium Equipe, as well...]

Our advice? Buy this, the cheaper of the Transition range, and put the saved money into a wheel fund. Once you have a disk or some deep rims on this thing, there will be no excuses for not setting new PBs and recording fastest bike splits. At under £1500 it represents real value for money and more speed will only come by spending twice or three times as much. At the end of the day, compared to some fast wheels, how much quicker will a snazzy carbon chainset and some shiny brake calipers make you go?

Ok, they might look nicer, but hopefully people won’t get the chance to look for too long.