1st Bike
medavidcook
Posts: 3
Hey,
how much would you reckon one should spend on a bike suitable for triathlon. I have been looking at packages from TriUK but not sure whether to go that route or by kit separately.
what are your thoughts?
David
0
Comments
what is your cycling background (if any). for those starting out in tri it is easy to get caught up in the whole 'tri-ness' of it all and start spending money on stuff that gets little used and eventually grows dusty in a corner.
there are quite a few ways to approach the sport depending on what you want to achieve, your background, budget and time. personally, i am a tight fisted git with a lot of hidden training time (commuting, mainly), so i used the cycle scheme to buy my bike(s) - starting with a road bike for commuting and ending up with another 18months later for commuting and racing (the first one becoming the winter hack).
i came from a meagre cycling background and raced with that first commuting road bike, which cost about £500 on the cyclescheme (great if your work offer it). it was perfectly adequate for my needs and i enjoyed my races a great deal. i bunged some very ugly second-hand aerobars on it, too.
after 6-7years of events i saved up some money and bought a £500 second hand tri bike, which with a few tweaks and a bike fit is doing a brilliant job.
personally i bought all my kit separately and spent time finding out what would work best for me and what my needs were. i'm happy to avoid buying things i don't really need or won't use much!
My first bike, a boardman from halfords, ended up being only 600 quid and its a superb bike.
its not as quick as the bike I now race with, but it was a tenth the price and I still ride it loads
I would avoid going crazy and spending a fortune, get a few races under your belt and see how competitive you are. There is no point spending thousands to save seconds if you are at the back of the field
unless you want a fancy bike of course
ok on the bike theme,,,i have a grand to spend on the cycle to work scheme and don't know if to get the Merida Reactor 300 or a Cube Peloton SL ??? Any advice greatly received.
how about a carbon boardman
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/boardman-road-team-carbon-bike
the best thing to do would demo ride then (if you can)
yeah, I suppose the Merida has an aero looking frame, but its not an aero frame really and aerodynamically I bet its no better than the cube, its a kilo heavier too
personally, between the two bikes, I would go for the cube, especially as it has a standard seat tube. You might want to change the seat post for one that brings the seat further forward if you decide to fit aero bars