Newbie Bike Choice help.

Martin.F

Hey everyone!

I participated in a triathlon earlier this year and would really like to get into it. Seeing as Christmas has just gone and with all the overtime payments coming in for working bank holidays I'd like to get myself a decent bike, only problem is I'm really new to this and I'm not sure which bike to get!

My price range is around £250-£300, but generally anything thats value for money around that. Another aspect is I'd like to participate in a local triathlon thats also off-road, so I don't think I should get a road bike, or am I wrong?

All help is much appreciated, and thanks for your time

Zacnici

Hi and welcome

Agree that the quickest way to wreck a road bike would be to do an off road triathlon with it and you would need an MTB. As for bikes can't help you there.
These may be of use to give a flavour:
http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/for ... &chklast=1
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/cgi-bin/gfo ... st=2388622
http://www.britishtriathlon.org/take-pa ... lity_mark=
http://www.xterraplanet.com/community/forums/forum/

Are you interested purely in off road tris or want to do both?

Martin.F

Thanks for the links

Its only 1 thats off road, I think I could use my old mountain bike for it and just power through. Most tris will probably be on road, but I cycle to work mainly on cycle paths that can be quite uneven and rough but mostly are tarmac.

Zacnici

In that case I would use your MTB both for the event and commutes. A road bike would be preferable for the other events, there was a post recently which may be a good starting point:
tt-v-road-bike-t51096.html

Good luck

Zacnici

Oh yes - also this
http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/best-r ... 500.73919/
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... p=16923162

Also hook up with a tri club, you'll get good advice and possibly pick up a decent 2nd hand bike

LancsRider

My gut reaction is to shop around and buy a ten year old second hand MTB with solid front forks something like an Orange P7 which you will get for arounf £100 to £150. There were a lot of good quality off road x-country race bikes around such as this, I know I have one in my garage and you are not having it, and they are bomb proof but in an all suspension age simply not fashionable. Get it serviced new chain/casette, tyres, brake blocks etc... And buy a pair of alternative slick tyres for the road. I am sure you can do this in budget with a bit of effort

If at some point in the future you want to move on you will get 80% of your money back on this purchase to go on a better set up be it road or off road. Go out and buy a new £300 bike and give it a bit of stick and you would do well to see £75 in a year or so!

Martin.F

Sorry for the late reply been up to my neck in exams!

All replies were greatly appreciated thanks everyone, nice to see such a friendly community! I've bookmarked all the links and will be signing up to some stuff soon

As far as the bike choice is concerned I'm still a little stumped. Im not really bike tech savvy so I figure it'll be a lot easier and safer for me just to buy a brand new one. I've been looking at this bike:
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/gar ... 58#reviews
and http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165534
for some time now, any thoughts or comments?

bert69bert

I was gutted when i bought a flat bar hybrid bike when i first started in Triathlon. From experience i wish now that i had bought a road bike straight off and saved some money. £300 will get you a half decent second hand road bike on e-bay if your patient.

Recomend that you go to your local bike shop and try a few out for size, you will then know what type of thing you are looking for. Getting an ill fitting bike can cause you all sorts of problems, expecially when you start doing some serious distances (50-60+miles which may seem far now but wont in a couple of months) and also be a waste of money.

Not sure where you live but one of my club members is selling a Large frame CAAD 9 £350 (Which he has completed two IM's on Lanzarote and Wales and is now upgrading)

jcs356

As an alternative for buying second hand, have you checked if your employer does a bike to work scheme? If so, and you're planning to stick with the same job, you could get yourself a £500 plus bike for your £300 budget, paid for over 12 months via salary sacrifice. That should just about scrape you into entry level road bikes from the big brands like Trek, Specialized etc.

If you get into Tri's big style in the future, your entry level road bike will make a great training/winter bike when you treat yourself to some carbon-fibre bling

Martin.F

Been shopping around for second hand bikes and I'll definitely have a look at the bike scheme from work Cheers guys!

Last but not least, been told its best to buy an expensive cycling top than waste money on cheap ones that don't last.. any suggestions for a website or supplier ?

jcs356

No problem Martin.

Hmm, cycling kit. I've got mates who will only ever ride in Assos - that's fine if you don't mind blowing £150 on a jersey! I take a more realistic view and tend to rummage through the bargain rails - being a size small I can often find stuff cheap. And if you're not bothered about being 'trendy' or riding in the 2012 team kit you can get last year's stuff cheap - e.g. early last year from PBK I got two pairs of Pearl Izumi team bibshorts and a full zip jersey, all in the defunct Garmin Transitions colours, for £55. That was about £250 worth of kit for £55. If you do go for team kit, try to get stuff made by the actual team sponsor and not someone like Nalini who just do replicas. Oh, another tip if you're anywhere near an Adidas outlet shop, they are currently selling 2010 Team Sky kit half price. Only visible difference with the current stuff is the absence of the red IG Markets logo.

The DHB brand from Wiggle (their own brand) I've found is pretty consistent stuff - and often a bargain even at full price. They definitely deliver a lot for the money as can be seen by them regularly getting recommendations from cycling mags.

Finally, if their is a TKMax near you, worth a visit. I've recently found 2XU tri/cycling kit; Craft running and Orca cycling kit there. As with anything TKMax it's hit and miss, but worth a rummage if you're passing.

Jules

Or you can spend £12 at Aldi or Lidl when they have their cycling special deals on. Look out on their website. I've got a £12 Aldi top and it's fine.

If you've only got £350 for a bike, have you got the cash for top quality cycling gear anyway? I'd buy cheaper stuff and put the savings towards your bike.