Home Gear Triathlon Gear

1st Bike

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

Comments

  • risris Posts: 1,002

    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.

  • Hmmm I've looked at them but decided apart from the carbon frame the cube seemed a better bike, it's just the Merida has a aero frame which sort of appeals. I've spent the last 3 weeks looking at bikes and keep changing my mind!!!
  • 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 

     

  • I'll definitely be fitting aero bars so you are probably right about the seat post.
Sign In or Register to comment.