Looking for a little guidance for buying triathlon bike...

[slicendice]

Hi!
Bit of a newbie here and I'm after some advice on what bike to buy (yep...another "what shall i buy" thread!)

Last year I did my first triathlon and I'm doing another one this year. I don't actually own a road bike, so I borrowed an old heap from a friend for last year's event. I would be able to borrow it again for this year's event, but it's an ancient old bone shaker that weighs a ton and feels like it's going to come apart at any second!

So I'd like to invest in a bike for myself! Now I'm no professional (cyclist or triathlete!) so I really don't need the bees knees, top of the range, mega lightweight carbon fibre uber slinky hot wheels type bike! Well....it would be nice, but the cost is prohibitive - so I'm having to aim my sights somewhat lower.

I'm not going to be cycling every hour of the day or entering the Tour De France or anything like that, but I will be doing triathlons in the future and doing some reasonably regular training. Like I say, I don't need top of the range, but at the same time I don't want to get the cheapest of the cheap and end up with some gear crunching lump of metal.

In terms of budget, I was hoping to get away with around £400, but having seen the price of road bikes I realise I may have to up this to nearer £500. Does anyone have any recommendations as to what might be a good starter bike that won't break the bank but is of reasonable quality? I'd be happy to buy second hand, but as I'm not too well up on what would be a good buy and what wouldn't, I'm a bit cautious about going down this road.

Thanks very much...

 

[Will1985]

First rule of advice, ignore any post which bonj puts up containing a full carbon speed machine like a Quintana Roo! Having said that, your username would be suited to a Cannondale Slice!

Firstly, I would change what you are looking for - a road bike will do for starters, and there are plenty in the range you are looking at. If you want to do any draft-legal triathlons, you would need a road bike fitted with clip-ons anyway.

Places to look: eBay, classifieds sections on web fora, 2007/8 bikes which shops are doing a good deal on. Cycling+ has been doing a few bits recently on budget bikes. Examples of good but vfm bikes are Bianchi via Nirone, Giant SCR, Specialized Allez, Trek 1.2.

For triathlon, you can push the saddle forward on the rails. If you want clip-on tribars, take a look at the Profile range which seem to be very popular.

If you don't have clipless shoes, I strongly recommend getting a pair of them too.

 

[andy_wrx]

I'd agree.

If you were in a position (& budget !) to be buying two bikes, then I'd recommend a full-on TT/triathlon bike as your dedicated race bike, plus a road bike as training bike.

But if you're only getting one bike, I wouldn't recommend a full-on race TT/triathlon bike, with lo-profile bars and bar-end shifting, etc : such a bike is going to be fast as a race bike but is not going to be at all comfortable for general riding and not suitable for any sort of group riding, if you were to join your local tri or bike club.

So yes, a general road bike, something like Spesh Allez, Trek 1.2 or Giant Defy, which you can fit clip-on aerobars to if you want

 

[slicendice]

Thanks for the info Andy/Will. It's actually a road bike I'm looking for....sorry for the slightly misleading title! A tri bike would be lots of fun I'm sure, but unless I win the lottery or become an expert safe cracker, the chances of me being able to afford such a bike are slim!

Just out of interest, have you (or anyone for that matter!) heard of Vitus bikes?? I've been pointed in the direction of this link:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=38414

Seems like a reasonably well spec'd bike for the price (to my amateur eyes) - I know it doesn't have the latest and greatest Tiagra etc, but for a beginner it seems OK. The two things that worry me slightly are firstly that it's about £100 cheaper than most other reasonable starter bikes (e.g. Trek 1.2) and secondly I can find virtually nothing about Vitus bikes on the web. Seems like they're a French company who were big in the 70's and 80's but other than that, info is sparse. Be very interested to hear if anyone has any info, or better still experience, of Vitus bikes.