As a guy who built his bike with swap meet parts, take my advice with a grain of salt.

You should be fine going that route. I would recommend that you use this alloy build with the "sweet" parts as a stepping stone to your next frame, though. This will allow you to make the more expensive bits and pieces buy right now, giving you excellent parts that you can switch over to your next frame (presumably carbon). I did the exact same thing, but my path to where I am now wasn't as well thought out as yours : ) Mine was more a matter of buying a cheap tri bike/road bike conversion for my first oly, but making sure it had decent stuff to move over to my next frame.

....However, there is a trend these days that has been changing the basic shape of some bikes. As a result, the "off the shelf" parts like stems, base bars aero bars etc, have become much more tied to the original frameset. That would be one thing you would need to think through before your build and buy. If you buy the separate parts now, it may cobble some of your attempts to upgrade later.

Is this a tri bike? Other than some older Treks, there's no a lot of aluminum tri bikes out there. But I do agree, going with a cheaper from now with a good cockpit and maybe midgrade components and a good power meter is the best value. Get a good front race wheel and then a disc over on a powertap rear wheel and you have the ultimate bargain set-up.

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So you are considering compromising on a frame to improve the components? I personally would not go that route. The frame is the most important part of what's underneath you. You can always incrementally upgrade components later, but if you are unhappy with your frame you will need a complete reboot.

True, but it might also depend on his budget. If the frame price is a complete barrier to entry, then going with stellar parts with the intent to upgrade later would be prudent.

Most importantly; how does the alu frame fit you? If you managed to find a scrappy old metal frame that fits you like a dream, then that's the best scenario of what you've described. There are lots of guys who ride super bikes that just don't fit them very well. Sure, you can dial that in with stems and risers and stuff, but frame fit is really hard to fake if the frame isn't meant for your frame.

Also, how old is this alu frame? My kestrel's from 2003, and it's still carbon.

It's nothing yet. Here's the story, I wrecked my Alu tt bike a couple years ago, have my old road bike with a tt cockpit now. Got a new job and it's toy time. Budget is flexible but in the 2k-2.5k at MAX, preferably lower as that would take me past this season to next season. So I figured at that rate the savings from a carbon frame like say a new QR kilo at 1800, I could go Kestrl Talon, or a true TT bike that's alloy for just as cheap and nearly as light for the 1-1300 range and trick it out with several hundred dollars of wheels and upgrades

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I still lapped everyone on the couch!

What is your goal? Is it to build the fastest bike you can within a given budget, or maximize the cool features within a budget? (Or something in between?)

If I were you, I would develop a prioritized list of Performance, Price, and Future Upgrade Cost for the major components you might build up. If performance is your priority,I would focus on the components that are highest performance and also more costly to upgrade later. For example, if you bought a cheap $500 frame now, but you could also have chosen a better performing frame for $700, then I would prioritize the more expensive frame. My reasoning is that a future frame upgrade is obviously far more involved, and it is likely you would recover little to no value from the original cheap frame. So, your long term total frame cost would end up at $1,200.

Flip the similar logic to the wheels... a basic set of road wheels for $100 now (or use an existing set for free), or you could spend $1,000 on a set of carbon deep dish wheels. While the wheel purchase would have a strong performance benefit, it is also almost no negative impact for a future upgrade. So, I would de-prioritize the wheels in the initial build.

So, it it were my personal economic and performance analysis, this is the order in which I would invest in performance components.

1) Frame - moderate performance impact but very expensive to future upgrade
2) Cockpit - high performance impact and low negative impact to future upgrade
3) Wheels - high performance impact and low future upgrade impact
4) Drivetrain - low performance impact (high gadget or coolness factor), and low future upgrade impact

I would stay away from forged carbon frames... ;-)

If you can get something like an old p3 or p2 and the frame was a good fit, that would be a fine base. I wouldn't go nuts on the components either.

I'm still riding an old alu soloist from 2004 with maybe 60,000 miles on it though, so what do I know. People ask when I'm going to go carbon and I ask them why would I do that when I already have a perfectly good bike. I suppose some day I'll wear it out so I should probably look for one on ebay as a backup/replacement.

Basically my goal is to get more speed for less. It's not my first TT bike, and I was perfectly happy on my BMC before the concrete had other ideas. Sure I'd "like" carbon but I have a hard time justifying spending 500+ on a used frame and putting some old components I already have on it when new Tiagra groupsets are lighter than the 105's I'm running now. I also have a hard time justifying spending the money to buy and build a used frame when I hardly save any money compared to entry level stuff like a Kestrel Talon or some of the surviving alloys like the Felt or Triad. There are some clearance carbon models that do well... But they are far and few in between and anything cheap is going to be running all 10 speed drive trans making it hard to upgrade, or replace with anything better than Apex/Tiagra as things need to be replaced. So that brings us to spending 1900+ on a new carbon from an LBS. My hypothesis is that I would be just as fast, if not faster with a pair of race wheels (maybe even gasp... carbon zone ones), along with an all carbon cockpit, and a brand new aero helmet, probably all done for less, and maybe even lighter than say that $1900 QR Kilo.

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I still lapped everyone on the couch!

I'd just like to make it clear that you are obviously planning to buy a metal frame because it will make it harder to detect the motor you will put in the seat tube. You are a cheater. No one should answer any of your questions. Ever.

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The hard part here is that when it comes to alloy, the only place you can really get a GOOD alloy frame is on the road side. There just aren't many (any?) cheap-but-good tri frames that are alloy anymore. On the road side, the Specialized Allez is an AMAZING frame at any price, let alone the price they sell it for. It bests a lot of their carbon frames in stiffness measures. It's truly a phenomenal frame. There's just no equivalent on the tri side where you get something that's as good or better in terms of stiffness (or, more relevant for tri, aero) as a composite frame for a fraction of the price. Especially since the frame itself is more important than wheels, I'd save money on wheels, not on the frame.

If you want to save money, go 1X. SRAM Force1 complete groupset is a steal. THAT (1X) is the best example today of the "how can I save money and get something that's as-good/better while doing it." Personally, I choose 1X over eTap. I realize it's not for everyone. But I think it's for more people than realize it. And it's for sure a money saver.

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

The problem I forsee is that alloy isn't really a cheaper option than CF anymore. If you want something comparable to your standard CF TT bike in alloy you are looking at say the Spec Allez Sprint. That's $2k for the cheapest full build or $1k for the frameset. Many of the major companies have stopped making alloy TT bikes because they are as expensive to manufacturer as similar CF versions. If you can get an old Trek equinox ect. you might end up better off but it isn't going to be that easy to find the right frame.

How did you know?! Maybe I can win Paris Roubaix. I actually am riding an old allez right now with my old tt cockpit and 105 group set on it, wth the seat post up and very forward. A friend is supposed to loan me a fast forward seatpost. But this is a temporary fix at best. I'm just looking to save a buck without compromising too much speed. About ten times a day I go from buyig name brand minimalist from an lbs to getting "Chinese super bike with my name painted on it and a di2 system with a flo disc wheel and 90mm front!"

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I still lapped everyone on the couch!

And everything in between...

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I still lapped everyone on the couch!

I love my Allez Sprint, and sing it's praises as a road/crit bike. But it is not a good candidate for a TT bike. Putting that much weight that far forward on this bike would probably lead to an evil handing bike at best. Just because it has a short head tube doesn't mean it will make a good TT bike.

Actually the handling Has been good. But again, temp solution at best as it's currently my only steed. It works for now though

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I still lapped everyone on the couch!

I think this also boils down to a short-term versus long-term purchase decision. I think you would be faster this year if you bought a dirt cheap frame and then spent the money on a hot carbon cockpit, fly aero helmet, and slick carbon race wheels. But then, you would have pretty much spent throw-away dollars on the frame if you wanted any further speed upgrades in a year or two.

If you wanted to spend the least possible money longer term to get the fastest bike in a year or two, then that is a different component purchase priority for this year.

10-4 and good to know.

With the available options for the seatpost (it's the same as the VIAS seatpost and they made a ton of options for that) it might not be a bad bike.

Kinda hoping Specialized makes the Allez Sprint track bike they made for Red Hook available. I really want a fixed bike that I can switch between a TT and Road track position. Don't really have a use for it, but it would be massively fun.

I was shopping last year with the same budget. Except I wasn't looking for aluminum.

I know it's not likely, but if you aren't in a rush, you can find sales or old stock and likely get a decent carbon bike in this range. I just found the receipt for my Felt B12. With tax, I paid $2,164 for it and that was with a new ISM saddle (I did get it at a steal). Yeah, you likely can't get new wheels, but the TTr3 wheels that come with it aren't horrible for aluminum wheels. And you aren't getting a power meter. But like some others have said, alloy isn't that much cheaper and new wheels and a power meter are going to take up that whole 2k budget anyway.

I'd personally look at lower end carbon (Felt b14, QR Kilo, Maybe even a deal on a P2). It's not like Dura Ace weight savings over 105 is that big of a deal in a TT bike. I'd rather start out with a better frame than save grams.

A huge part of it is long term vs short term. If I go with low end carbon I might have to wait till August, and anything mid grade would even be off season and I'd be riding my ghetto rigged allez.

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I still lapped everyone on the couch!

I'm not really big on power meters. If I were to get one it would be one of the cheaper, barely reliable ones. I'm actually an exercise physiologist and can do a lot with a little data.

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I still lapped everyone on the couch!

Isn't the new P2 about $2500? You can update the cockpit and wheels in the future. I suspect the P2 is faster than the QRoo.

That would have me buying off season. Which is a valid choice, but a tough pill to swallow

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I still lapped everyone on the couch!

Just pick up an old slice frame 2009-2012, they are so cheap now. The bike is super fast, not sure how compatible it is with di2. Realistically though, if you're getting an alloy frame it probably isn't di2 ready anyway. Old Slice frames are super cheap and they are fast as can be. I definitely wouldn't skimp on the frame, that's the basis of everything. If anything you can somewhat skip on the groupset, as long as it's 105 and up on the shimano side, you're good to go. Get an old sram carbon crank and you'll be murdering bike splits.

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Team Zoot 2023

Absolutely nothing wrong with aluminum! The CAAD10, CAAD12, Specialized Allez, and BMC GF02s are all amazing bikes. I own a BMC GF02 as well as a BMC SLC01 Pro Machine and love both. The GF02 is an amazing bike and very comfortable on longer rides. A lot of crit racers I know are going to the CAAD10 or Allez. Aluminum is the new carbon!

It sounds like budget it tight this year and will likely remain tight in the years to come. So, here is how I would approach it...

I would create a 3-year plan toward getting the ideal bike I could three years from now with the total spend I would likely be able to afford over three years. Then, I would weigh that against my desire to have an upgrade bike for this triathlon season.

Path 1: Best possible bike three years from now, and you could survive on existing equipment this season. Optimize your first major purchases as you find best values, centering on the best frame. It might mean you do not get a bike until the fall.

Path 2: Best possible bike in three years, and also want a better bike for this year, then consider one of two possible sub-options...
A) Buy a solid frame now and build on that, or
B) Buy a dirt cheap used bike that you could resell later with minimal loss and follow #1 above

Path 3: Best possible bike now, for this season. Buy the cheapest acceptable frame, and then add fast wheels and cockpit. But this burns you long term.