I've done it twice. i built up a QR Kilo and then transferred some of the parts to a Cervelo P2K. Bought both frame/fork off ebay. $250 for the QR and stole the P2K for $450.

If you aren't in a hurry and are ebay savy you can build up a bike reasonably cheaply. Wheels are a big cost, but you can get a good set of used aero wheels from ebay for $300-400. Buy either discounted or used parts for the rest of the bike. If you have the frame/fork already you can easily build up a tri bike for under a grand.

1. be sure that the frame you have fits you.
2. depends on your definition of decent. If you wanted a round basebar, truly 105 components, etc. you could do it cheaply if you aren't in a huge rush.

I collected parts for over a year to finally get mine.

Dan
www.aiatriathlon.com

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http://www.aiatriathlon.com

my wife has been kicking ass on a bike that most people laugh at. an old columbus (steel) framed Enik (german built) frame, Campy Chorus (two vintages, 2005 + 1992 mixed), syntace aeros + nashbar pursuit bars, random wheels. people laugh openly when she wheels it into the TA, but not so openly when she blasts by them on the course (she's had a couple of top 3 AG placings on this bike this year, and did her first IM (WI) in 13:30 last year on it too. i want to seem them laugh when she starts riding either a new Aegis or a custom Spectrum Ti.

how much the bike will cost is entirely a function of how much you want to spend. i spent about $700 on components when she started using it. i replaced the rear wheel/derailleur/chain/aeros/shifters; what was there was basically very-good-by-1992 standards. if you have only the frame, the low end cost can be established by a quick visit to nashbar.com .... the high end cost is undefined.

visit chuckbikes.com. Last years 105 componentry at a good price. I built up an entire bike from him for $800. I took groupset off it when I bought my titanflex frame and fork.

If you're willing to ride stuff that's a few years old, you can get by very cheaply. I ride a Felt B2 that's probably 8-10 years old (?). I bought it for $500 on Ebay; it is a 650c wheel bike, has Dura Ace 8 speed components on it, Syntace bars, etc..it was all top flight stuff "back in the day".

It is light, fits me well, and this will be my second year racing on it. I just bought some cheap aero wheels for it.

I would like a nice fancy P3C, a Softride, or something else, but honestly, I probably wouldn't speed up appreciably and then I'd have "performance anxiety" about living up to the bike! :-)

I'm now working toward a new road bike for road racing. I'm fabricating the frame, I have a bunch of used Dura Ace 9 speed stuff for it (thanks to Bunnyman here), and I hope that the total cost will be about $500. I may put "SecondHand Racing" on the downtube. :-)

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Kendall Frederick

Orange Park, FL