Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [T2LV] [ In reply to ]

Sep 16, 20 20:54

Post #26 of 85 (1402 views)

T2LV wrote:

As far as showing up to a triathlon with a mountain bike. I assume he's a beginner and wouldn't bat an eye. Seeing a 15hour finisher on a 5-10k triathlon bike.....that is what I call ridiculous, not the beginner on a mountain/hybrid bike.

Absolutely. Plenty of guys that are 40lbs overweight showing up at 13mph group rides on a Dogma with full Team Sky kit, but are those really the people we want to attract to the sport?

I'd much rather see a passionate teenager on a MTB, or a 30ish soccer mom fighting off the "baby weight" by committing to doing an Oly or a HIM on a low end Trek with Sora components, or a kid from the inner city who learned to wrench on a Schwinn with downtube shifters and swims in the public pool. These are, in my opinion, the people who embody the spirit of the sport...and the ones who will find a way to upgrade gear if they stick with it. Every sport has enough douchebags with deep pockets and more equipment than skill, is that really what we're short on here?

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [Parkland] [ In reply to ]

Sep 16, 20 21:24

Post #27 of 85 (1390 views)

Parkland wrote:

I buy my bikes like I buy my guitars, gently used.
2 year old Cervelo P2: $500
3 year old trek domane: $500
2 year old Rolf wheelset: $250

You can’t convince me a bike is worth what companies are charging unless you use it as your primary transportation to and from your job, or if you are a professional cyclist, triathlete, etc.

I just seached a bunch of cities on Craigslist and didn't find any 2 year old P2's for less than 2k, where do you find stuff that cheap?

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [T2LV] [ In reply to ]

Sep 16, 20 21:33

Post #28 of 85 (1384 views)

T2LV wrote:

As far as showing up to a triathlon with a mountain bike. I assume he's a beginner and wouldn't bat an eye. Seeing a 15hour finisher on a 5-10k triathlon bike.....that is what I call ridiculous, not the beginner on a mountain/hybrid bike.

Come on man - you KNOW the price of the bike usually has very little to do with the speed of the competitor with the exception of the top few competitors.

You want the most expensive bikes? Just go down to the oldest large age group, which is typically either 50-55 or 55-60, men or female. It's a function of them being in the highest earning (and thus highest disposable) income bracket, not how fast they are.

I've always felt like I've been trying to do tri on as low a budget as possible in but for sure I'm hitting that cusp of age now at M45 and upwards where I actually have disposable income for the first time in my life, and I'm also seeing the reality that with my early arthritis I will not be able to do tri deep into my lifespan, so I'm starting to eyeball that nice luxury-priced bike since I probably don't have a ton more time to use it down the road. That decision would have zero to do with my speed (or lack thereof!)

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [slower] [ In reply to ]

Sep 16, 20 21:35

Post #29 of 85 (1382 views)

slower wrote:

Parkland wrote:

I buy my bikes like I buy my guitars, gently used.
2 year old Cervelo P2: $500
3 year old trek domane: $500
2 year old Rolf wheelset: $250

You can’t convince me a bike is worth what companies are charging unless you use it as your primary transportation to and from your job, or if you are a professional cyclist, triathlete, etc.

I just seached a bunch of cities on Craigslist and didn't find any 2 year old P2's for less than 2k, where do you find stuff that cheap?

Maybe he meant he got a 2005 P2 in 2007?

Don't mean to answer for someone else, but there are plenty of older Cervelo P2s...mostly aluminum, but some carbon...in the $500-1000ish range, along with the entry level Felts, QRs, etc, in that ballpark. And the bike we love to sneer at, the Bikesdirect Motobecanes, are available brand new, fairly well spec'd, for $500-1200 or so, and are plenty good for even an amateur to snag a podium spot on, if they're willing to put the work in.

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/tri_bikes.htm

And if you're just entering the sport and are held back by a light, fast, Ultegra equipped dedicated triathlon bike with reasonably aero wheels, you need a sponsor more than you need a deal on a bike.

Last edited by: dpd3672: Sep 16, 20 21:36

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [Parkland] [ In reply to ]

Sep 16, 20 21:50

Post #30 of 85 (1373 views)

Yes MTB is worse than Road/Tri at this point, but the whole industry has gone absolutely crazy. i'm only 41 yrs old, but started mtb in the mid 90's. i remember reading Bicycling and mountainbikeAction when magazines were still a thing. the top end bikes were $3k, maybe superbikes at 4k, but i dont remember anything more than 5K (other than beryllium bike but that was a joke). entry level race worthy bike probably around $700, with most racers on a bike from 1-2k. just look here, top end '95 bike , comments say $2100. XTR, kooka cranks, hydraulic maguras https://www.pinkbike.com/...ike-1995-gt-lts.html Certainly inflation cannot account for a 5x price hike in 25 years (hated economics, could it?) I'm pretty sure the bike industry, in the last 10 years or so, has realized that we are suckers. people will pay 10k for bike, why not try 11k? hey that worked! lets try 12k! thank God for ebay, pro's closet etc.... i have probably spent 20k on bikes over the last 20 years, but instead of 2 bikes, i have 15 in my basement, all of a quality that i would race on, whether road, tri, CX, mtb,fat, or bikepacking. to those who are financially lucky enough to spend 10k on a bike at any given moment, you are killing the rest of us! the trickle down tech effect is not happening, it's the opposite. just read a pinkbike review on a 7k bike with GX components. that's like 105 level components, which in my brain should be on a 1-2k bike right? is there anyone out there that thinks 105 level components belong on a 3-4k bike, let alone 7k? like i said, the industry has gone crazy and we (consumers) have allowed it to happen.

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [dpd3672] [ In reply to ]

Sep 17, 20 4:35

Post #31 of 85 (1308 views)

dpd3672 wrote:

T2LV wrote:

As far as showing up to a triathlon with a mountain bike. I assume he's a beginner and wouldn't bat an eye. Seeing a 15hour finisher on a 5-10k triathlon bike.....that is what I call ridiculous, not the beginner on a mountain/hybrid bike.

Absolutely. Plenty of guys that are 40lbs overweight showing up at 13mph group rides on a Dogma with full Team Sky kit, but are those really the people we want to attract to the sport?

I'd much rather see a passionate teenager on a MTB, or a 30ish soccer mom fighting off the "baby weight" by committing to doing an Oly or a HIM on a low end Trek with Sora components, or a kid from the inner city who learned to wrench on a Schwinn with downtube shifters and swims in the public pool. These are, in my opinion, the people who embody the spirit of the sport...and the ones who will find a way to upgrade gear if they stick with it. Every sport has enough douchebags with deep pockets and more equipment than skill, is that really what we're short on here?

I think we want to attract those people to the sport, it doesn't mean they'll be riding in your group. Perhaps you didn't really mean it but that's a pretty snooty attitude.

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [dpd3672] [ In reply to ]

Sep 17, 20 4:48

Post #32 of 85 (1303 views)

dpd3672 wrote:

T2LV wrote:

As far as showing up to a triathlon with a mountain bike. I assume he's a beginner and wouldn't bat an eye. Seeing a 15hour finisher on a 5-10k triathlon bike.....that is what I call ridiculous, not the beginner on a mountain/hybrid bike.

Absolutely. Plenty of guys that are 40lbs overweight showing up at 13mph group rides on a Dogma with full Team Sky kit, but are those really the people we want to attract to the sport?

I'd much rather see a passionate teenager on a MTB, or a 30ish soccer mom fighting off the "baby weight" by committing to doing an Oly or a HIM on a low end Trek with Sora components, or a kid from the inner city who learned to wrench on a Schwinn with downtube shifters and swims in the public pool. These are, in my opinion, the people who embody the spirit of the sport...and the ones who will find a way to upgrade gear if they stick with it. Every sport has enough douchebags with deep pockets and more equipment than skill, is that really what we're short on here?

Douchebags aside, I'll say that in the current state of affairs with how much new road / tt bike cost, we will definitely alienate the vast majority of all those 'desirable' folks you are talking about in tri.

Aside from the truly diehard ones that will literally live and die for the joy of doing triathlon (which is common on ST but rare outside it), most real trinewbies who race on a mtn bike etc, will think about taking it to the next step, see the price of an 'entry' level 105 bike purchased at a normal bike store (not online where you can't even sit on it before plunking down the cash) and say 'nope. Gonna do an obstacle course or half marathon instead.'

I'm honestly tired of all these 'just buy used' and 'Motobecane sells for $1200' so there's no real cost barrier in tri. The typical tri newbie who isn't already big into bikes, has NO INTEREST in the hassle of buying a used bike and just as terrified of wasting their money buy dropping $1200 for an online bike that they don't even know fits properly. Many of them don't even know what 105 components are (watch Lucy Charles interview when she talks about her utter cluelessness about bikes and components even during training for her 1st IM) and now we want them to know size, stack, components, AND be able judge wear and condition on the used marketplace? Seriously? I can wrench my entire bike top to bottom and the hassle of forcing me to buy used is nearly enough to make me quit triathlon if you forced me to do that for my next bike!

If we want to be elitest and only want those that are going to most passionately do tri as their main activity, then sure, the more barriers the better. To me, that's pretty dumb - we should make the sport as inclusive as possible and as fun as possible, and one way to quickly kill the joy in the sport is to realize that the upgrade path to an entry-level TT bike at your local LBS is often north of $2k nowadays.

Last edited by: lightheir: Sep 17, 20 4:51

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [lightheir] [ In reply to ]

Sep 17, 20 5:10

Post #33 of 85 (1285 views)

FWIW, this is not new, these same feelings were present when I was a junior racer in the mid-90s (doing bicycle racing . . . these same issues apply). I've always felt it was the governing bodies that should do something about it.

Dimond Bikes Superfan

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [slower] [ In reply to ]

Sep 17, 20 5:40

Post #34 of 85 (1265 views)

Some of them might be scams, but I just went through 5 major cities in Texas on Craigslist and saw quite a few bikes that should be enough for most entry level athletes. Houston and Dallas in particular.

With that said, I do almost all of my own wrenching and even built my current bike, but there is almost no way I will buy new unless it is last years model and on sale. I have a new (to me) bike arriving tomorrow, but I have access to almost all of the components I am going to need for it. While some snob may wrinkle his forehead because the model number has a zero instead of a one, an alien would have a hard time differentiating the parts. I get that bike manufacturers need to make money. But come on! 7 grams lighter here, new colors there, swapped a carbon steel bolt for a stainless one, or even a titanium one, then labeling it "The New Improved Version." Or putting a fancy smancy plastic coating on a cable because your wittle thumbsy wumbsby isn't strong enough to overcome the friction of it rubbing against the cable housing when you shift the TT shifter.

Hell, if it were up to me, I would kick the derailleur with my foot until the chain got on the right gear.

The more people I encounter the more I love my cats.

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [dpd3672] [ In reply to ]

Sep 17, 20 5:47

Post #35 of 85 (1261 views)

dpd3672 wrote:

T2LV wrote:

As far as showing up to a triathlon with a mountain bike. I assume he's a beginner and wouldn't bat an eye. Seeing a 15hour finisher on a 5-10k triathlon bike.....that is what I call ridiculous, not the beginner on a mountain/hybrid bike.

Absolutely. Plenty of guys that are 40lbs overweight showing up at 13mph group rides on a Dogma with full Team Sky kit, but are those really the people we want to attract to the sport?

I'd much rather see a passionate teenager on a MTB, or a 30ish soccer mom fighting off the "baby weight" by committing to doing an Oly or a HIM on a low end Trek with Sora components, or a kid from the inner city who learned to wrench on a Schwinn with downtube shifters and swims in the public pool. These are, in my opinion, the people who embody the spirit of the sport...and the ones who will find a way to upgrade gear if they stick with it. Every sport has enough douchebags with deep pockets and more equipment than skill, is that really what we're short on here?

Wow, really? That's a bit harsh. At least you didn't use the word 'dentist'.
Those old fat guys on Dogma's help keep the industry alive, help your LBS survive, and good for them for getting off the couch.

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [SBRcanuck] [ In reply to ]

Sep 17, 20 5:51

Post #36 of 85 (1254 views)

SBRcanuck wrote:

Those old fat guys on Dogma's help keep the industry alive

I particularly like it when they upgrade and I can browse through their hand-me-downs.

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [lightheir] [ In reply to ]

Sep 17, 20 6:19

Post #37 of 85 (1237 views)

lightheir wrote:

dpd3672 wrote:

T2LV wrote:

As far as showing up to a triathlon with a mountain bike. I assume he's a beginner and wouldn't bat an eye. Seeing a 15hour finisher on a 5-10k triathlon bike.....that is what I call ridiculous, not the beginner on a mountain/hybrid bike.

Absolutely. Plenty of guys that are 40lbs overweight showing up at 13mph group rides on a Dogma with full Team Sky kit, but are those really the people we want to attract to the sport?

I'd much rather see a passionate teenager on a MTB, or a 30ish soccer mom fighting off the "baby weight" by committing to doing an Oly or a HIM on a low end Trek with Sora components, or a kid from the inner city who learned to wrench on a Schwinn with downtube shifters and swims in the public pool. These are, in my opinion, the people who embody the spirit of the sport...and the ones who will find a way to upgrade gear if they stick with it. Every sport has enough douchebags with deep pockets and more equipment than skill, is that really what we're short on here?

Douchebags aside, I'll say that in the current state of affairs with how much new road / tt bike cost, we will definitely alienate the vast majority of all those 'desirable' folks you are talking about in tri.

Aside from the truly diehard ones that will literally live and die for the joy of doing triathlon (which is common on ST but rare outside it), most real trinewbies who race on a mtn bike etc, will think about taking it to the next step, see the price of an 'entry' level 105 bike purchased at a normal bike store (not online where you can't even sit on it before plunking down the cash) and say 'nope. Gonna do an obstacle course or half marathon instead.'

I'm honestly tired of all these 'just buy used' and 'Motobecane sells for $1200' so there's no real cost barrier in tri. The typical tri newbie who isn't already big into bikes, has NO INTEREST in the hassle of buying a used bike and just as terrified of wasting their money buy dropping $1200 for an online bike that they don't even know fits properly. Many of them don't even know what 105 components are (watch Lucy Charles interview when she talks about her utter cluelessness about bikes and components even during training for her 1st IM) and now we want them to know size, stack, components, AND be able judge wear and condition on the used marketplace? Seriously? I can wrench my entire bike top to bottom and the hassle of forcing me to buy used is nearly enough to make me quit triathlon if you forced me to do that for my next bike!

If we want to be elitest and only want those that are going to most passionately do tri as their main activity, then sure, the more barriers the better. To me, that's pretty dumb - we should make the sport as inclusive as possible and as fun as possible, and one way to quickly kill the joy in the sport is to realize that the upgrade path to an entry-level TT bike at your local LBS is often north of $2k nowadays.

you can still go to the lsb and buy a nice rrb in the $1k range nowadays, for example the cannondale optimo line

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [brunes83] [ In reply to ]

Sep 17, 20 6:26

Post #38 of 85 (1227 views)

I have an old Felt DA 4 I got on sale years ago for $2700 and I currently train on it. In the past year I bought a new Felt B14 (which fits and Im faster on than the DA4) for $1400.00 along with some new old stock HED jet plus 9's. A new old stock Felt Doctrine MTB for $1200 and lastly a new Felt FR road bike for a whopping $1200.
Im just as fast and happy on these as I would be on uber expensive bikes. Probably more so since Im not afraid to actually ride them and risk damaging the investment. LOL

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [brunes83] [ In reply to ]

Sep 17, 20 6:27

Post #39 of 85 (1227 views)

Purchased Feb 2020:
$1,100 - 2017 Cervelo P3 Frameset (new online)
$140 - DP base and aero bars (new)
$400 - Di2 Groupset, Ultegra (used, purchased from ST)
$100 - Di2 TT shifters (Used, ST again)
$100 - Saddle (Used, ST yet again)
$495 - Power2max Power meter (new, full crankset with aero rings)
$300 - Misc (hydration setup, storage, cassette, bottom bracket, all new)
$100 - Misc tools (built it myself, had to buy a few smaller items but most I already had)

So that's like $2700 with ~20% of that being the power meter. I had wheels already. I think I could have stayed close to $2k if I really hunted out parts from Ebay and found more sales but not with the PM, that put me over. Got a quote from where I got my fit (another $300 for the fit if you want to throw that in) for $3300 for a similar frame (2018, same model) with Di2 but NO power meter, no accessories, no wheels, so I'd like to think I saved over $1500 by doing it myself and learned a ton.

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [dpd3672] [ In reply to ]

Sep 17, 20 6:32

Post #40 of 85 (1225 views)

dpd3672 wrote:

Absolutely. Plenty of guys that are 40lbs overweight showing up at 13mph group rides on a Dogma with full Team Sky kit, but are those really the people we want to attract to the sport?

WTF, who cares? Just because someone has/spends money and isn't in great shape doesn't mean they shouldn't be welcomed into the cycling or tri community. Personally, I'd rather have someone like that show up to my group ride than an elitist asshole who rides fast or the douche riding a TT bike in a group ride.

Last edited by: hobbyjogger: Sep 17, 20 6:33

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [SBRcanuck] [ In reply to ]

Sep 17, 20 6:37

Post #41 of 85 (1216 views)

SBRcanuck wrote:

dpd3672 wrote:

T2LV wrote:

As far as showing up to a triathlon with a mountain bike. I assume he's a beginner and wouldn't bat an eye. Seeing a 15hour finisher on a 5-10k triathlon bike.....that is what I call ridiculous, not the beginner on a mountain/hybrid bike.

Absolutely. Plenty of guys that are 40lbs overweight showing up at 13mph group rides on a Dogma with full Team Sky kit, but are those really the people we want to attract to the sport?

I'd much rather see a passionate teenager on a MTB, or a 30ish soccer mom fighting off the "baby weight" by committing to doing an Oly or a HIM on a low end Trek with Sora components, or a kid from the inner city who learned to wrench on a Schwinn with downtube shifters and swims in the public pool. These are, in my opinion, the people who embody the spirit of the sport...and the ones who will find a way to upgrade gear if they stick with it. Every sport has enough douchebags with deep pockets and more equipment than skill, is that really what we're short on here?

Wow, really? That's a bit harsh. At least you didn't use the word 'dentist'.
Those old fat guys on Dogma's help keep the industry alive, help your LBS survive, and good for them for getting off the couch.

And they are easy to beat.....

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [B.McMaster] [ In reply to ]

Sep 17, 20 6:41

Post #42 of 85 (1211 views)

B.McMaster wrote:

SBRcanuck wrote:

dpd3672 wrote:

T2LV wrote:

As far as showing up to a triathlon with a mountain bike. I assume he's a beginner and wouldn't bat an eye. Seeing a 15hour finisher on a 5-10k triathlon bike.....that is what I call ridiculous, not the beginner on a mountain/hybrid bike.

Absolutely. Plenty of guys that are 40lbs overweight showing up at 13mph group rides on a Dogma with full Team Sky kit, but are those really the people we want to attract to the sport?

I'd much rather see a passionate teenager on a MTB, or a 30ish soccer mom fighting off the "baby weight" by committing to doing an Oly or a HIM on a low end Trek with Sora components, or a kid from the inner city who learned to wrench on a Schwinn with downtube shifters and swims in the public pool. These are, in my opinion, the people who embody the spirit of the sport...and the ones who will find a way to upgrade gear if they stick with it. Every sport has enough douchebags with deep pockets and more equipment than skill, is that really what we're short on here?

Wow, really? That's a bit harsh. At least you didn't use the word 'dentist'.
Those old fat guys on Dogma's help keep the industry alive, help your LBS survive, and good for them for getting off the couch.

And they are easy to beat.....

The main problem with those guys is that the Dogmas are butt ugly. I can't stand the look of them.

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [lightheir] [ In reply to ]

Sep 17, 20 7:11

Post #43 of 85 (1187 views)

lightheir wrote:

dpd3672 wrote:

T2LV wrote:

As far as showing up to a triathlon with a mountain bike. I assume he's a beginner and wouldn't bat an eye. Seeing a 15hour finisher on a 5-10k triathlon bike.....that is what I call ridiculous, not the beginner on a mountain/hybrid bike.

Absolutely. Plenty of guys that are 40lbs overweight showing up at 13mph group rides on a Dogma with full Team Sky kit, but are those really the people we want to attract to the sport?

I'd much rather see a passionate teenager on a MTB, or a 30ish soccer mom fighting off the "baby weight" by committing to doing an Oly or a HIM on a low end Trek with Sora components, or a kid from the inner city who learned to wrench on a Schwinn with downtube shifters and swims in the public pool. These are, in my opinion, the people who embody the spirit of the sport...and the ones who will find a way to upgrade gear if they stick with it. Every sport has enough douchebags with deep pockets and more equipment than skill, is that really what we're short on here?

Douchebags aside, I'll say that in the current state of affairs with how much new road / tt bike cost, we will definitely alienate the vast majority of all those 'desirable' folks you are talking about in tri.

Aside from the truly diehard ones that will literally live and die for the joy of doing triathlon (which is common on ST but rare outside it), most real trinewbies who race on a mtn bike etc, will think about taking it to the next step, see the price of an 'entry' level 105 bike purchased at a normal bike store (not online where you can't even sit on it before plunking down the cash) and say 'nope. Gonna do an obstacle course or half marathon instead.'

I'm honestly tired of all these 'just buy used' and 'Motobecane sells for $1200' so there's no real cost barrier in tri. The typical tri newbie who isn't already big into bikes, has NO INTEREST in the hassle of buying a used bike and just as terrified of wasting their money buy dropping $1200 for an online bike that they don't even know fits properly. Many of them don't even know what 105 components are (watch Lucy Charles interview when she talks about her utter cluelessness about bikes and components even during training for her 1st IM) and now we want them to know size, stack, components, AND be able judge wear and condition on the used marketplace? Seriously? I can wrench my entire bike top to bottom and the hassle of forcing me to buy used is nearly enough to make me quit triathlon if you forced me to do that for my next bike!

If we want to be elitest and only want those that are going to most passionately do tri as their main activity, then sure, the more barriers the better. To me, that's pretty dumb - we should make the sport as inclusive as possible and as fun as possible, and one way to quickly kill the joy in the sport is to realize that the upgrade path to an entry-level TT bike at your local LBS is often north of $2k nowadays.

Pretty much exactly this. This forum tends to forget what being a newbie in the tri scene is like. It's so normal here for people to drop $5k on a bike that they are disconnected from reality. The average person trying to get into tri goes into the bike shop and sees $3k entry bikes and says no thanks.

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [duganator99] [ In reply to ]

Sep 17, 20 7:17

Post #44 of 85 (1178 views)

this really resonates with me. sometimes i feel embarassed at how expensive my chosen sport it. like im into fucking polo or something. i would normally expect the market to fill the gap, but i think there is the risk that the cost and general atmosphere prevents the market of interested newcomers from really developing.

i'd love to see more grasroots local events ban tri bikes, or race on gravel. i say this as somone who typically throws down the fastest bike split at events i do, on a fancy tt bike. but i think the sport would be more fun without this race for tech gains.

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [JasoninHalifax] [ In reply to ]

Sep 17, 20 7:33

Post #45 of 85 (1163 views)

JasoninHalifax wrote:

The main problem with those guys is that the Dogmas are butt ugly. I can't stand the look of them.

Hush your mouth, reprobate. If I were a dentist, I would definitely have a Dogma F12. I think they are so hot.

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [duganator99] [ In reply to ]

Sep 17, 20 7:37

Post #46 of 85 (1157 views)

duganator99 wrote:

lightheir wrote:

dpd3672 wrote:

T2LV wrote:

As far as showing up to a triathlon with a mountain bike. I assume he's a beginner and wouldn't bat an eye. Seeing a 15hour finisher on a 5-10k triathlon bike.....that is what I call ridiculous, not the beginner on a mountain/hybrid bike.

Absolutely. Plenty of guys that are 40lbs overweight showing up at 13mph group rides on a Dogma with full Team Sky kit, but are those really the people we want to attract to the sport?

I'd much rather see a passionate teenager on a MTB, or a 30ish soccer mom fighting off the "baby weight" by committing to doing an Oly or a HIM on a low end Trek with Sora components, or a kid from the inner city who learned to wrench on a Schwinn with downtube shifters and swims in the public pool. These are, in my opinion, the people who embody the spirit of the sport...and the ones who will find a way to upgrade gear if they stick with it. Every sport has enough douchebags with deep pockets and more equipment than skill, is that really what we're short on here?

Douchebags aside, I'll say that in the current state of affairs with how much new road / tt bike cost, we will definitely alienate the vast majority of all those 'desirable' folks you are talking about in tri.

Aside from the truly diehard ones that will literally live and die for the joy of doing triathlon (which is common on ST but rare outside it), most real trinewbies who race on a mtn bike etc, will think about taking it to the next step, see the price of an 'entry' level 105 bike purchased at a normal bike store (not online where you can't even sit on it before plunking down the cash) and say 'nope. Gonna do an obstacle course or half marathon instead.'

I'm honestly tired of all these 'just buy used' and 'Motobecane sells for $1200' so there's no real cost barrier in tri. The typical tri newbie who isn't already big into bikes, has NO INTEREST in the hassle of buying a used bike and just as terrified of wasting their money buy dropping $1200 for an online bike that they don't even know fits properly. Many of them don't even know what 105 components are (watch Lucy Charles interview when she talks about her utter cluelessness about bikes and components even during training for her 1st IM) and now we want them to know size, stack, components, AND be able judge wear and condition on the used marketplace? Seriously? I can wrench my entire bike top to bottom and the hassle of forcing me to buy used is nearly enough to make me quit triathlon if you forced me to do that for my next bike!

If we want to be elitest and only want those that are going to most passionately do tri as their main activity, then sure, the more barriers the better. To me, that's pretty dumb - we should make the sport as inclusive as possible and as fun as possible, and one way to quickly kill the joy in the sport is to realize that the upgrade path to an entry-level TT bike at your local LBS is often north of $2k nowadays.

Pretty much exactly this. This forum tends to forget what being a newbie in the tri scene is like. It's so normal here for people to drop $5k on a bike that they are disconnected from reality. The average person trying to get into tri goes into the bike shop and sees $3k entry bikes and says no thanks.

the mistake is considering entry level carbon with 105: that is a semi-professional bike. entry level is aluminum with claris, and stays around $800 level

Last edited by: jollyroger88: Sep 17, 20 7:38

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [exxxviii] [ In reply to ]

Sep 17, 20 7:40

Post #47 of 85 (1152 views)

exxxviii wrote:

JasoninHalifax wrote:

The main problem with those guys is that the Dogmas are butt ugly. I can't stand the look of them.

Hush your mouth, reprobate. If I were a dentist, I would definitely have a Dogma F12. I think they are so hot.

They look like a 3 year old designed the fork and seatstays. Gross....

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Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [JasoninHalifax] [ In reply to ]

Sep 17, 20 7:50

Post #48 of 85 (1144 views)

JasoninHalifax wrote:

exxxviii wrote:

JasoninHalifax wrote:

The main problem with those guys is that the Dogmas are butt ugly. I can't stand the look of them.

Hush your mouth, reprobate. If I were a dentist, I would definitely have a Dogma F12. I think they are so hot.

They look like a 3 year old designed the fork and seatstays. Gross....

Well, the name already had "Dog" in it so that can't be good :)

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [jond81] [ In reply to ]

Sep 17, 20 7:59

Post #49 of 85 (1135 views)

Not to single you out specifically, but you posted a price breakdown, so I'll use it as an example.

$2700 or $3000 with your fit may seem reasonable, but you spent on 1 bike more than I took home in a month, up until very recently. I am lucky in that I have a better paying (and better all around) job now, but the idea of spending more than a month's pay on a bike is more than some people can swallow.

Not for nothing, but the median individual income in the US for 2019 was $40k a year. That's gross. Net is probably closer to $35k. So were asking more than half of the population to consider plunking down more than a month's take home pay for a "budget" built bike?

However, there is a Catch 22 here for bike manufacturers/sellers. I have never even considered buying a new bike. I've always bought used. So where's the incentive to make a budget race bike? I (and I suspect many of my financial peers) have no intentions of buying a new $1500-$2k bike, even if they existed, so why make one? $2k seems to be the entry level spot for performance and it seems to be a model that works.

You'll also need a $1k smart trainer to ride that fancy new bike when it's raining or too cold or too hot or dark or whatever.
Or you can just put your less fancy back-up bike on there full time.

Also consider that once you solve the bike issue, most races have gone up and up in price.
Sprints around here- Raleigh, NC- are $85 and they just go up from there.
Heaven help you if you actually want to race an IM event. $500-$1000 just to toe the line. Nevermind travel, hotel, etc...

Triathlon is an upper income sport.
One must have the free time to train, the equipment necessary to train, and the ability to do so.

Yes, there are those of us that make it work on less, but there is nothing budget friendly about this sport, no matter your budget.

Re: Why are triathlon bikes and road bikes so expensive? [ayontz] [ In reply to ]

Sep 17, 20 8:08

Post #50 of 85 (1122 views)

I just looked online, and my LBS sells the Trek Domane 2 (alu frame, carbon fork, 8s components) for C$1049. You could easily race on that.

The other LBS is the Giant store, they have the Contend 3 for C$950, similar spec to the Trek. Again, someone could easily race on one of those for a while.

Those are the true entry level. They aren't truly cheap, but most people with a moderate income can figure out how to afford one.

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