Hello fellow triathletes!
Some background: This is my third season in a row doing triathlons. I've done 1 sprint, 2 olympics and 1 70.3. This year I'm doing two 70.3 races. My plan in the future is to stick with 2/3 races per year and eventually build up to a full Ironman. I have an old Giant Defy with aero-bars. Nothing fancy I know but it does its job... but off course, I'd love to eventually buy a proper triathlon bike. I do most of my bike training indoors (Tacx Vortex Smart + TrainerRoad) but when it gets warmer (Boston, MA) I will do my long rides (once a week) outside as much as possible.
I have $600 in my hands. For some reason, I thought about buying a power meter, most likely the new Garmin Vector 3S (left side only). But then PowerTap reduced the price of the P1 (dual side) to only $799. I could save a bit more and buy the P1 (dual) instead of the Vector 3S (single). That wouldn't break the bank for me.
Or, I could save the money for now and buy a new bike in 2/3 years. Technically speaking I get the power from my smart trainer when I'm riding indoors (and I've been increasing my FTP year after year). The powermeter would be only 100% useful when 1) riding outside, which is only 20%-30% of my regular training load and 0% during the long winter 2) in a race! And that can be a big deal.
I'm not sure spending $600/800 would be totally worth it. What do you guys and girls think about it?
Some background: This is my third season in a row doing triathlons. I've done 1 sprint, 2 olympics and 1 70.3. This year I'm doing two 70.3 races. My plan in the future is to stick with 2/3 races per year and eventually build up to a full Ironman. I have an old Giant Defy with aero-bars. Nothing fancy I know but it does its job... but off course, I'd love to eventually buy a proper triathlon bike. I do most of my bike training indoors (Tacx Vortex Smart + TrainerRoad) but when it gets warmer (Boston, MA) I will do my long rides (once a week) outside as much as possible.
I have $600 in my hands. For some reason, I thought about buying a power meter, most likely the new Garmin Vector 3S (left side only). But then PowerTap reduced the price of the P1 (dual side) to only $799. I could save a bit more and buy the P1 (dual) instead of the Vector 3S (single). That wouldn't break the bank for me.
Or, I could save the money for now and buy a new bike in 2/3 years. Technically speaking I get the power from my smart trainer when I'm riding indoors (and I've been increasing my FTP year after year). The powermeter would be only 100% useful when 1) riding outside, which is only 20%-30% of my regular training load and 0% during the long winter 2) in a race! And that can be a big deal.
I'm not sure spending $600/800 would be totally worth it. What do you guys and girls think about it?