Well sure but that is every sport that requires a considerable amount of equipment. I played hockey in college before Tris and that wasn’t exactly cheap either.

I get the issue with recruiting people, unfortunately that’s more of a broke college kid issue than prices are too much.

I was in a collegiate club for 5 years where we had a lot of trouble recruiting members simply due to the cost of getting into the sport. A bike was a big hurdle to get over but necessarily the only thing. It isn't like soccer or basketball where all you need is a pair of shoes and a ball...

This has always been the worldwide appeal of soccer and basketball, but if people were saying they did not want to join tri because of the cost, then someone should have debunked that right away. The perception is that it is expensive, but like another said, I could do this on a mere pittance because I have been riding for 35 years and know bikes, so your club sounds like they needed an equipment advisor to help shepherd the newbies through the growing pains. Yes, it costs some money, but if a person is not willing to spend the amount of one car payment to get into something new, they did not really want to do it anyway.

I don't know, I'm not sure that's all the fault of the tri bike industrial complex. Triathlon is a craft, just like any equipment-heavy sport. When I started (maybe 12-13 years ago?), my first year was a used Performance Bike store brand aluminum road bike with some clip-ons. By the second year I had a "fast forward" seat post and a proper base bar for my clip-ons, which helped me into a better position. 3rd-4th year an entry-level tri bike (Jamis T1). On that Jamis I was among the first 10 or so cyclists into T2 at Silverman (RIP, Silverman). Then my 5th year I finally went Slowtwitch-legit with a bike that is, to this day, probably nearly as fast as anything. And at no time was I really all that money-constrained. It felt like a natural progression to me as I learned the craft.

People trusting an LBS for their first advice, or reading slick ads, etc, might get bad advice that they "need" that $3K bike right out of the gate.

There is the issue of an emphasis on marketing to wealthy middle-aged people by major race promoters and bike manufacturers. And I can't blame them, because they're trying to run businesses, which is hard.

I agree something is lost in making the sport attractive to youth and collegiate-aged people. Or just less affluent people. The grassroots of the sport has eroded. Though the guy who initially called me out for calling the Andean dirt cheap struck a bit of a nerve with me because that's certainly not the impression I like to give. I only talk that way among the cohort of high-end bike porn enthusiasts.

+1

usually swapping wheels between my tri bike and road bike, I will need to change 2 bikes (including 2 wheels set), and not willing to spend to much here.

Making use of new trends, I will probably go for :
- a UCI approved TT / Tri bike (for no draft triathlon and TTs) + 60mm disk wheels (swapped to the road frame for draft-legal tri)
- Gravel / road bike (draft triathlon, training, ballads) + alloy disk wheels going up 30mm tyres (and 25mm to be swapped on the TT/Tri for training)

Road/gravel bike with disk, choice is now quite large, at all prices
Tri/TT bike with disk, market is not mature enough, clearly. Maybe when P2/P3 disk and Canyon Tri disk bikes come into action, with some others....