For just the equipment, sure. But, like triathlon, the upper limits can be open-ended depending on context. If you want to be a high-level amateur tennis or soccer player, you can end up paying a fortune in travel and club memberships.

One of my friends wrecked his race car into the wall at 130 mph and thought nothing of buying a slightly used BMW M5 with about $52K of engine, exhaust, and suspension upgrades to use on the track the next week.

125 consecutive golf days - that is impressive - well done!

I am a cheapskate and I think I do triathlon about as cheaply as it can be done, but not as a conscious decision. My £700 road bike is 12 years old - and I bought my shoes at the same time - why would they ever need to be replaced?

I can only remember buying 3 pairs of goggles in that time - why do people need to keep replacing them? I bought a wetsuit and a tri-suit about 5 years ago that both still seem fine.

I am mainly a runner and do get a new pair every 5 / 6 months.

But I think it's just like anything in life - you make choices and spend your money (if you're lucky enough to have any) as you see fit. My wife did triathlons for a couple of years and bought a heap of more expensive equipment that will never be used again - she's onto her next thing now.

Similar situation is when I'm riding my bike through some smaller towns nearby, I'll see a $60,000 house/trailer with a $70,000 Ford Raptor or Corvette outside.. And this is a not just a one time sighting, so you know the people are not visitors. I always tell my buddies "I cannot imagine having a car that costs as much as my house". But, some people are "car people" so that's what they want. Again, to each their own

I never understood either

An ex girlfriend explained to me

She told me. I know I’m never going to be rich. But I can afford a monthly car payment on a new car

So when I’m driving to work, the store etc I feel rich

If it flies, floats or f**ks, rent it.

This^^^^ is the answer to the OP's question.

I had a buddy of mine giving me a hard time (jokingly) about my new bike and how much it cost. We were in his front yard and he was doing some chores while we talked. As he went on about the cost of my bike I asked him was he was doing. He didn't understand my question until I point out that he was washing his $37,000 ski boat. (I don't own a boat). He clued in and laughed.

Moral of the story. To each their own. Don't judge or compare people's desires, hobbies, or what drives them. We are all individuals.

Well, you can obviously make any sport expensive. I’m talking about obtaining basic equipment and then going out and playing it, whether for fun (which I would analogize to tri training) or competition. I fully recognize you can get basic, functioning tri equipment for maybe $1,000 or so (and I recognize you can go even cheaper but that is probably a good estimate of old, but still usable equipment). For soccer or basketball, you can spend $10 to get comparable used equipment (a ball). Arguing that tri “only” costs $1,000 or so for bare equipment only supports the argument of just how wealthy the sport really is.

I laugh at guys who are talking about finding some cut rate used frame online and then building and assembling all the components associated with the bike build for $1K. Sure buddy you represent less than 1% of Age Groupers that would know how to go about doing this and then spend the time scouring the internet for a custom build. Can it be done? Absolutley! Do the majority of people who want to race know how to do it? Hell no.

I spent the better part of twelve month looking for my dream bike online in 2013. In shop it was going for about $4,000 new at the LBS. I got mine used as a demo bike for $2,300. The vast majority of people are not doing that kind of thing. They are paying top dollar.

I also laugh at the guy who says he ran in various branded shoes he had laying around. More bullsh#t. As if they were free Asics, Nike, Adidas that were just laying there for use at no cost. People need to be real about the rising cost of this sport and the exclusion aspect. It absolutely pushes a lot of people away. The whole disc brake bike thing is a perfect example. It's a total scam by the bike industry that hurts existing riders that have invested a lot of money in wheels.

I totally agree but my point is also that even if it were “only” $1000-$1,500 to start, for people to say that is cheap and not a hurdle is out of touch with reality.

I know right? What about the cost of a running watch, wireless earbuds, run belt, bike computer, bike pump, co2 cartridges, co2 inflator, trainer (fluid or smart), trainer tire, power meter, wetsuit, entry etc. It goes on and on, and on and never stops.

The worst part is the entry cost. It's huge. Once you get past the entry cost it is more manageable.

College club teams man. See a lot of FAST people on 90s steelies.

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JustinDoesTriathlon

Owner, FuelRodz Endurance.

I haven’t purchased a tri bike in more than 10 years, as the one I have still works fine. It’s probably worth 1k in the used market. After the initial fixed costs, you can easily go through many seasons paying less than 1k, all in, for several local, drive to the morning of, Sprint or Olympic distance races.

One slightly out of town HIM blows the budget.

And even if you put off bike maintenance for like 3-4 years like I did, it'll bite you on the backside when you have to replace a bunch of stuff, possibly even big stuff like rusting components and cockpit. Easily several hundred dollars for bike maintenance alone, and if you do it yourself and have to buy the tools to even do the maintenace, you're looking at $500+ right off the bat.

Serious question

What bike maintenance?

I have approx 24,000 miles (many on the trainer) on a 2011 Cervelo. I oil the chain have changed the rear cassette and chain once and a few new tires and inner tubes



What am I missing?

Something like this will get you started

https://www.bicycling.com/...53/bike-repair-tips/

Cables - but that doesn't require much in the way of tools - a cable cutter ($5-$15?) maybe if you don't already have something suitable.
Brake pads - again doesn't require much in the way of tools, just an allen key that you will surely already have, if only on a multi-tool in your repair kit.
Bar tape - you might need a knife or scissors

In terms of specialised tools, really you just need a chain whip and lockring tool for changing cassettes and everything else short of bearing changes is just simple hand tools you probably have anyway (scissors, allen keys, cable cutter, screwdriver). I struggle to see how he's arriving at anywhere near $500. I'd guess $25-$40 for the tools to change a cassette and $30-$40 for the other non bike-specific items you probably already have. So maybe $80 at a very tenuous stretch. Self maintenance costs time and effort but it's fairly inexpensive in terms of money.

This equals wisdom?

Triathlon is not a cheap sport. Just take a look of the pro fields and even age group fields and you hardly will find africans, southamericans , ... why? they standard of life is low..but they play football or run, because they barely need a pair of trainers...
Apart from this, I have followed the sport for more than 20 years, and the expense in equipment is the part of the game that I like the least. Just recently took up training and bought a 600usd second hand bike... I dont judge anybody on spending their money in whatever they want. Right now, i have no job, but even I were working, I would not spend too much. I think getting older makes oneself less competitive (i am 40) (even I focus in improvements)...anyhow, i respect all the opinions and options, but my choice is training more instead of buying more..
BTW, I could tell you some stories of semi pro triathletes and duathletes with precarious jobs, spending all their savings in trips, equipment, fees,etc and sacrifying their education for triathlon...which is a not very lucrative sport. I just dont get it...but we are all grownups...

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Spaniard. Sorry for my english for the sensitive ones :P

Hah you gotta be KIDDING me. Seriously reality check needed there!

I thought EXACTLY as you did when I first attempted my very own bike maintenace, thinking it the parts tools and everything would come in well under $200. I even had your exact tool estimate, of about $80, given that allen keys, cable cutter, chain tool, don't cost much.

I then first attempted my first must-do repair. Replace rusted front brake. Easy, right? Well aside from the cost of the brake, you need brake cables, brake housing, bar tape to redo the tape after you cable it, grease, allen keys. Then I found I needed a longer front screw for the frame to fit the newer ultegra brake. Not even counting the brake itself, the cost of all that was nearly $80 on Amazon.

That led to what i was alluding to earlier about delayed cost repairs. Turns out my cockpit was rusted and the screws rusted so badly I couldn't even remove them - had to do that before replacing the brake since the cabling goes along the cockpit, which needed angle adjusting. Numerous tries, including electric drill with screw drill-out set didn't work to remove the screws, so new cockpit needed. That costs a lot, but I went budget got a aerobars + base for <$150. Then i needed tweezers to run the internal cabling, and a neodymium magnet to help the internal cable routing (helps a lot on those older bikes.)

Then you find out your stem is totally rusted out as well. Hopefull you've been covering your bike on the trainer, because that happens. New stem and faceplate needed. And then you find you require a torque wrench for the carbon stem+faceplate, it's not optional - it's absolutely required despite what so crazy poster on this forum says - you will definitely break the stem/faceplate without it (I was horrified with how overtorqued my road bike face metal stem faceplate was once I got the torque wrench!).

And while you're redoing your Cervelo cabling, you find on older models (mine is 2008) it's a royal pain to run the internal cabling. So you get the Park Tool Internal Cable routing kit, which turns out doesn't help AT ALL.

And if you're a noob - don't even think you're going to get the cabling and housing all perfect on your first try. You'll probably realistically go through 3 sets before it's actually correct (although you can live with slightly incorrect if you're lazy.) Then you find you have to get extra endpieces for the cut cable ends. And then you find you need extra or different housing caps for your frame contact points

Oh - and that annoying mild shifting problem you've just ignored for years? Turns out the only way to fix it is with the deraileur hanger alignment tool. There is no substitute. It's a great tool, and odds you WILL need if if your bike has been ridden plenty and moved around a lot in 5+ yrs. Goes for $80, I think.

The biggest thing I haven't mentioned though, that dwarfs all the tool and parts bills I accrued - TIME. I had no idea of how many stupid mistakes one can make with doing this stuff. They're not hard to recognize and fix, but man as a noob you will make TONS of them, which costs you tons of time. I'd estimate at my work dollar equivalent, I spent a least $5k in work-hour time learning to do all this stuff on my bike - and far from a stellar job.

It all looks cheap and easy on youtube - until you try it. One stupid thing goes wrong, then the next, and all of a sudden, you're in a money and time pit. Oh, and even after all that hard work and money I poured in to that bike, I STILL had to take it to the LBS because the rusted stem was so stuck it had to be specially removed (LBS even b*ched about how hard it was for them to do it) - $100 for that to be replaced.

I'm glad I learned all that stuff and got enough tools to do it again in the future, but for sure, I felt seriously misled by posters here and on road bike forums who always crow about how much money they've saved by DIYing their own bike. Especially with regards to how low-ball their initial tool and parts estimates always are. And remember - I did it on the CHEAP - no name-brand stuff, all efficiently priced tools and parts (no high-end or cutting edge stuff - I even run 10 speed partly because of being cheap.) Also, there is a cost of delayed maintenance. You might get lucky and get more years, but wear and tear and sweat corrosion (esp on the trainer) will get you at some point.

I get so frustrated at people who default to "Just do it yourself!" to complete newbies asking about a groupset switch or something way over their head. Yeah, they may get it done. Or they may wreck the bike and need to take it into the shop after they fiddle around with it for 40 hours.

I don't even know what to say. You must be the poster child for "people who should not work on stuff..." I've worked on bikes in every imaginable condition. Garage sale bikes, left in the rain for a decade bikes, bikes ridden on trainers and sweated on, bikes found in the trash in an alley, etc, etc. All of my bikes, my kids bikes, the neighbors kids, my friends, etc. I've been doing it since I was 8 or so---43+ years. I cannot fathom the amount of trouble you seem to have had.

Maybe it comes from my mechanical upbringing, but bikes are just about the easiest thing to work on, of all the things I have taken apart over the decades. Even frozen bolts on a bike are quite a bit easier than they are on things like cars.

Yup, I will freely admit - I clearly SUCK at DIY on my own bikes and hardware! I have no background in the stuff, I don't work on cars or woodwork, and have no friends on relatives to teach me stuff or share tools. So yeah, it was hard for me to learn, even though in retrospect all the stuff I did is actually quite easy to do once you know how to do it.

But experience counts, and I would say I am the NORM and all you folks who can do bike repair without any issues on your first try or two, are the rare ones.

Seriously, if it were so easy for everyone, LBSs would not have any business at their service shops. At least where I am Norcal, when I took my bike for a regular easy 'tune-up' of cable change and derailleur adjustment which they charged $75 + parts for (internal cabling on Cervelo P2C), there was a 2 month wait in June since they were so busy with everyone needing their services.

The other catch that bike repair can actually be easy if your bikes are new or well-maintained. No rusty bolts to deal with, no failing parts, no parts so old that they're hard to track down or replace (just try and find the small plastic cable frame entry guide for my P2c - can't find it anywhere online and have to jigger it with a clunky plastic end cap that protrudes!). But if you've neglected bike repair for years, and have been riding and sweating hard on it, things can get ugly and need outright replacing quick. Hence the value of keeping things tip top regularly.

But it doesn't hurt to try. I'll still bet that unless the prior poster has mechanical or tool background, they'll have a similarly costing and somewhat time consuming experience as I had.

Yup. It's like DIYing anything that you see on youtube. On youtube, you can literally make brain surgery look like a super easy, simple, and fast process with only a few steps.

Then you try it on your own and you get the reality check when all those issues you never even imagined start popping out of the woodwork.

For any noob that doubts this, just go watch a youtube video of a aerobar+cable full reinstall online - there are a few where guys do the uncut entire thing in like 20 minutes. And then go try it yourself and see how close you get to that 20 minute mark, especially if you have no experience recabling a bike or installing a cockpit.

Heck, most true noobs to bike maintenance can barely even thread a new chain correctly through the pulleys without screwing it up!