Best place to start... but, your starting in the wrong direction. You need to find out what kind of bike will fit you. You need to get a bike fit before you buy a bike. Finding a good experienced tri-specific bike fitter bike is the most important aspect of looking for a bike.

Spend more time looking for a who before you starting looking for a what. Find an experience bike fitter... then, find a bike that will match that fit. You seem to be going about it backwards.

Your problems not the amount of money you have. You should be able to find a decent tri-bike for $500. The problem is that you need to find out what your fit specifics are - first... you don't walk into a running store and say I just want a pair of running shoes do you? No, you ask for a specific size of shoe first... then you try it on to see if it fits. You need to do the same with a bike.

Good luck and welcome to the world of triathlons.

FWIW Joe Moya

Joe, I agree 100% about what you're saying regarding bike fit but personally I wouldn't recommend a tri bike for a newbie. A road bike is far more versatile and the newbie should learn the basics of riding first. IMO the best thing he could do is get a road bike and join a roadie group. Too many tri-geeks jump from their $200. Wal-Mart mountain bike to a tri bike without learning riding skills.

For $500. he should be able to find a decent used road bike from the mid 90's with a 8 sp Shimano or Campy. Add a set of short aero bars such as Profile Jammer GT's and he's off to the races.

www.chucksbikes.com


E-mail him, he might have something for you.


Good Luck

---

I don't work here, I just live here

I agree... now that I think about it... that's precisely what I did some 20+ yrs. ago. Boy... the things we know now compared to then. Makes ya feel old.

Joe Moya

IMHO, second hand is the only way to go when starting out. There are tons of resources for finding second hand gear from bulletin boards at your LBS to eBAY. The key is to go into the search with basics already figured out like:

1) a couple of makes you like;

2) the framesize that fits you in each of those makes;

3) drivetrain (e.g., Shimano 105 or Ultegra or Campy or whatever);

And, a biggie, decide in advance what your TOTAL budget is. In other words, do you have $500 or do you have $500 less helmet, shoes, tune-up for the used bike, bottles/cages/bikeshorts/jersey/glasses, etc. etc. One of the problems is that sometimes the extras are much hard to get used than the bike (e.g., shoes and helmet are tough to be used for different but obvious reasons).

I did my first two seasons on an 1994 REI Trionfo with Ultegra that I got for $500 second hand...

The Giant OCR 3 is just under $500. I rode it at a local bike shop for an hour and I thought it was a very comfortable ride.

---

Go Big Red

Joe: Thnx for all the information. How do I determine fit? I am 6'2" and weigh 173 lbs. Is that enough information. Damn this stuff is a lot more technical than I had imagined. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction------------Jim

Some of the basics http://www.coloradocyclist.com/BikeFit/index.cfm

...cerveloguy hit it on the head... very good basic sight for bike fitting.

another good sight to take a look at is at FitWerks:

http://www.fitwerx.com/...iles/TechCenter.html

However, if you want to read about tri-fitting... see:

http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/bikes/difference.shtml then

http://www.slowtwitch.com/...techctr/techctr.html

or

http://www.bicyclesports.com/tech/Default.aspx

you might remember... the tri-fit or modified time trial bike position takes time to evolve into... If you decide to jump right into tri-position you will considerably increase your probability for falling or loosing control of a bike in extreme situations. So, be careful. - btw, never ride in an aero position while in a group (specially if your a beginner).

Good Luck

Joe Moya