If money was a very real object, what is the cheapest bike you would ride?
My call, either a Cervelo One, or a Tiagra equiped Trek.
Harness the power of the “Lurker”, rule the world
Well, I do ride the absolute cheapest bike - I borowed for my first TRI from a friend who bought it for $20 from a Garage Sale! It’s a very big (64 cm - seat tube) Giant Quasar (6 cog casette).
Did all my races on it (2 tris/4 dus/2 road) so far and now patiently waiting for my new DUAL! 
My brothers.
A new bike? OK, then. I’m presuming that one wouldn’t be fussing with road bikes vs. tri bikes in that case. It would have to be a road bike.
Giant OCR
Well, not to be rdundant, but the least expensive one that fit me correctly.
I would look at Fuji and KHS as well as Felt. They all seem to have super low price, workable bikes. The QR Kilo bought on sale is also a fine deal, especially if you can angle for a discount somehow. Example: A plumber just got a huge discount on a new bike from our store by installing a shower in our shop as partial payment. He paid with sweat equity and saved good money.
Radio Flyer with removable push handle
Free wheeling pedals allow rider to coast while adult pushes
Steering locks for easy adult pushing
Removable push handle adjusts to 3 positions
Chrome handlebars and fender
Sturdy steel construction
Durable steel spoked wheels with real rubber tires
Adjustable seat
10" front wheel
For ages 2 – 4 (I’m pretty short!!!)
25 ½ X 21 ½ X 21 5/8
19 lbs
jaretj
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A few years back I did my first ever adventure race with absolutely no experience at this type of racing (the reason a group of us put a team in was that a VP in my wife’c company bid on an entry when he was loaded at a charity auction … he thought it was a weekend getaway for 4!). The only bike that I had for “off-road” was a Costco special mountain bike that I had bought for $189 for riding around the neighbourhood with my kids. It was a 2 day stage race and at the end of the first day one of the members on my team had a messed up wheel so our support guy took all of our bikes (we were all riding cheap pieces of poo) to the race mechanic while we were finishing the final leg … in the words of the mechanic at the race … “these bikes have no business being in this race”.
If buying new:
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QR Kilo
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Cervelo One
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I didn’t think I would ever say this BUT my wife rides a trek 1000. It has sora. She shifts it into the wrong gear combos, lays it down anywhere, doesn’t clean it often, and hasn’t had it to a shop in years. That bike shifts,stops,rides great. We have a few beginners riding them also. They get some pretty fast times on them .
QRGUY thinks he’s funny. But even MOM thinks he’s a DORK!
If you get creative, you can put together a really nice bike for a minimum amount of money. I’d go over to Chuck’s Bikes and take a look at what he has over there. You can get a pretty good frame with 8-speed Shimano 105 for just over $500 (or atl least you could several months ago), which is less than what you can get a Trek 1000 for. You may not recognize the name on the downtube of the frame, but the frame still should be solid.
If it’s components you’re after, you can find a 105 bike from Performance (Tirreno brand, I believe) in the $700 range. Also, the Scattante bikes from Supergo have some good packages at sub-$1K price tags.
In the past, I’ve owned both a Trek 1000 and a Giant OCR-2 (Tiagra bike). Both of these were pretty nice bikes, and I wouldn’t hesitate to ride either one again.
RP
Radio Flyer with removable push handle
Free wheeling pedals allow rider to coast while adult pushes
Steering locks for easy adult pushing
Removable push handle adjusts to 3 positions
Chrome handlebars and fender
Sturdy steel construction
Durable steel spoked wheels with real rubber tires
Adjustable seat
10" front wheel
For ages 2 – 4 (I’m pretty short!!!)
25 ½ X 21 ½ X 21 5/8
19 lbs
jaretj I having a lot of trouble steering this model with the push handle. Have you had the same problem?
The entry level road bike from a quality bicycle manufacturer. Fuji League lists for $370.
“It’s not about the bike”
Don’t forget the “pre-owned” market. Depending on where you live, there could be several tri/roadie clubs around. Bike geeks are always upgrading. Might be worth checking into.
Brett
I fashioned the push handle into a roll bar and use it like a recumbent. I will have my monocote rear disk wheels done soon. They should save me about 1 percent of my time on the bike. The elimination of the chain drive has shown similar results.
I put a Louis Garneau helmet on backwards to make me more areo.
I have had some trouble with the bike to run transition after being on a the bike portion of a sprint course for 3 hrs. I seem to laugh to hard when people pass me causing problems with digestion of the McChicken sandwich that I use on race days.
This bike has increased my performance on the run by making sure that I am well rested before the run start. Just the beginning of the run is difficult. (See above) I was hoping Gary could send me a set of Roter Cranks that could be adapted to a direct drive system.
My swimming performance has increased too cuz I know that I will have plenty of time to recover on the bike therefore I swim faster.
I get so much performance gain from such a cheap piece of equipment that I am encouraging eveyone to take a test ride to see for themselves.
8-}
jaretj
Well I currently ride a raleigh r500 that i bought knew for $550 but have probably spend upwards of another $350 dollars on it to get it to approximate tri position. If I had to do it again, I probably would have considered a Felt s32 or an older Cervelo 1, not the new one with Tiagra.
I just found this old 20+ year old bike on the street that the owner was chucking so i took it home and nursed it back to health so my wife is using it now. It actually looks pretty sweet and put my wifes initials on it. Not too fast, but it runs, is a ten speed and was FREE. My wife is considering clipless pedals so i may put on my old spuds which will cost more than the bike.
Just like in College, I’ll ride anything that I could get on top of.
Bianch Pista!
How about what is the cheapest bike that I currently ride. A Giant Rincon. $300.00 new. About 100 frickin lbs! It’s a mountain bike and it’s what gets me to work when the weather is bad.
Joel
I like to ride an old nishiki around town. Its ugly, dented, and pieced together out of donated parts. It jumps curbs and potholes. I never lock it up, it’s always been there when I come back.