I ran my first sprint triathlon recently and have another one in a couple weeks. My swim was good and my run was great but my bike time was lagging. I know that racing bikes give a great advantage over my current mountain bike, but I don't know where is a good place to find a relatively cheap racing bike. Any tips on good starting bikes and where to find them?
Greatly apprectiated.
Forums » General Training » Triathlon
Where do i find an effective used racing bike?
(5 posts)-
Posted 4 months ago #
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What kind of a budget do you have?
You should be able to get a good quality new "road" bike for around $500. It won't be Tour de France ready, but it will be a fair bit faster than your mountain bike...
Used, I would check eBay or Craig's List. Or a local independent bike shop.
If you can go up to $1200 then you could get a very good quality "entry level" triathlon bike setup... or road setup depending on the types of riding you expect to be doing more of.
I strongly recommend heading to your local triathlon shop and chatting with the staff there. Most will be more than happy to explain the different features of various bike setups as well as what different components make sense for your goals.
Good luck!
Posted 4 months ago # -
If you have not done this already, another thing you can do while you're on the search for a road/tri bike is to change your tires to slicks when road racing instead of the knobby MTB tires for off-road racing. This will help your speed.
Jim
Posted 4 months ago # -
I would check your local bike shop for close out deals or used bikes. Be upfront that you just can't spend more than X amount. Craigslist is another place to check. I tried for 2 months to find an affordable used bike, but couldn't find my size (61cm). I bought from ediscountbike.com a 2007 new in box closeout. But bikesdirect.com and ebay have all kinds of deals too. A local bike shop can assemble your bike for you. It should cost around $50. And you can always upgrade later if you stay in the sport.
Posted 3 months ago #
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