Buying first racing bike

Yoshimi1983

Hi

I'm buying my first racing bike to particpate in a few sprint triathlons. Someone recommended not to buy a bike without carbon forks which puts me straight in the €500 plus category. Are bikes without carbon forks so horrendous as to be avoided even by a novice? I want to be economical but not silly. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

MCOS

No they are not! I have an entry level road bike that doesn't have carbon anything and I'm doing ok with it (I recently did my first sprint Tri). Check with the lads on the cycling forum, there are loads of 'which bike to choose' threads if you look back through the history.

Best thing to do is set yourself a budget first, then go down to a bike shop and get measured and fitted to a bike. plenty of options for bike on www.wiggle.co.uk and www.chainreactioncycles.co.uk . When buying mine I set a budget, got measured, ordered the bike online, brought it to the shop and got set up for it.

When considering your budget, factor in the other stuff you will need to get such as helmet, pedals, shoes, shorts, top etc... it all adds up!

Best of luck!

Yoshimi1983

Thanks a million, I'll check out the cycling threads

Highway_To_Hell

If you don't have any of the other Tri required equipment (wetsuit, aero bars ...) check out the starter packs available from:

Wheelworx

or

Cyclesuperstore

hawkwing

Folks-Is there any good website that shows you how to measure yourself for a bike or should you really go to a bike shop,will they do it for free also or surely they would expect you to but with them rather than online??

griffin100

Folks-Is there any good website that shows you how to measure yourself for a bike or should you really go to a bike shop,will they do it for free also or surely they would expect you to but with them rather than online??

This site might be useful
http://www.tredz.co.uk/SizingGuides.asp#RoadBike

Personally I think if you can buy in a shop that can do a good fit test then do. I travelled up north to buy my bike and the guy in the shop spent a good while fitting the bike to me, he even changed out a stem for a slightly smaller one which made a big difference to me. You can't do that online.

hawkwing

griffin100 wrote: »

This site might be useful
http://www.tredz.co.uk/SizingGuides.asp#RoadBike

Personally I think if you can buy in a shop that can do a good fit test then do. I travelled up north to buy my bike and the guy in the shop spent a good while fitting the bike to me, he even changed out a stem for a slightly smaller one which made a big difference to me. You can't do that online.

Thanks a lot--very useful and just what i wanted:)

shels4ever

I bought my bike from wheelworx found them very good and helpfull , Tunney would know that i really did need a new one at the time ......