KHS bike for newbie?

[shanno]

Can anyone give me advice on a first bike for tri. I am looking at around 1000-1200CAD for the bike so i can afford the other equipment. I have been looking at a KHS Flite 350 for $1000 tax in on end of season sale. It has an aluminum frame with a carbon fork and tiagra components. i have been looking at road bikes versus tri specific because i will probably use it to get around town a bit as well as training and racing. i was also looking a cannondales r700 and 800 but it seems like there aren't many of my size (48") left at the end of the season. my local bike shop guy has said that he thinks you pay alot for the cannondale name and there are other bikes out there. the thing is, i am new to road biking and really know nothing so they could tell me anything in the store and if they seemed sincere enough i would believe them.
anyways, any opinions would be much appreciated!
shanno

[Gonzo Bob]

The key is to get a road bike that will work well for triathlon. My recommendation is to go to a triathlon oriented bike shop, if possible. There are some issues with adapting/fitting a road bike for triathlon that a regular bike shop may not have experience with. If you don't have a tri-shop near by, at least find a bike shop with experience in fitting triathletes.

[H2OChick]

I think the consensus on this board (based on over a year of questions/answers) is that a newbie ought to go with a roadbike, not a tri-bike. You can put aerobars on it and have the fit tweaked. Then when you figure out whether you're really in love with triathlon, you can take the next step, and still have a roadbike for other purposes (group rides, tooling around town, commuting, etc.)

Do some searching on places like roadbikereview or other bicycling magazine sites where there have been reviews and best-of-breed evaluations. I would agree that you pay more for Trek and Cannondale because of the name. For $1000-1200 you'll still be able to find a decent bike. Also - you might want to consider a used bike. I got my Cannondale R5000 for $1500 - when it was only a year old. That's probably half what I would have paid new. And it's in GREAT shape. (This was after LOTS of research, however).

Do a bit of internet research to educate yourself about componentry and geometry and materials, and you'll feel a lot more confident dealing with LBS personnel and make a much better decision. And it won't take you that long...