Triathlon - Beginner Disillusioned

As I stated in my first post and introduction, I am a firefighter with four generations living in my house, working two full time jobs, and am on a shoestring budget at best. I know a $200.00 bike is a $200.00 bike. It is however, all I can afford right now. I can not justify to wife, spending the kind of money a good bike will cost when I have not even entered my first triathlon yet.
After reading a review on the GMC Denali from this forum, I purchased one on the internet. It arrived damaged (broken spokes, bent seat, scratches etc.). The seller is filing a claim with UPS and is offering to replace or repair the bike. I called several LBS and found waht sounded like a good place to take it (reasonable price and work on many different bikes).
When I took the bike in, the manager was helpful and knowledgable. When we went to repair section, the girl looked down at the bike, scoffed and basicly said she did not want to work on it. At that point I was rapidly loosing interest in attempting a triathlon or anything else to do with a bike. The manger assured me that it would be repaired and tuned up (will cost almost as much as I paid for the bike). Before purchasing the bike, I had been to several LBS looking at different brands and trying to find a used bike to start with. She had nothing god to say about any of th brands of bikes. I figured she is just a negative person, but I do not have warm fuzzies about her working on my bike. Guess I'll have to check it thoroughly when I get it.
I am really looking forward to getting into the sport, but wonder if I will ever get past the hurdle of having a bike I can actually ride.

Illegitimus non carborundrum

(Don't let the b*stards grind you down!)

It ticks me off that having or not having the right "stuff" has to interfere with the noble human passion to connect the primal nature of the outdoors with our physical capabilities. I have tremendous respect for anyone who just gets their fanny off the couch and out of their car once in awhile. I sense that most tri participants feel likewise. The world needs more of your ambition so keep it coming. Now shut up and get training!

You should find a new LBS. One that is happy to have you as a customer and a potential bike buyer in teh future.

You don't need bling to do a tri, or to do well. Sure, I get passed by guys in aero helmets and discs, but they'd pass me even if I was in an aero helmet and had a disc.

DOn't let it get you down. Triathlon is as much a mental exercise as a physical one. This is just the first of many mental hurdles you will face if you keep racing. Crossing the finish line of a race you never thought you could do, whatever distance that is, makes it all worthwhile. Trust me.

The folks that do triathlons are much friendlier than "pure cyclists" anyway.
They tend to focus more on the engine than the transmission. :)

Oorahh!!! Running and swimming right now, awaiting the return of the bike.

I agree with these comments, don't let the snobs get you down. Kudos for even trying. I have been doing triathlons for three years on an entry level Trek 1000. I pass a lot of real fancy expensive bikes during the race. Get your bike fixed, work on your engine, and if you like the sport you will upgrade in the future. If you don't like it you didn't invest much. Good luck.

agree with everyone above, i pass lots of guys with full carbon everything bikes and top of the line everything, and i have a heavy steel frame with heavy wheels, but i know of guys who can drop me easily with worse equipment than i have. Get what you can afford. Thats all you can do, but enjoy racing.

The triathlon world is tricky. If you find the right group, it will be nothing but acceptance. However, finding the group for you is the hard part. go to various local tri club meetings and try to meet people, it'll make the experience much better if you can find people who race for the same reasons as you.

wtf?? a shop that lets girls do repairs?

RUN.

But seriously, go somewhere else. The manager seems nice, but shops where the techs give attitude for having to do their job tend to suck. the best places i've found are the ones where the manager is also a tech. find one of those instead.

I pass a lot of real fancy expensive bikes during the race.

No offense, but doesn't this just mean your swim needs work?

;)

When I took the bike in, the manager was helpful and knowledgable. When we went to repair section, the girl looked down at the bike, scoffed and basicly said she did not want to work on it.

Not to suggest her attitude is cool, but I do understand where she is coming from. When my friends bring me their really inexpensive bikes to fix/tune it usually ends up being a bit of a nightmare for me. These bikes just don't seem to stay adjusted for long and are really hard to get adjusted in the first place. In many cases I grab parts out of my spares box and replace what's on their bike with something that is just a bit higher up the Shimano food chain that I can tune up in a few minutes.

She shouldn't be giving you attitude as a customer even if that's the way she feels though.

Sounds like you have some experiance working on bikes. I was talking with someone the other day about slowly upgrading the bike over time (little chunks of money at a time with more spent in the long run)or saving up and buying a better frame with better parts. I have some time to decide on that. I think alot depends upon how serious i get with the triathlons. Right now I plan to ride to work as well. From what I can understand, a tri bike probably would not be the best commuter.

Just my two cents, but I would rather save up and buy a nicer bike then slowly try to upgrade your current bike. In my experience, you always end up loosing money and spending more money trying to upgrade then just saving and waiting for a good deal. I vote to just ride the hell out of the bike you have now and if it breaks while you are saving up for a new bike, just fix it for as cheap as possible. After all a cheap bike with nice parts is still a cheap bike. I've been waiting to buy a new bike and my frame just cracked on my old Peugeot and since it was steel I just welded it back together, I would have been pissed if I upgraded the parts and then had that happen. Good thing I didn't dump any money into it too, cause I just got an unbelievable deal on a couple year old cannondale with full dura ace.

Take your time and watch for bargains

I can not justify to wife, spending the kind of money a good bike will cost when I have not even entered my first triathlon yet.

I echo the encouragement of the others. This sport is one of the things that is very right with the world. It's tough to think of another sport where the cheers are louder for the last person to cross the finish than the one who crossed first.

That said, I want to challenge your above statement just a little. How much did you pay for your TV? Do you frequently visit Starbucks? I don't presume to know the answers to these questions and for all I know, you're still using your old set from when you were a kid and every penny you make goes toward necessities. If that's not the case, maybe you can figure out a way to cut some of your expenses to get a better bike. I guarantee you that it will be money well spent.

Thet LBS should have been nicer. But, LBS get stuck with department store bikes all the time. Bikes that need everything, and will cost a fortune to make functional. Most of the time they are hard to work on, difficult to tune, and in the end often times the owners won't pay or won't come and get them. My favorite LBS has a big stack of department store bikes in the basement that have never been picked up.
They should have been nicer, but they likely should have declined to work on it at all, as many LBS do anyway.
Alot of the problem with these types of bikes is that the best repair is often to pick up the bike and slide a new bike underneath it.
Under no circumstances, spend any money upgrading this bike. If it can be made to function for very little money fine, but do not upgrade it. Save and watch for a good deal. Often a used trek 1000 can be had for $150-200 and is a faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar superior bike to this one.

I started with a 36lb cruiser, Then was lucky to get a deal on a used bike with great components. The more I learned about Bike fit (over time while building my engine)The better prepared I was to get just the right bike,and not what the salesman was trying to push that week. I accually assembled,painted, and tuned my own bike from e-bay parts for $800 (including the carbon disc. and carbon 4spoke front wheel).
Read lots of atricles on bike fit, surf the internet for knowlage (google Sheldon Brown).

Ok I can relate to much of this. Career fire/medic here working 2 extra jobs. I just did my first tri yesterday. I saw everything from full carbon/Zipp wheel machines to mid '70's Panasonic's and Schwinn's. Mountain bikes to cruisers and great planty Wal Mart bikes. Trust me, nobody else cares what you ride.
I'd look to a different LBS and check out Craigslist. I rode many years on an old Fuji steel frame tank. Loved every mile not because of the bike, but because of riding. It was fuel. Eventually I set aside enough cash, over a few pay periods, and found a new, previous year road bike. At about 1/2 price it ran about $600.
But it sounds like you have a starter so now get on it and ride. Heck I'd ride it to a different shop. ;-) And don't forget one of the best perks of your job. You can ride like a maniac to work. And, unlike a lot of people, you can shower and change there. Then you already have an aerobic workout in for the day.

I was at my LBS the other day and noticed a large sign over the service area stating, "WE DO NOT SERVICE DEPARTMENT STORE BIKES!" Broken spokes are a really bad sign that this bike might never really work properly, at least not without some serious money spent.

If I had only $200 to spend on a bike I would troll Craigslist and get an older used bike. I see old Trek 1200s go for that amount or less all the time. I have one in my garage no less, and have done a few triathlons on it, before being able to save up for a nicer bike. I just bought a nearly brand new Schwinn Alloy 7 (top of the line cruiser) for my wife for only $100. Deals are to be had. Just get a friend who knows a little about bikes to go with you, and ride it around the block before you buy.

Find an old Centurion with an old suntour or shimano group . Ive seen plenty on ebay. You could probably find a nice one for under $200 ,and it would be worthy of some upgrades if you went that route.

Suggest you do not fix/upgrade the Denali. It'll cost you much more in the long run!
$ave your $$ and be on the lookout for an older, but better built machine, that fits you.
Department store bikes are built by the lowest bidder.
Would you fly in an airplane built by the lowest bidder?
Quality costs, but quality lasts.
Had one custom bike that I put 64,000 miles on . . . it was not a Denali!

I just did a triathlon on a 1981 steel frame bike and finished 41st out of 340. I am 40 years old. And regardless of how I finished, I would still be an aging computer guy, and you are a firefighter. You already are more impressive.

Yes, I got passed by about ten guys on carbon bikes - one with disc wheels - but I doubt it was all the bikes fault...

If you were doing a restart, I would recommend spending $150 on any of the hundreds of Craig's List bikes out there (get the right size!). Ride the Triathlon, then ride another one and try to improve your standing.

Dude, you can do a tri on a Huffy if you want to. Who cares what everyone else thinks about it.

Dude, you can do a tri on a Huffy if you want to. Who cares what everyone else thinks about it.

It's not what anybody thinks about it. It is spending money on a bike that will not hold together, when he could spend the same money on a bike that will hold together. If you want to spend your money on a junk bike, go for it. But why? You are better off spending on a decent bike than a junk one.

If you were doing a restart, I would recommend spending $150 on any of the hundreds of Craig's List bikes out there (get the right size!). Ride the Triathlon, then ride another one and try to improve your standing.

Agree with that. I have had a 87 schwinn traveler and 85 schwinn traveler and currently own an 86 Miyata One Ten. All low to mid range bikes for their time but you'd be suprised how nice the 80's chromoloy bikes are. They have Shimano or Suntour components. And some, like my Miyata, you can even find in the garbage, invest about $75, and have a great bike.

FWIW, I did my first triathlon on an old mountain bike. It's common to see people race on hybrids and mountain bikes. While they're typically not among the faster finishers, they get lots of respect from the faster finishers. I ride now on an aluminum road/tri bike I picked up used for $700. I don't plan to upgrade to anything fancy anytime soon since I know what will get me faster is training more and smarter, not a carbon bike.

Brian

While a nice lightweight machine is fun, after a decent lightweight wheel and crankset, the difference between a "low end" bike and a "high end" bike is marginal. You can shave more pounds off your bike by shaving pounds off yourself with dieting than buying lightweight components.