Originally Posted by 3alarmer

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...this was the year they ran the first Sacramento Ironman Tri. It was a big deal, that got cancelled last year because of a howling gale that appeared out of nowhere, like a curse from God. Anyway, I rode one of my ancient bicycles down to the venue, where the start/finish was set up, near the State Capitol. One of the tents was some service that assembles/disassembles the participant bikes. Many of those guys fly in from far away locales, for an official, sanctioned, Ironman competition. It was interesting to look at all the various bikes hanging up on the done and ready for pickup rack.

I have always had the impression that triathletes are generally not cyclists. I think the competitive ones are the men and women who can run a relatively fast marathon, not lose much time in the swim leg, and everyone just figures if they don't fall on the bike leg, they are doing pretty well. A lot of crashes right at the beginning of ours. There was significant gusting wind at times, throughout the morning.

To the OP: missing chips in the clear coat or paint on a CF frame are not a big deal, but it requires more expertise than I possess to visually determine if there is any underlying damage to the structure of the composite fiber. Probably not, but if you have to ask here, it's probably worth getting someone who knows this stuff tl look at the frame in person. If it's really cheap, maybe just take a chance, if you really need another bike. As stated, tri bikes get crashed, just like any bicycle someone races in competition. **** happens.