Originally Posted by
v1k1ng1001
3. You need to decide whether you want a road bike or a tri specific bike. If you're planning to seriously compete, look at the tri specific bike. If this becomes a long-term thing, you'll probably want two bikes.
In this respect, you can get a perfectly fine aluminum road bike with 105 for around $1000, ride it for a while, think about what you like and what you don't, and then spend some real dough on a tri bike.
(granted what makes a road bike good might not make a tri bike good, but it'll give you some time before you drop a lot of money on a tri bike, only to decide it's not for you)