Hello everyone,

Ive been reading as much on this forum as I can, Lots of great people on here and decided to join. I do have a question. I bought a Felt b2 tri bike frame and forks from a guy in the local Tri club. So Ive decided to build it over the winter. Any advice on gears, rims, brakes. Well you get the idea. To build a bike? Im going to be hitting ebay hard and what I feel I should buy new I will. This is my first tri bike and my wife and I are both working out this winter to do our frist tri's and duals next summer.

Thanks
Jason

Put your money in the wheels. On a tri bike aerodynamics is more important than weight. So if you're on a limited budget, don't blow it on Durace componets and carbon fiber bars. (Those things are nice, but not necessary) Buy a durable set of training wheels, then a disc and a trispoke (or deep dish CF wheels) then spend what you have left on componets. You'll be faster with 105 componets, cheap bars, cheap seat post and aero wheels, than you'd be with D/A componets, and CF bars, seatpost etc, and standard wheels.

I couldn't agree more. If budget is an issue, 105 10 speed, Ultegra 9 speed or even 105 9 speed will not effect your speed.

Check here out for basebar, brakes. Lots of cheap new stuff. Also, he has a $650 carbon 50mm deep wheelset...
https://www.chucksbikes.com/store/

I agree. I put the new 105 external bearing cranks on my tri bike rather than spending money on more expensive ones. Given that most tri's are relatively flat and there is no need to sprint I couldn't justify spending money on stiffer, lighter cranks. Stiff, light cranks have an advantage where weight is very important and where you are really putting a lot of stress on the cranks and don't want any give - like riding a hill or sprinting.

From what I have read, it might be best to get a set of deep dish rims over a full disc. In the event of a windy day, you can still ride the wheels.. whereas with a disc you wont be able to. I am also going to be building a tri bike this winter, and this is what I am going to be doing. I think the next season I will buy a disc, and then have both options...

Not flaming here ranger, but to not nbe able to ride a disc, they are either a. less than 140lbs, or b. not real good bike handlers.

I have ridden mine in gusts ups to 40 and had no issues.

Agree with cslone. Once you're used to it and know what to expect, a disk isn't really as bad as people make it out to be in the wind.

But heck, I commute on one daily, so I'l probably biased. And crazy.

thaks everyone for there input.

Jason