I've been challenged by a friend to find the most absurd piece of triathlon equipment, after commenting that she should be buying more random Tri stuff.

The first thing that comes to mind are gold chains, chainrings, and cable housings, but those aren't necessarily too exciting. Probably anything from poshbikes.com would work too.

But what's the most ridiculous bit of equipment you know of?

Personally I think Fuelbelts are pretty absurd. Especially when they pop up in sprints.

This has the makings of a great thread. However, it's always easy to laugh at the other guys "necessities." One man's junk ....

That said, I've always thought the sweat diapers for trainers were kind of silly.

Lance Armstrong bracelet? I keep it on when I swim too

Little tubs to wash off your feet in transition. Just suck it up!

When you're doing a 10 mile training run and it's around 100 degrees out... you will LOVE your freakin fuel belt! There are no aid stations when your training! But if all you ever do is sprints... then you won't need it.

I guess I am fortunate to live in a college town--I can pop into just about any campus building for a quick stop at the drinking fountain/restroom/vending machine! No fuel belt is necessary for me!

But yeah, in most cases, you're right, the fuel belt does help on long training runs.

Well sprint tri's are 13 mile bike rides.. So if your sayin you need it for your 10 mile training ride then you probably need it for 13 miles...

The poster to which you're referring clearly used the phrase "10 mile RUN" in the post. I think you mis-read the post. I can't think of a single reason why you would need a fuel belt on a bike!

RUN! 10 mile training RUN! Yeah... re-read the post.

obviously it is the aero seat post.
soooo ridiculous.
need i say more?
btw, my bike has an aero seat post. lol!

ceramic bearings...any and all...

If you have an aero seat tube you've GOT to have an aero seatpost. The aero frames with round seatposts look totally disgusting to me.

So do road drops with clip-on aerobars. It's just too much bar (although I admit my bike used to be decked out like that...I have destroyed all pictures).

I dont remember the name of it, but in the 90s there was a front "wheel" with no hub, no spokes, just a carbon "rim" that was co-moulded to the fork and steerer, and presumably bearings between the carbon rim and another rim on its outside which held a tire.
if i could only find a picture!! anyway, some older guys might remember it. it looked like a donut on the front of your bike, and it looked identical spinning and staying still

current most ridiculous is the blackwell research airfoil front hub.

those trigger seat posts that shot the saddle forward a few inches with the flick of a remote switch for power on the flats, and back again for climbs... they were crazy too. There was also a tri bike, maybe named a fox (not the corima) which only had brake levers at the ends of aero bars.

todays gizmos are (IMO) nothing compared to old stuff.