new florida gal

I would start riding anything you have access to right now. Alot of people race tri on mountain bikes, infact some tri's have mountain bike classes. The more you ride and get into training the more you will know what is important and what to look for. I bought a bike pretty quick and now wish I would have waited longer to get something different. I started on a mountain bike but quickly bought a road bike. In some ways I wish I would have waited for a tri bike.

Choosing a bike is a rather personal thing; you can get information on various bikes from all sorts of "authorities" but in the end, like most people you will wind up buying what they want. Your choice will invariably depend on what usage you intend to make of the bike and the amount of money you have to spend on it, bearing in mind that you will also need a helmet, jersey, shorts, gloves, cycling shoes, and pedals (clipless pedals do not come with the bike). A good road bike will serve you well to begin with; KHS, Fuji, and Motobecane make relatively good beginner's road bikes for a better price than the more well know brands such as Trek, Cannondale, or Specialized. Look for a bike with Sora, Tiagra, or 105 components, Sora being the cheapest you would want to go and 105 being good entry level racing components (I have over 10k miles on mine and it is still in tip top shape). If you can find a good bike with 105 in your price range then go for it. The single most important factor in purchasing a bike is that it FIT you properly. The most empensive bike in the world will be useless to you if it is not your size! So, whatever bike you get, make sure that you get fitted by a reputable bike shop sizer.

Welcome MissA,

What type fo tri's are you planning on participating in. Sprints, Oly, Half. I think that has a lot of bearing as to what type of bike to get. Other than that most begginers use what ever is at their disposal.

JR

Thank you for all the suggestions. I don't really have access to a bike right now so I am planning on buying one in the next couple of weeks.
I'm planning on starting with sprints to get a feel for the sport, but would like to work up to oly.

Good advice already given, just wanted to give you a welcome!

WELCOME!!! this place is the greatest!