Sale on Javelin complete bikes (Page 16)

Deanna is right here.  Generally speaking, with Shimano, you need to replace everything to upgrade from say 105 to Ultegra.  This is not so for Campy.  You only need to upgrade what you are changing.  Let's take the Parma for example.  Say you want to go from the Mirage/Xenon mix to a Centaur upgrade and lets say you want to jump up to 10 speeds vs. the 9 that it came with.  With Shimano, you would have to replace everything, the shifters, bottom bracket, chainrings, Front and Rear Derailer, Chain and Casette.  At the point that you do this, you might as well buy a new bike as the component set for an Ultegra is going to cost you a bunch (I was quoted at $1500 going from Sora 8 Speed to Ultegra 10sp).  If you cvan do the work yourself you can save a great deal. 

Campy is not this way - changing from the Mirage 9sp to Centaur 10sp will cost you just under $250 because you don't need to replace everything.  In the case of the Parma you only need a right shift lever, a new casette and a new chain.  Everything else is interchangeable. 

As a side note - Shimano is taking steps to change this limitation in their system. 

Also - everyone seems to have forgetten about SRAM components.  They are the up and comers, but you pay for them.  The higher priced Trek Madone's for this year integrated SRAM components.

Basically all you need for tris are something to swim in, a bike to ride on (and a helmet...mandatory!) and running shoes.  The rest just makes life that little bit easier.

A helmet is a helmet, at least in so far as it protects your head from injury should you crash.  The cheap ones work just as well as the expensive ones in that regard.  When you start looking more at the aeordynamics of it, that's when you start looking more at the helmet.  Til then, the one you have should probably be fine (provided it hasn't been crashed, etc...any time you crash, get hit, replace your helmet).

Do you have bottle cages for your non-water-bottle water bottle?  If not, those are useful for carrying hydration.  Other hydration carriers include aerodrink and behind the saddle holders.  All depends on your comfort level in reaching for your bottles.

Since you need to buy pedals anyway...lol...I would put that at the top of your list.  What type you buy...that'll be up to you.  Start with some cheap platforms (you could probably take the ones off the bike you currently have) and go from there.  As far as speed, clipless would be one great way to give yourself a little boost because it increases the efficiency and efficacy of your pedal stroke.

You can get a relatively inexpensive wired bike computer...that's always fun if you like crunching numbers and competing with yourself (as we triathletes are so apt to do). 

Here, here! I actually am planning on swapping out my Campagnolo components for (eventually) SRAM Red (or Force, if my bankroll is on the skimpy side -- which it is).

However, being Italian, my ancestors phantasmagorically causes my computer to crash anytime I look up SRAM components on  eBay.

hahaha, that's funny!  i was in a bike shop recently and saying i was doing a frame swap, from a trek onto an italian frame and just moving all my shimano components over.  a guy in the shop said, "you realize it's a sin to put shimano components on an italian bike, right?  also, did you know the pope blesses all italian bike frames?"  

hahaha . 

The conversion kit is built into the (bar end) shifters. It's called friction mode

First post here with my first tri bike coming way, and hopefully my first tri later this year. Got a 48cm Varese with 650c's after debating with myself for quite a long time. I'm 5'5" with a 28" inseam, and saw that someone my height barely got away with a 51cm, but he had an inch more inseam than me. I'm kind of nervous that it might be too small, but I'll just have to wait and see. My reasoning is that I know that to get that really good aero position most people have really high seat posts in relation to the bars, and I can't accomplish that without a fairly small bike.

Someone said they've run out of 47cm Parmas and they are correct, so I went with a 51 in one of those, and saw that someone 5'6" is doing pretty well on a 51 Fara, and those bikes share the same geometry.

I'm really anxious and nervous about the fit - I really hope these bikes work out for me. Can't wait to see them next week.

Camy - I think he is talking about the Shimano hub on his trainer wheel not working with the Campy cassette.  Am I right on this?

True - but the thing is, I want the bikes to work out so I can ride the heck out of them.

Correct.

The point I have been trying to make is that since Chi has a Shimano trainer wheel (which I assume already has a Shimano cassette), he should use it as-is and put his Campy shifters in friction mode and ride away. There's no need to buy a conversion kit or even a new cassette. It will work.

Based on that, I would say you are probably 54cm to 57cm on a Javelin.

But it really goes beyond just the top-tube, and into reach, inseam, aero-ness (hey, it's a word!), etc.