General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Gear for My First Tri Rss Feed  
Moderators: k9car363, alicefoeller Reply
2013-10-13 12:23 PM


3

Subject: Gear for My First Tri
Just finished my first Sprint and I was very happy with my gear. I felt like I had everything I needed, nothing I didn't and that I was not held back in any way by my equipment, even on the bike. I used a combination of local stores and online, including Amazon, Sierra Trading Post, Bikes Direct, Bike Nashbar (using 20% sales) and TriSports. Seems like the bike gets the most questions - any old bike, road or tri? Used, online or LBS? I am mechanically inclined and did not find any local used bikes that fit me, so online worked for me. I wanted an aluminum frame road bike with integrated shifters and ended up going with Bikes Direct, but the Vilano Forza or basic Nashbar AL road bike would probably have worked fine. Schwinn Slicker (9-speed) might even work if your course if flat.

This is a pretty standard gear list, from what I gather, except for the race wheels/tire/tubes. Aero bars might be a better ROI in terms of seconds per dollar, but I did not have time to put them on and train on them. As far as the race wheels, I saved 3 lbs over the stock Alex wheels including the tires and tubes which can be very heavy in the stock configuration. I went from a 40 min bike split to 37.5 min on the actual course when I tested under virtually identical conditions before the race. I placed second in my age group and beat the third place guy by 1 minute. So it made a difference for me.

Here is what I got:

SWIM: $160
Tri Shorts, Orca 226 Lite, Sierra TP, $40
Full Wetsuit, AquaSphere Powered Pursuit, Amazon, $100
Googles, AquaSphere Kaiman Smoke, Local Store, $20
Cap, Gimme at the event, $0

BIKE: $977
AL Road Bike, Windsor Wellington 3.0, Bikes Direct, $400
Race Wheels, Vuelta Corsa SLR, Nashbar, $250
Rear Tire, Mavic Yksion Powerlink, Nashbar, $20
Front Tire, Mavic Yksion Griplink, Nashbar, $20
Tubes, Michelin Ultra-light (3 incl spare), Nashbar, $18
Cassette, SRAM PG-850, Nashbar, $25
Pedals, Shimano SPD-SL, Amazon, $40
Shoes, Shimano SH-R078, Amazon, $72
Helmet, Bontrager Solstice, Local Store, $40
Sunglasses, No name, Local Store, $5
"Tech" Material Top/Jersey, Champion Core, Target, $10
"Tech" Material Socks, Belaga, Local Store, $6
Water Bottle, Camelback Performance 22 oz, Nashbar, $7
Top Tube Bag, Profile E-Pack, Nashbar, $10
Tire Levers, Nashbar Steel Core (3), $6
CO2 Inflator, Genuine Innovations, Local Store, $20
Race Belt, T1 Pro Gel, TriSports, $28

RUN: $126
Hat, Gimme from previous 5k race, $0
Running Shoes, Fitted at Local Store, $120
Elastic Laces, iBungee, TriSports, $6

ALL IN: $1263 ($936 w/o race wheels/tires/tubes/cassette)

You could stay under $1000 and probably be just as fast if you went with clip-on aero bars instead of race wheels. I have ordered a set for my next race!
New Thread
General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Gear for My First Tri Rss Feed  
RELATED POSTS

First tri, First Post, First batch of questions :)

Started by Chris(NJ)
Views: 1417 Posts: 11

2011-07-29 8:41 AM japarker24

Gear Advice for First Tri???

Started by cdonatogriffiths
Views: 773 Posts: 4

2010-08-07 11:46 AM cafenervosa

First Tri on 4/26 need advice on gear

Started by jhornebx
Views: 940 Posts: 7

2008-04-09 3:46 PM jhornebx

First Olympic TRI (First TRI Period!!!!)

Started by satchmo72
Views: 1302 Posts: 12

2004-09-08 12:30 AM Tori

Finished my FIRST in my first tri!

Started by HBchinadoll
Views: 968 Posts: 3

2004-05-28 3:37 PM Whizzer
RELATED ARTICLES
date : July 18, 2012
author : Khorwohock
comments : 14
I have always wanted to do a triathlon to keep myself fit, and now I had my chance.
 
date : June 29, 2011
author : alicefoeller
comments : 4
Second in a series of three articles about the basics, the niceties and the luxuries
date : April 12, 2011
author : FitWerx
comments : 0
How should I be shifting gears on the front chainring and the rear cogs to cope with hills?
 
date : April 13, 2010
author : kcowart
comments : 11
I have always been an athlete, growing up playing team sports like basketball and soccer. I also ran in a couple of 10K races every year, so I had no reason to worry about running a 5K...right?
date : October 9, 2007
author : She-Ra
comments : 12
I never imagined that 350 yards broken down into 7 REALLY long lanes would be so big! I gasped out loud and told Grady that maybe I had underestimated the swim.
 
date : February 7, 2007
author : Angie M
comments : 4
In the past 18 months, I have delivered two babies, had meningitis, broken my pelvis, had two surgeries, worked full time, AND completed my first triathlon!
date : November 27, 2005
author : spetremears
comments : 0
9 weeks after my first bike ride, 5 months after my first swim and 13 months after my surgery I entered the Nelson week Tri a Tri !
 
date : September 3, 2005
author : aloufan
comments : 0
I couldn't believe that my splits kept getting lower! I started to run harder after I passed the "5 km" sign and picked a few people that I wanted to pass.