Picking out the best triathlon bike on a budget can feel overwhelming and confusing when you start out, but you will need a bike early on. There’s only so far you can get with the bikes in your local gym after all. In this article I want to help you pick a suitable first bike for triathlon. I worked in a bike shop for a few years, and want to share my knowledge to help people avoid getting ripped off.
As this article is designed to be read by people worldwide, and enjoyed for several years to come. As a result, I will not be recommending individual brands or models, as what is available here in the UK may not be available in the US or Australia, or be in production in a year’s time.
Types of bike
Let’s make one thing clear, any bike can be a triathlon bike. It can have a basket on the front, wide knobbly tyres, or suspension. As long as it’s safe to ride most organisers will allow it, although it is worth nothing that some organisers (such as Ironman) do not normally allow mountain bikes.
If you’re looking at buying a bike however, I highly recommend buying a road bike. Also known as “racing bikes”, these have narrow tyres, curved handlebars and are the lightest bikes available on the market. One mistake that people make when buying bikes is going for a hybrid bike that allows them to ride on road and off road. The problem here is that these bikes are slow on the road and slow off road, so you will want to go for something specific.
I should also take a moment to tell you that you want a road bike, not want an out and out triathlon bike. This is a term used to describe bikes especially for triathlon.
In the sport of triathlon, you are banned from riding within 12M of another competitor. The reason for this is that the biggest obstacle preventing cyclists from riding faster is wind resistance. By riding directly behind another rider, you can use up to 50% less energy than them to hold the same speed. This is known as drafting and gives you an unfair advantage, as you would start the run a lot fresher than the rider you have been drafting behind.
So bike manufacturers have created a bike that is designed for ultimate speed when riding solo. These bikes place the rider in a very unusual position, stretched out over the front of the bike with their arms resting on two bars, known as aero (or tri) bars.
However, this is a twitchy position to ride in and you don’t have access to your brakes. Even if you manage to find one at a great price, you want a road bike, not a triathlon (or TT) bike. You can purchase clip on aero bars to attach to your road bike handlebars once you get more confident.
What to look for in a road bike
Now we’ve established a road bike as being the best triathlon bike on a budget, what should we look for when buying one?
The best material for a triathlon bike on a budget is aluminium. There is nothing inherently wrong with carbon fibre at all, but it is more expensive, and more fragile. Your first bike will probably get dropped, crashed, knocked and otherwise beaten up as you get used to the sport. I would much rather somebody starts off with an aluminium frame which can take a bit more in the way of abuse.
The biggest factor in a bike’s price tag is not the weight, but what’s known as the groupset. This is the moving parts such as the gear shifters, chain, bottom bracket and the gears themselves. A cheaper bike will have less gears, they will be clunkier to change and weigh more. A top end bike will have silky smooth changes that never let you down, maybe even with electronic shifting that changes at the touch of a button.
However, we are on a budget, and will need to work with whatever we can get. That being said, I would highly recommend you go for a groupset that uses Shimano components, as these are high quality and available worldwide. SRAM is a good second choice (especially popular in the states), and Campagnolo as a last resort. Other brands are of poor quality and won’t last very long at all before needing to be replaced. If we’re buying a budget bike, it quickly becomes uneconomical to upgrade or repair it, so my recommendation is that you go for a bike with a budget Shimano groupset.
My first budget triathlon bike
While I’m not endorsing brands in this article, I do feel I can share the story of my first triathlon bike I bought on a budget. It was a Specialized Allez.
It cost me £500 back in 2012, although you won’t get much change out of £800 for its successor due to post Covid inflation.
It was an absolute workhorse of a bike, by the time I donated it I had upgraded every single component except the frame and forks. This was an uneconomical way to do it, but as I was flat broke at the time, I couldn’t afford to simply buy a new bike, which is the cheaper way to do it.
On this bike I came very close to winning races, overtook thousands of people on full triathlon bikes and had some of the most fun I’ve had in my life. I rode my first 100 miles, completed a 70.3 triathlon, podiumed at events and spent a lot of time riding with friends.
What made this the best budget triathlon bike at the time, was the fact it was cheap, but not too cheap.
The cheap bike trap
The trap that some people fall into is getting a budget bike from Halfords, Walmart or similar. I 100% recommend getting a bike that is within your budget, but spending around £100 on a bike is a false economy as it will need so much in the way of repairs and replacement parts. These bikes are designed for occasional riding around in good weather, not the rigours of triathlon training.
If you are looking for a bike that you can race for one summer season as you dip your toe into the sport to see if it’s for you, then a dirt cheap bike may not be the end of the world, but don’t expect it to last very long at all.
The bearings will fail, cables will snap, bolts will work their way loose, spokes will buckle, gear changes will become clunky and brakes will rub. While a level of bike maintenance is to be expected with any bike (and is arguably even more important if you have expensive parts), the components on cheap bikes just aren’t up to the job.
I really want as many people as possible to get involved in triathlon, but I don’t want people to end up wasting money in an effort to save money. A £100 bike will constantly be in the shop for repairs, letting you down on rides, and generally being a liability. It may cost you £50 a repair, so as soon as you’ve put your £100 bike in the shop twice, you might as well have spent a bit more on the bike, but a £200 bike won’t be much better.
How to avoid the trap
I’m not going to give you a number of a minimum to spend, but it’s worth noting that my £500 road bike I bought in 2012 lasted me the best part of 10 years.
The easiest way to wean out the good from the bad is by brands. I’m going to list some brands who just don’t sell bad bikes.
In no particular order:
- Giant
- Specialized
- Trek
- Cannondale
- Cube
- Argon 18
- Kinesis
- Canyon
- Ridley
- Vitus
There are LOTS of other brands which only make high quality bikes, but are towards the premium end of things, so not a contender for this article. I have a lovely Cervelo P3 to the right of me as I type this, but the words “Cervelo” and “budget” don’t tend to go together unless the worse “out of my” are also included.
There may well be other brands I’ve missed, and I apologise if I have. Just because a brand doesn’t appear on this list doesn’t automatically make it bad quality, just be sure to do some research first before parting with cash.
What about second hand?
Buying second hand can save you a LOT of money. There are downsides as you don’t know the history of the bike, if it has any damage or has even been stolen.
However, picking a second hand bike up for a sensible price from someone who has a good reason for selling it can save you hundreds, and allow you to get a good quality bike for the price of a new, poor quality bike.
Other Considerations
Alongside the price of the bike we also need to consider the subtype of the road bike (performance, aero, endurance), the geometry of the bike, and accessories you need to pick up as well (lights, pedals, bottles and the like). Get it wrong, and it can cost you a LOT of money.
I worked in a bike shop for three years, and have condensed my knowledge into a free course, helping you choose the right road bike you. It is accessed via my app, so you can learn while sat at the airport or pretending to watch the show your partner picked out. You’ll need to create an account to track your progress, but will also be able to access free courses on nutrition, strength and other areas of triathlon.
Download on the Apple App Store: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/phazon-triathlon/id6692608891
Download on the Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kj2148467458.app&pcampaignid=web_share
Finally, if you’re just getting started in triathlon then the bike will be far from the only purchase you will need to make. Check out my article that will help you pick out the kit you need here: https://www.phazontriathlon.com/triathlon-kit-list/
