£1000 for a newbie.. Commute then... for use in a Triathlon

Tricky84

First post so please be gentle...

I've been given the opportunity with work to join the Cycle To Work Scheme and have been given a budget of £1000.

This is supposed to include everything bike, helmet, lights etc but I could buy these out of my own money if £1000 wasnt enough for what im after.

I have been toying with the idea of doing a triathlon or two next year and was wondering if there was a bike that could be used for comuting 40 miles a day and then with a few tweeks being turned into a bike that I could use for triathlons?.

This may well be a silly question but I thought id ask 8)

Any help / advice would be good as I am a complete novice when it comes to cycling!

Tricky84

Could this work?

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/focus-mares-2010/

upperoilcan

That there is a Cyclo cross bike so would'nt be much cop for a Triathalon bike as these bikes are made to go off road aswell as on,

you require something more racy firstly with skinnier wheels/tyres a different geometry aswell as being lighter...im sure there will be someone who will be able to help you more on here,failing that consult your LBS for advice.

Pokerface

Pretty much any decent road bike will do the trick - just get some clip-on aero bars if you;re going to do a triathalon.

Boardman bikes seem to get quite good reviews for the sub-£1000 price point.

tim_wand

Did exactly the same thing myself a few years ago. Commute bike and Sprint Tri bike.

I went for Planet X Carbon Pro Sl. ( at the time 105 groupset and Model B wheelset)

The only thing I added was some profile century B tri bars.

Over time I ve bought a second set of Aero Wheels for the Tri's but the Model B's are more than up to it.

You can get pretty much similiar set up ( with Sram Rival groupset) for £999 from Planet X

and they do the cycle to work scheme vouchers.

Tricky84

Cheers for all the advice!

Im having a look at the Boardman Team Carbon this weekend

upperoilcan

That's certainly a more "racier" bike than the first you posted.....

The Boardman looks really good,best of luck ...

Tricky84

Does that mean that its going to be too uncomfortable for commuting?..

Eeeek... :oops:

I would like to try and strike a balance but I do like the sound of carbon 8)

upperoilcan

Tricky84 wrote:

Does that mean that its going to be too uncomfortable for commuting?..

Eeeek... :oops:

Providing you get fitted properly for the bike you should'nt have any trouble,like anything else...You get used to it..............

hells

I've entered the London triathalon 2012 olympic distance and will be using my scott addict which is a carbon fibre road bike. If I hadn't already splashed out on a carbon fibre bike I'd quite happily use my alu trek 1.7 which was my first road bike and cost just under 1k in 2009, now my turbo bike and winter bike. This trek 2.1 seems to be the 2011 equivalent of my trek
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/tre ... e-ec023946