Looking for an affordable road bike (racing bike) for my first triathlon. Any suggestions??

Question

I live in Canada, so brands available here would be a plus.

Answer 1

Without a price range a good answer is hard to give. But, I always suggest trying to pick up a used road bike 10-15 years old. They can be had for <$200 usually and offer the ability to be very competitive for a novice.

EDIT: new road bike? $500 or $600 to start for a beginner.

Answer 2

I think that this bike is an incredible deal:

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/moto...

Answer 3

I feel like I got very lucky finding a used road bike on craigslist ($250 Novara Carema, teh REI brand).  I am super short so I needed a very small frame.

I had just given up on getting one used and looked in stores and the least expensive new bikes were $600 (and they still didn't have my frame size in stock).

I thought about buying one online but if you are going to buy a new bike, get it at your local shop. They will take care of you in the long run (my teammate got free tune-ups for life for his new bike).

Good luck and have fun with that tri. The othe rthing I realized is that there wasn't a huge rush for me. If you train on a MTB and then get a road bike you;ll fly!