I am just about to begin tri training and desparately need to buy a suitable bike. I will be using it for training and also to ride to work most days (45km return trip). Can anyone recommend a bike or shop in the Perth area, pref SOR?

I'm not answering your question (I'm not in WA) but giving you unsolicited advice instead....

I've bought two second hand bikes for bargain prices.

Decent but entry level bikes are the kind of thing that people buy, and then either don't use, so sell, or use, get addicted, and upgrade, so sell.

I got one through ebay and the other through a post on a cycling website. The reason I've bought two is the first one was a little too big for me, but it wasn't a loss because my partner has it now.

So when you get given good advice about where to go, get them to fit you and make some recommendations, but then look around for a second hand bike before you make a purchase. A good bike shop wont mind (the one I went to didn't), you'll still be back there for shoes, clothes, pedals, helmet, servicing etc etc etc.

I am not in WA either but a word of advice is that a good LBS are hard to find and worth their weight in gold. If i was you go to the yellow pages, visit the shops and see what staff, service and training rides they have. You will find "your store". A good LBS will not push an expensive bike for a first bike, they will assist with bike skills or at least point you in the direction of some one who can.

Good luck because bike riding is adictive

Jaydub, have a look on the Triathlon WA website www.triwa.org.au. There is a classifieds section, and place to post all your questions on TWAchat. And get ready to become addicted

Get a 2nd hand bike, definitely. This may be totally wrong and i'm happy to backpedal (excuse the pun), but road bikes are more friendly, size wise - you can get away with a wrong size frame. I bought my first bike from a dude over 6 foot tall (and im 173), and had no worries at all on it. Probably wasn't the most efficient, but done it's job. Tri bikes on the other hand, or even a roadie with clip on tri bars, you're in a position that's too aggressive, and injuries will come out if you're not fitted.

im rambling...

Churchill cycles (booragoon, sp?)are better than what you'd imagine, from driving past it.
The owner (Rick) does amazing bike setups, has the best advice, and is an awesome bloke. It's the kind of LBS that is worth it's weight in gold. Pity they don't stock a decent range of high end bikes a la Glenn Parkers, but i've found that the fancier the store, the shittier it actually is.

The bike force's / TBE's going around aren't that great i've found. They've got a good range of bikes, but they'll try and sell you anything.

I would tend to disagree with that statement.

Care to elaborate? Because I have no idea why, i've never set up a bike, nor will i ever; i only have personal experiences - im young, flexible in most joints and injury free.. not the case with everyone i know.

I've felt at home on many frame sizes in a roadie position, because theres maybe half a dozen different postures you can adopt with the bars. If the frame is annoyingly too big, you can get a shorter headstem (granted, same goes for a TT frame), but in an aero position, with a shorter headstem and your elbows close to each other (TT), steering goes to shit, which is minimised with a wider grip (roadie position)

Put me on ANY other frame than my 51cm p3c and i'm uncomfortable, can't maintain aero and comfort, or either. I wasn't saying buy a wrong size frame, just saying that, in my experience and compared to a tri bike, it's not as important. Obviously a right size frame, you will be more comfortable and faster compared to a wrong frame, i wasn't trying to avoid that point, but i think road frames are friendlier, fitwise.

Again, i'm happy to be proven wrong or be called an idiot etc on any/all/some of the above.

Jaydub, I know NOTHING about bikes except that I love to hop on mine with my daughter on the back and go for a ride to the shops and back....so no advice, but my husband does a little riding and he got his bike second hand (he wasn't sure how serious he was about cycling) from Glen Parker and was happy with service and product.

I recently bought a 2nd hand entry level bike with the intent of doing some tri's. My LBS, some different tri people and my cycling mate all told me the most important thing is to get the right size frame. Something about geometry etc and power transfer etc etc.

Not claiming expert status or any such thing, but everything I've seen pretty much says - Make sure you get the right size bike.
So to say "You can get away with the wrong frame size" totally contradicts that.
Of course, you could jump on any old bike and not encounter major problems and feel perfectly fine, but if it is fitted correctly, you have better alignment, better efficiency from your pedal stroke, less strain from over-reaching if the bars are too far forward etc.
These are possibly magnified on a TT bike, but it's still important to get it right on a normal roadie.
You can still get a second hand bike, but if you get a bike fit done first, then you can look for the right frame size second hand, take it to your LBS and they should be able to fine tune seat position etc for you.
The small investment on a proper fit would be well worth it IMHO.

i totally agree with TynoMite, its the same as a runner with running shoes. Some people can be lucky and run in the wrong shoes but most of us need something that suits our biomechanics. bike fit is no different.

i have heard good things about Churchill, but never been. I had my bike fit done by Andrew Budge from Trysports and i was really happy with what he did.

i guess it depends on how much riding you plan on doing, if its just to have a go at some tri's, or really get into it. Good luck with it all.

I can also recommend Rick at Churchill Cycles for top service and advice. He was an elite cyclist in his day, and has been around triathlons for donkeys years so he knows his stuff. Unfortunatley I don't live anywhere near there anymore so its no longer my LBS. As for TBE, I'm afraid the last time I was in there I was totally ignored so I walked out. Kalamunda Cycles also gets my vote, Tim (MTB king) and Jo (tri queen) are very experienced and lovely people who give great service.

Wow thanks everyone for the great advice; very, very appreciated as I am a tad confused by it all at the mo.

I have been to TBE and Bikeforce in the last week but will definitely pay Rick @ Churchill a visit now. I know Tim & Jo thru MTB and yep they are the best ppl, unfortunately Kala is not really my local but maybe worth the drive at the end of the day.

Keep any and all advice coming, will let you know what I end up with and thoughts after my first tri ;-)