OK (mass produced) Tri bike for small woman?

[Lewis Moon]

A good friend here at work has taken up racing Triathlons. She did her first a couple of weeks ago, but used a department store mountain bike. Being the defacto bike guy on this side of the building, she came to me for advice.
As a State employee, her budget is as far under $500 as can be had. I figure we can take substantial time off her bike PR for ~$300 if we're frugal and haunt the local Craig's List.
What are some decent, mass produced starter road bikes that can be easily found used, and are produced to fit a 5'0" woman? I figure we could find something in a bottom end Trek, Spec. or Giant. Any other brands we should be punching into the search engine?

[BobbyJones]

Just an off topic thought-

If your CL bike market is anything like New York's, I'd skip the hassle and go straight to Bikes Direct or a Nashbar / Performance house brand on discount.

Good Luck!


A good friend here at work has taken up racing Triathlons. She did her first a couple of weeks ago, but used a department store mountain bike. Being the defacto bike guy on this side of the building, she came to me for advice.
As a State employee, her budget is as far under $500 as can be had. I figure we can take substantial time off her bike PR for ~$300 if we're frugal and haunt the local Craig's List.
What are some decent, mass produced starter road bikes that can be easily found used, and are produced to fit a 5'0" woman? I figure we could find something in a bottom end Trek, Spec. or Giant. Any other brands we should be punching into the search engine?

[chengher87]

Just an off topic thought-

If your CL bike market is anything like New York's, I'd skip the hassle and go straight to Bikes Direct or a Nashbar / Performance house brand on discount.

Good Luck!

I'd agree. You won't find a pure Time Trial like bike (with aero build) for that much. You could buy a cheaper road bike and then just buy the mounted aero bears yourself.

Nashbar does have a 25% off $40 or more than can be applied to fully built bikes deal going on until the end of today. If you are patient enough, you can find one on ebay. Orbea Ordu's are selling like hot cakes on the bay, which is probably due to Craig Alexander switching to Specialized. You might be able to snag one for $600-700 if you are patient.

[Andrewlcox]

My small wife has a Trek aero TT bike she wants to sell. She had a goal to do a triathlon and rode the bike ONE TIME.

It's in storage but I can tell you its small-medium with 650 wheels.

PM me if interested, she'll be willing to deal.

Andy