by Andrew G » Fri Mar 21, 2008 11:27 am
[quote="Dominic"]and legs of course
Well Paul you certainly have the legs!
Also check out the [url=http://www.timetriallingforum.co.uk/]TT forum[/url] in the For Sale & Wanted section, you'll need to be registered to pm etc as normal but can view as a guest. They have a lot of good deals crop up in there (I got my new PX wheels from there) and it should give you a bit more piece of mind that you are buying from a genuine person upgrading (hopefully), you'll have to be a bit more careful with your vetting on ebay as there are quite a lot of sharks on there trying to flog TT bikes whole - the deals look too good to be true, and they are. There was a post recently where someone was flogging a full carbon bike and said it was based in Coventry but when the bloke came to pay they said (in very pigeon English) to send the money to China.
If you don't find a TT frame to build up, or find they are too pricey, then a lot of people start with an "old" Alu Giant TCR frames as with the compact frame you can get a good aero position on a smaller frame with big seat pin and the frame is stiff, you'll also get a carbon fork. I've seen quite a lot of builds based on these at open events. Anything you could build up as a dedicated bike so you could have proper tri-bars and bar end shifters will give you a good start point regarding position and staying in it for gear shifting, also you'd be able to keep the seat position the same without having to move it about a bit (up and forward probably) from road riding. Anything else can be added gradually as / if you want to / can afford it. Re wheels Rich will be able to tell you all about the wheel covers for your rear wheel.
I picked up most of the mechanical bits for mine on ebay too, but got from shops having clearouts rather than private sellers. I know you use Shimano on your road bike anyway but you'd be better sticking to this anyway if you are building up on a budget. Shimano do 2 different bar end shifters I think (Ultegra and DA) and I believe they are cheaper, whereas Campag only do Record. Most bikes get built up on Shimano too so there are more of these shifters available 2nd hand (particularly if you build up a 9 speed), Campag shifters 2nd hand are like hen's teeth so I had to buy mine new.