Kind of a mix. I do most of my own bike work, but I also intentionally have built setups which are easy to work on. Having helped some friends work on their bikes with much more integration, which took hours, I can totally understand how someone with a job + kids + spouse + training now also doesn't want to spend the hours and hours it takes to learn to work on a bike. That being said, there are a lot of really easy things that people don't know how to do that blow my mind, i.e. it's actually really easy to just prevent brake rotors from rubbing

lack

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Personally I love riding my bike and absolutely hate dealing with the mechanics of it. I can change a tire and that’s about it, and it’ll take me half an hour.

At races I’ll pay a hefty amount of money to get the bike checked because I trust those who do this for a living and it makes me less anxious about the race.

Also between the time to train, prep, etc. Having to learn (ideally with someone IRL and not on YouTube) how to adjust brakes, etc. It’s just time that I could spend with the fam or working out.

I flew with my P2 a few times and it took me way too long to reassemble. I’m happy to pay someone to do it for me.

The point is that services like TBT (or race mechanics, etc.) lower the barrier to entry to events. And ultimately that's a very, very good thing for the sport.

Kinda like skiing -- if we all were forced to tune our own skis / adjust our own bindings, you'd see a very significant decline in the number of participants in it and/or increase in injury from crashes resulting from poorly adjusted equipment.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

I doubt it. Someone doing a 70.3 has disposable income and spare time. Bikes work fine (if imperfectly) with very little maintenance. Someone could buy a bike from a shop and do nothing but inflate the tires every few days and it'll get them through a year of training and racing. Not optimally, but it will.

For those unable or unwilling to do their own maintenance spending a few hundred on a pre race tune up is small potatoes compared to the thousands it costs to do a single IM event.

There's obviously an advantage to having a well maintained, well fitting, fully optimized bike. If someone is going through aero testing, fitting, positional changes, etc, they're probably doing regular bike upkeep themselves.

I don't imagine a large group of people saying "I'd love to do triathlon, but I don't know anything about bikes". 99% is "I'd love to do a triathlon but I can't swim"

Based on the thread title I was initially thinking that this was about "pack riding" skills hurting Ironman, as in... "If people had better pack riding skills, Ironman races would improve."

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Tad

It took awhile, but I finally discovered that its not the destination that's important, but rather the journey.

Probably not. The Ironman crowd is mostly affluent and can afford to outsource technical/mechanical expertise. I do, however, believe a lack of technical skills puts an athlete at a disadvantage when racing. If you race a lot and/or long enough you will eventually have an issue during the bike. The ability to change a flat in 3 mins or fix other issues on the fly is incredibly valuable.

I thought the biggest complaint about Ironman races was how many people seem to have improved their pack riding skills...

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"

It's just a shame to me that these services have become so inseparable and we so lazy/inpet from the sport that we are discussing if it hurts participation.

When what we should be talking about in my opinion, is how it is this lack of self reliance and the costs associated with all these things that build the perception that triathlon is an incredibly expensive endeavor and therfor turns away tons of participants.
In reality you don't need TBT you don't need a bike mechanic, you don't need an expensive bike, you don't need $100 or $300 running shoes, but this all builds a perception that hurts our sport as a whole.

My hope is the demise of TBT is a small reckoning and helps to quell the perception of cost in our sport and thus help it become more approachable to many.

Hell, do a local tri for $100 in your tennis shoes, on your cruiser bike and have a great day!
All the rest is bull s***

I'm pretty sure it's an economic principle that specialization increases productivity, reduces waste and cost.

I build my own bike and break it down by the way.

If ACME Bike Shipper specializes in a service thst frees up 500 triathletes time to do all the many valuable things they'd otherwise not do, the economy grows more.

That is an economic principle, but unfortunately not one that is relevant when talking about individuals and discretionary spending.

And certainly not one that applies to the perceptions of people not involved in our sport.
The reality is people have the perception triathlon is expensive. This hurts triathlon participation on the whole

P.s.And in reality those triathletes aren't freeing up time to go add to the economy, they are probably wasting hours on Netflix or Instagram.
But, all besides the point and unnecessarily inflammatory I guess. The discussion wasn't about helping the economy as a whole it was about what is good for participation in our sport and I contend lowering costs or perception of the costs is good

There is an additional issue that the bikes themselves have become more complicated to work on. Bleeding a hydraulic line is more involved than clamping/unclamping a cable. Integrated cockpits are not for the mechanically faint of heart. Carbon parts need carbon paste and specific fastener torque ratings (whereas Al/Steel parts you could just go to town with an allen key). Even pros have issues; a few years back Eric Lagerstrom (who is/was a bike mechanic) had his race in Daytona ruined by a slipping seatpost after travel reassembly.

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