Subject: RE: What gear is hardest to find/buy? Depends on where one lives. Here, pretty much anything, particularly for women (what little gear there is is sized for big ex-pat dudes ). The hardest would be specialized things that are really used only for tri--race belts, the rear bottle mount for my tri bike, etc. and, of course, a tri bike itself. I looked for three years before finding a secondhand one that was the right size. In the US, pretty much anything can be ordered online if you know what you need. But wetsuits, one-piece trisuits, and running shoes have to rate as the most difficult. There's a lot of selection, especially online, but I've found that getting a product in the right price range that works for one's feet/body is really difficult. For shoes, I really need to try them on, and even then, what feels comfortable on a short run in the store can turn out to be a bad call after a few days or weeks. Wetsuits almost never fit as advertised, and/or one's body never matches the size charts--find a place with a good return policy. And trying to get a garment that's tight/sleek enough for the swim, comfortable in the butt for the bike, and not so tight that it chafes on the run.....that can be close to impossible. |