Dealers

....:::: TOP 10 ONLINE TRI RETAILERS FOR 2005 ::::....

The list below comprises the top-10 retailers in North America who service the triathlon specialty bike and accessory market. This list does NOT include those retailers who ably service the swim, bike or run market and count triathlon as a peripheral market. While those retailers (Worldwide Aquatics, Colorado Cyclist, and Roadrunner Sports, as examples) do a fine job, they are outside the circumspection of this overview.

The retailers below were judged on:

• The number of transactions executed per year
• Breadth of product offerings
• Likelihood the ordered product would be in stock
• The ease of navigation and use of the shopping cart / website
• Service & Return policy
• Promptness of shipping
• Miscellaneous ease of use factors

While these 10 retailers are not listed in any specific order, there are three shops that clearly stand out as the most-often patronized. Trisports.com out of Tucson is the clear winner, Tri Zone in Orange County, CA is second, and All 3 Sports in Atlanta gets the bronze. It should be noted, however, that if one were to simply consider the sale of highest-ticket items, bikes as an example, other shops (notably R&A Cycles) would move high up in the "standings".

DISCLAIMER: As of this writing, several of the retailers listed below are Slowtwitch.com partners (that is to say, money changes hands). These are Mission Bay, SBR Multisports, Nytro, and Threesports. Certain Slowtwitch partners did not make this list. Obviously, those who aren't Slowtwitch partners did make the list. Draw whatever conclusions you feel appropriate.

NORTH AMERICA'S TOP-10 ONLINE TRI RETAILERS
Trisports.com	Tri Zone
All 3 Sports	Nytro
Inside Out Sports	Gear West
SBR Multisports	R&A
Trizilla	Threesports
Mission Bay Multisport	Team Estrogen
WORTHY OF MENTION
Total Tri	Trivillage
Fast Splits	Keiths Triathlon Shop

Click to find CONTACT INFORMATION for the dealers above.

....:::: TRISPORTS.COM ::::....

This shop can be found at http://www.trisports.com. Seton Claggett runs this very popular portal out of Tucson, and this is the most popular tri-specific online retailer among Slowtwitch readers, and for a variety of reasons. They stock deep. They have a wide range of products. They ship promptly. Their prices are quite good.

PRO: They are one of the rare tri-specific sites that offer PayPal. They are generous with returns, and they offer a 15% discount if you have a discount code, and we understand SLOWTWITCH is one such code.

CON: They do not offer priority shipping, so you have to wait a few days if you're on the East Coast.

....:::: TRI ZONE ::::....

This shop can be found at http://www.tri-zone.com. Jeff & Gayla Greeley have been shipping online to triathletes for awhile, and do it well. It's the second most popular retail portal among Slowtwitch readers.

PRO: A broader selection of arcane tri-specific accessories than you'll find anywhere.

CON: The website is not as easy to navigate as it could be.

....:::: ALL 3 SPORTS ::::....

This shop can be found at http://www.all3sports.com. Patrick Dowd rode into Atlanta in the new millenium and took it by storm. This aggressive retailer owns the brick & mortar multisport biz in that town. He also owns a nice chunk of the nationwide online business.

PRO: Sells large and small ticket items. Stocks deep.

CON: Readers report that you can't return a wetsuit if it's been tried in the water.

....:::: NYTRO ::::....

This shop can be found at http://www.nytro.com. When it comes to high-end bike stuff, San Diego-based Nytro is the king.

PRO: Readers report that this shop has more product knowledge about a wider range of items than any other, and its sales staff freely grants this knowledge to those who inquire.

CON: Its product offerings are so wide, so broad, so deep, in so many areas, that it can't possibly keep it all in stock. Therefore you might order an item only to find it's not currently available.

....:::: GEAR WEST ::::....

This shop can be found at http://www.gearwestbike.com. Read about All 3 Sports in Atlanta, that's what Kevin O'Connor has done in and for the Twin Cities. Realize, if you just go to gearwest.com, you'll have the opportunity to buy running shoes, including a wide selection of cross country spikes, and XC ski stuff. Wrong Gear West. you have to go to gearwestbike.com.

PRO: Lots of stuff, great closeouts, nice prices, broad range. There are little icons next to products, a turtle for "out of stock" and another which indicates that it's an item that is in the store, but cannot be shipped mail order because of a constraint placed by the manufacturer.

CON: It might be nice to see one more page in the navigational scheme, with thumbnails of everything available in a category (sbrshop.com provides a good example of this), rather than having to scan through three of four pages to see everything in (say) the wetsuit category.

....:::: MISSION BAY MULTISPORT ::::....

This shop can be found at http://www.missionbaymultisport.com. This store, along with Nytro, has been doing mail order to triathletes longer than any other. Only R&A rivals the mail order tenure of these two shops.

PRO: Especially on the bigger ticket items, you just aren't going to find a broader, deeper range of stuff in stock anywhere. From bikes to wetsuits, nobody has more of it and has it -- in stock -- right now. Website is relatively easy to navigate.

CON: There are a few little quirks on the site. For example, at trisports.com or sbrshop.com you can order your T1 Bib and Pullover separately, whereas at this site you can only order it via the website as a unit. So, if you're ordering a Size 2 Pullover and a 3 Bibjohn (common sizing for women) you'd have to call on the phone to place your order.

....:::: INSIDE OUT SPORTS ::::....

This shop can be found at http://www.insideoutsports.com. Cid Cardoso Jr. runs a tight business, and this is the guy you'll see retailing at every Ironman in North America. He's a top athlete himself, nice guy, and his affable and pleasant personality runs down through his staff.

PRO: Nice website, easy to navigate, pleasant to the eyes. Lots of extra explanations, not just things for sale. Okay, here's another thing. Inside Out sells running shoes. And, they give a 15% discount to tri club members (if you're registered as such with Inside Out, and how hard can it be to get that done?) So, My Brooks Adrenalin V (which I must buy 4 or 5 times per year) will cost me $77, with no tax, instead of the $80 with tax I get from Roadrunner Sports, and $90 I'll pay everywhere else.

CON: Dan Empfield to Cid Cardos, Jr.: Since you train, and I race, in Adidas Rotterdams, why aren't they on your website for sale, since you carry Adidas? Where's the love? More importantly, where's the Rotterdams?

....:::: SBR Multisports ::::....

This shop can be found at http://www.sbrshop.com. I must assume that Christophe, the owner, is an Apple Computer guy, because the clean, detailed, professional presentation of his goods are unsurpassed. He's got the dual processor G5 of online sites.

PRO: The best website going, bar none. Order tracking! Great selection. Stocks deep. Matches prices. Ships international, and to APO/FPO. Will accept a returned wetsuit post-swim. There's just nothing wrong with this store that we can find.

CON: If you make the mistake of going to www.sbrmultisports.com, you can easily miss how it is you get to the online store, which is sbrshop.com. When you call on the telephone you're apprised that the web address is sbrmultisports.com. Why? For small reasons such as this, his store is not as frequently patronized among Slowtwitch readers as certain others. But it should be. This shop has every reason to sell as much in dollars online as Trisports.com.

....:::: Trizilla ::::....

This shop can be found at http://www.trizilla.com. Jim Skirball runs Trizilla quite ably, and we've found no complaints with his helpful and prompt service. This Pittsburg, PA, store has a surprisingly nice website considering it's headquartered in, well, Pittsburg, PA (not a hotbed of triathlon). But a nice site it is, nonetheless.

PRO: Easily navigable site, and a staff that absorbs knowledge and passes it on to its consumers. Broad range of products.

CON: Somewhat leaner than other sites as to product offerings. You'll find Ironman and XTerra wetsuits here, while at Inside Out Sports you'll find these two plus QR, at Mission Bay you can add Orca and T1 to that list, and at SBR you get all these plus Aquaman and Zoot.

...:::: Threesports ::::....

This shop can be found at http://www.threesports.com. This is a relatively new shop (4 years old) and very new online reseller (2nd year). They were the exclusive reseller at XTerra events for two years, and still do tech support at XTerra Richmond.

PRO: Very nice site. Well conceived, easy to navigate. 15% off if you're a club member, which costs $100 up-front, but you get a very nice Castelli kit easily worth the C-note for joining. These guys are knowledgeable, and the service before, during and after the sale has gotten good reviews by users.

CONS: Narrow in product range. This can't be your sole source online for tri-specific goods.

...:::: Team Estrogen ::::....

This shop can be found at http://www.teamestrogen.com. Thing is, you've got to be a chick to shop here. It's just chick stuff. But, as it goes, it's a really top-notch site.

PRO: Maybe equal to sbrshop.com as the most navigable, appealing online tri site. And they sell all sorts of stuff. Six different categories of creams and goos and oils and stuff like that. Sort of a Crabtree & Evelyn for the sporty set.

CON: It's for chicks and I'm a guy, so, there's limited utility there.

...:::: R&A ::::....

This shop can be found at http://www.racycles.com. More pro bikes than anybody. Period. Been doing mail order a long time. Been doing overseas business a long time. A fixture.

PRO: You want a pro bike? At a good price? This is the place.

CON: The website is new, it's cool, but it's a tad buggy, so go the reports I've heard. Also, the service is not going to be as 100% spot-on as what you'd get at, say, Trisports.com. Simply put, 29 out of 30 reports I get about Trisports is positive. With R&A, it's more like 6 positives out of 7, and the 7th is usually only a mild disatisfaction. Perhaps the ticket with R&A is just to do your research and know what you want before you go there to buy it.

...:::: TOTAL TRI ::::....

This shop can be found at http://www.totaltri.com. This Sacramento area shop would've made the top-10 list, but that it's a bit on the lean side, product-wise.

PRO: Very nice site, nice layout, easy to navigate.

CON: Too narrow yet in products. Wetsuits? Only Ironman. Bikes? none that can be sold mail order. Should this shop pick up QR bikes and wetsuits, T1 wetsuits, one or two more items, maybe it breaks into the top 10.

...:::: FAST SPLITS ::::....

This shop can be found at http://www.fastsplits.com. This Boston-based store has an impressive and ambitious mission that includes brick & mortar, online, as well as coaching, testing, a one-stop-shop for everything technical and scientific.

PRO: Broad set of product categories, including bike, tri, and running.

CON: I'm not a fan of the site. I counted seven clicks from the home page until I could actually see a photo of a wetsuit. Also, There needs to be a few more hot brands. No QR, no Cervelo, no T1, and if there's apparel, I couldn't find it. Good start, needs a bit more work to break into the top-10.

...:::: TRIVILLAGE ::::....

This shop can be found at http://www.trivillage.com. The ONLY thing keeping this off the top-10 list is that it doesn't sell bikes. That, and if you're going to be an apparel/accessories only seller, perhaps a 4th and maybe 5th line of wetsuits is in order.

PRO: Top-caliber website, easy to navigate, lots of fun to read. Also, they sell shoes, and the prices are very good. This is easily a top-10 shop in many ways.

CON: Wetsuits, well, no T1, no QR, no Aquaman. They do carry Orca, XTerra and Ironman. Good wetsuits, but there's some redundancy there. Nothing spicey.

...:::: KEITH'S TRIATHLON SHOP ::::....

This shop can be found at http://www.keithstriathlon.com. It doesn't have the glitz of the other sites, but it's Keith. You get Keith. That makes up for it.

PRO: Generally considered the nicest, most helpful guy at Southest triathlons, now the Johnny Cobb is no longer on the circuit. That's Keith. So, you shop at his site because you're loyal and you want to pay him back for all the favors he's done you throughout the years.

CON: Keith sells what he wants to sell, and nothing more. So, it's one wetsuit brand (XTerra). And so it goes.