Good afternoon, I am trying to find a good source of Tri events. I found a Tri which me and my partner were going to have a go at in early 2020 and then along came Covid which put paid to that. I have sadly forgotten what the event was called. I am looking for something with an approx 750m open water swim (not a pool) and is not BTF. I have never done a Tri before and thus this would be the first for me and my partner and would be doing it for a bit of fun. I don’t have a suitable bike for a BTF event, not the desire to buy one but I did find some which allow any bike.
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Age group BTF events will allow all bikes, as long as they not completely wacky, tricycles etc.
There is an event finder in their website. I’m not sure I have ever done a tri in the UK that wasnt BTF, certainly always needed a licence.
ETA I’ve seen mtbs, folding bikes, even a shopping bike with a massive basket in the front in events
Would love to see someone pushing their fully faired recumbent slowly over the mount line, slowly clambering in, and then passing everyone at 60k/h
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Yep, especially when the rider sucks at swimming and will take about 30 mins to swim the 750m.
I think my weakest point would be getting out of my wetsuit, takes me about 5 mins to get that thing off, so I will need all the speed I can get to catch up second to last place.
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Welcome to the forums @leew
We were all there once, I did my first on a bicycle shaped object and no one laughed…in fact I got extra encouragement on the bike course 
As others have said the BTF site is good for finding events, and will give you confidence the event is fully insured etc and not run by complete muppets…mostly
They also have events specifically labelled GoTri for newbie fun people, but there’s no limitation - you can register for any event you like.
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Yeah don’t know anywhere other than BTF being best source for race events. Don’t think they always have every one, but likely more comprehensive than anywhere else.
Not relevant to you @leew but we made a decent UK 70.3 list on one of the threads here, but even that is going to be unreliable seeing which events come back after covid.
I always wanted to do 3PX on a Chopper. Sadly, succomed to the cross bike and a Dennis the Menace costume to make me feel better (for being crap) 
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Welcome @leew and good luck with your first tri. Any road worthy bike is fine. Pretty certain there was a guy who did the Outlaw Tri a few times on a bmx. I wouldn’t encourage that though!
Thanks for the advice, so the jist of it is not all BTF events restrict choice of bike. Is there any easy way to know which BTF events are any bike and which are restricted?
I am not likely to use my fully faired though, although if I did, a bike time faster than the swim is very possible, as long as the bike course was suitable and not too twisty/hilly! I have achieved 60kmh for an hour on a closed racetrack before however real world roads often reduce my speed somewhat, poor road surfaces, junctions and traffic/other riders can kill my speed. I can do 10 miles on road in about 18 mins.
hi @leew. I’m a triathlon Technical Official (aka referee) so am at events to ensure they are safe and fair and also ensure that rules are adhered to.
there are only a few bike restrictions at BTF events as follows:
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for events where the bike leg is draft legal, but these are a) few and far between and tend to be aimed at experienced athletes, and b) aren’t in play at the mo due to COVID rules.
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you can’t use a fixed wheel bike, recumbant bike,or bikes with fairings on safety grounds.
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A “non standard” design bike such as those that have no seat-tube (aka beam bikes) and haven’t been approved by World Triathlon (the international governing body)
So what that means is that you can use any “normal” bike at non drafting events including time trial bikes. I have seen people use shoppers bikes (complete with baskets/panniers), singlespeed bikes, mountain bikes, fat bikes and Brompton folding style bikes. Provided they are roadworthy they are all fine to take part on.
feel free to ask me any question on the rules - that’s what I’m here for.
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Easiest thing would be to tell us exactly what bike you have and/or post a picture.
I have to strongly disagree with you there on the “safety” grounds aspect. I don’t consider typical TT/Triathlon bikes to be safe, there have been many instances of people riding into the back of parked/broken down cars, barriers etc in the road due to the fact that these bikes do not give an easy view forward of the road, also the rider is in a head-first position meaning a front on impact typically involves the head. Several of these accidents have resulted in fatality such as one on the A63 where a rider on a TT/tri bike rode straight into the back of a broken down car.
Now look at the bike below and notice how the rider is looking straight forward with the head in a comfortable position. Also if I was to have a head-on collision with a car or anything else, my legs would take the impact rather than my head. 
if you were to have a collision with another athlete with that unprotected chain ring then I would definitley say that bike was a safety issue! and by the way, you can’t take part without a helmet
remember - it’s not just collision with vehicles that have to be taken into consideration but athlete safety overall and than includes riders riding into each other, falling off, riding into obstacles and handling issues
anyhoo, I’m not going to get into an argument about what’s seen as safe and what’s not - everyone has views - I’m here to say what the rules are and what you can and cannot compete on in triathlons.
FB what’s the issue with fixed? Not havin a go just curious
Re-reading the post above, does the no fixed wheel, no recumbent thing only apply for draft legal events, and they are ok for no drafting BTF events? Since that picture was taken I have fitted a shield on the chainring. Many new models are now supplied with chainring guards as original equipment.
no - all events
lack of brakes
Fixes with brakes do exist, it is only fixed wheel bikes built for use on velodromes which are brakeless.
Sorry just to clarify road legal fixed (2 forms of braking) not allowed I get that track bike is non road legal is a no go
Nope, @knightlancer turned up to Midnightman on his and had to flip the rear wheel. He did say he was grateful for that after a few hours 