The Tri Centre

I got a pair of cycling gloves here when I had an outdoor cycle ahead of me, and no gloves. Makes sense really. Amidst my running and yoga, cycling has become a newer hobby and one which I’m not fully up to ideal equipment level with. I have the bike. And a waterproof jacket. And running leggings. Oh, and a helmet. But I don’t have waterproof trousers, and I didn’t have winter cycling gloves.
The Tri Centre didn’t have a massive range: only light blue in the small ladies style. But it was just after Christmas, and the lady told me they had shifted a lot of stock over Christmas.
I had a wee peek at their running clothes too. No ‘Nike’ or ‘Reebok’ there, just an unknown-​to-​me brand. Maybe it’s very good for cycling?
As a non-​serious cyclist (no clip-​ons for this girl) I can’t tell what the quality and standard is. But you can tell they take their cycling seriously. And they were friendly. And my gloves kept my hands warm, hurrah!

I use the Tri-​centre mainly because they have cyclocross specific knowledge, are near my house and have a coffee shop attached, but also because they are a friendly helpful bunch who know their sports.
Several times I’ve been in and they’ve recommended kit and I have not been disappointed. I really feel you get good value for money when shopping at your LBS (local bike shop) rather than ordering online. They will quite often recommend you DONT buy the most expensive, rather buy the item that’s best for you. All the guys in there are racers and therefore know their nutrition as well, but in the sense that they will recommend based on personal experience. I prefer this to someone saying «THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER». Different things work for different people. They do stock Stinger gels (until they sell out!) which I know some people lose their s*** over. I find them a bit sickly but each to their own!
They stock LOADS of Triathlon stuff and I would recommend anyone starting out popping in to get stoked about all the lovely kit you could own. I certainly try to pop in from time to time to encourage saving my pennies to buy a decent bike.
I think they also do kit rental if you’re not sure what you want to buy.
They are also a shop that gets involved. They run swimming sessions in lochs regularly through the summer helping people get used to open water swimming. They also sponsored and ran a race at dunbar in the scottish cyclocross series which was a triumph. It was an absolutely brilliant course and provided hundreds of people a fantastic day out.
All in all I recommend checking them out. Remember with a specialist shop or your LBS you get much more than just what you’re buying. You get advice, an experience, and usually — much less hassle if something breaks or needs to be returned. You’d miss them if they weren’t there!

After a lot of Internet browsing and magazine reading I eventually decided to go to the tri centre to upgrade my road bike instead of ordering online and I’m glad I did. The guys in there are the most friendly and helpful that I have come across in any cycle shop (in 18 years cycling I’ve been in a few) and saved me wasting almost three grand on a bike that would have actually been the wrong size. The service I got was first class. I had my new bike within hours and they even swapped the stem free of charge to fit my measurements — attention to detail like that is worth so much more than a few quid saved online ordering something that you think should be about the right size. Brilliant experience from start to end — excellent.

Being a dedicated triathlon shop, this is hardly the place you will come to pick up your next bike for your weekly commute to the office and back, but for specialist items it can’t be beaten, especially on its range of otherwise hard to get hold of items.
Anything you might want of a specialist nature for running, cycling or swimming can be found here, but be warned that these are the very best items for the job so they really don’t come very cheap. There is no point coming here unless you are a serious pursuer of any of these three sports because in general you won’t be able to justify the prices.
That said, however, if you do want something specific that’s hard to get elsewhere there are a limited number of bargains on offer from here such as a pedometer for £8. I’m no expert, but I imagine this price is hard to beat, but there isn’t exactly a wealth of bargains like this and they still remain fairly specialised items. It is a good shop so don’t look down on the 3 stars, it’s only 3 stars because most people won’t find it of use as they will find it too specialised.

The Tri Centre is Scotland’s only store fully dedicated to triathletes and so aims to fulfil all their requirements for such a harrowing pastime. They sell good quality mountain bikes, running trainers with state of the art cushioning and thermal swimsuits.
In addition, they also sell a range of accessories like goggles, lightweight, weatherproof jackets, sports watches and even training manuals. The staff are all friendly and know plenty about the sport. I had a chat with one of the guys inside and he told me all about the different levels at which you can compete in the sport. The highest is an Iron Man which consists of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike and finished off with a marathon — easy!
It obviously requires some serious and durable kit to get anyone through that which, naturally, comes at a price to match, and The Tri Centre is the place to find it.

The Tri Centre is located in the middle of the busy and bustling South Clerk street and is heaven for all the sporting enthusiasts. The shop sells everything you could ever need to either compete in a triathlon, or just to go for a jog or a bike ride. The staff in The Tri Centre are incredibly knowledgeable about all the stock they sell and are happy to advise customers on which goods, such as bikes or wetsuits would be best suited to what they are keen to do.
One of my friends is a keen triathlete and is always in this shop buying new running or swimming gear. The good thing about The Tri Centre is that you don’t have to be a sporting obsessive to go into the shop as it is great if you just want a good pair of running shoes or a decent bike. The quality of the goods is excellent which is reflected in the price — about £80 — £110 for trainers. They also sell lots of accessories such as hats, gloves, sunglasses, bike wheels and energy food.