Kona 25

is that a tri spoke with a partial cover?

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Not sure, it could be but the cover looks to be bonded right to the top, easier without a braking rim.

I’m sure it will be a bit more aero than say an 808 but can’t imagine it will gain much?

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Is that rear derailleur hanger legal?

I didn’t look into the small print regarding coverings and aero fairings but is it kit like that now on the banned list?

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That was just on a TT, not sure about a tri.

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WT don’t ban discs and disc covers in non drafting races unless specific weather conditions i.e. wind dictate so. And no rule covering derailleur hangers.

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I was wondering more about the rear derailleur fairing not so much the wheel, I’ll have another look over those in rule changes. Wasn’t it HED to release the first very deep rear to get around discs being banned at Kona?

EDIT: that

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EZ Gainz have had clarification that their products like front derailleur guards are within the IM rules, so not sure where things stand. Effectively seems like a large rule but only enforcing bottles down the top.

As what is that if not an aero gain

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So just free, home made hacks are banned. Expensive kit from hack companies is fine.

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There is no way that saves 2-5.8W :rofl::rofl::rofl:

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The physics of “saves x Watts” confuses me.

I mean, perhaps if you are on a Ducatti superbike putting out 165,000 Watts and you cover some projecting nubbin with a fairing, you might hit 250 kmh at 164,997 Watt instead.

But if you are an injured triathlete riding around in circles with your good leg at 100W and 26kmh, slapping one of those bad boys on seems unlikely to allow you to hit the same speed with 97W ?

Feel like some coefficient of drag measure might be more relatable, but then guess even that is probably influenced more by the speed and shape and position of the rider than which bits of the bike you put a plastic hat on?

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I’m absolutely with you on this one.
Most of the tests are done at a ridiculous speed.

Looking at most AGers bikes and positions, they’d save >50W by doing some core exercises and staying aero for >5hrs instead. That’s free.

Oh, and losing the 20 gels taped to the top tube, FFS :triumph::rofl:

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maybe tape them gels around the front derailleur? :thinking:

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Stuff them down the front of your trisuit. Is that still allowed?

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No, stuff down your front is banned now. Annoying as I use it for my own nutrition.

Agreed. From a marketing standpoint, it does always seem a bit wierd that for the general public all the testing outputs are at the 45-50kph sort of speeds. I guess the funding for all the wind tunnel time comes from the pro setups, and there’s not enough money to rerun tests at more “normal” speeds.

I do agree they should put the cda impacts out as well, although they’d probably say very few would understand what that means whereas a W number is more relatable. Even if it’s actually not.

There is the argument that a cda saving is a cda saving, and whilst the relative W figure won’t be the same at lower speeds, someone riding slower will ultimately be riding for longer, and so they stand to benefit just as much. That was always what I heard about the use of disc wheels. “I’m not fast enough to warrant a disc” - actually, being slower means it will benefit you even more in pure time saved.

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Isn’t it because the savings are negligible at lower speeds so they ramp the test speed up the max possible to effectively overstate the gain relative to the average performer?

Like the opposite of a faux healthy packaged company putting % of recommended calorie intake but using peak Jonah Lomu as the baseline daily need

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Likely not relevant to the disc question (as it doesn’t differ as much by angle), but it’s not necessarily the same though, as the other part not mentioned in the headline numbers here is the yaw angle, the lower your speed the likely higher average yaw angle you’ll see. So it may be a different choice of wheel, looking at the image below, you can see that despite this wheel being one of the slowest at 0 yaw, it’s fast at +15, so a wheel that is likely faster for the slower rider.


( from We took 10 road wheelsets to the wind tunnel, here are the results | Cyclingnews )

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Pretty sure that’s more like 40kph in most adverts I’ve seen, and when you factor in wind speed at Lanza, Barca and Kona it seems a reasonable number.

Also, depending on the course it may mean nothing for half the time as you’re climbing, but a lot more on the descents.

Still all to be taken with a pinch of salt; position, helmet and jersey are all that are significant in my mind. Ie rider not bike.

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Not Kona 24, can someone change to WC 2025 :man_shrugging:t2:

Tasty looking female start list, bit of a shame Ryf isn’t there and hopefully no dropouts before.

Bib Number First Name Last Name Country
1 Lucy Charles-Barclay GBR
2 Anne Haug DEU
3 Laura Philipp DEU
4 Chelsea Sodaro USA
6 Kat Matthews GBR
7 Jackie Hering USA
8 Danielle Lewis USA
9 Alice Alberts USA
10 Fenella Langridge GBR
11 Hannah Berry NZL
12 Gurutze Frades Larralde ESP
14 Regan Hollioake AUS
15 Marjolaine Pierré FRA
16 Marlene Helen De Boer NLD
17 Marta Sanchez ESP
18 Maja Stage Nielsen DNK
19 Kylie Simpson AUS
20 Daniela Bleymehl DEU
21 Erin Schenkels CAN
22 Lotte Wilms NLD
23 Els Visser NLD
24 Giorgia Priarone ITA
25 Lauren Brandon USA
26 Penny Slater AUS
27 Julie Iemmolo FRA
28 Katharina Wolff DEU
29 Elisabetta Curridori ITA
30 Rebecca Clarke NZL
31 Simone Mitchell GBR
32 Ai Ueda JPN
33 Ruth Astle GBR
34 Rachel Zilinskas USA
35 Laura Jansen DEU
36 Katrine Græsbøll Christensen DNK
37 Diana Castillo Franco COL
38 Fiona Moriarty IRL
39 Nina Derron CHE
40 Nikki Bartlett GBR
41 Barbora Besperat CZE
42 Merle Brunnee DEU
43 Jeanne Collonge FRA
44 Diede Diederiks NLD
45 India Lee GBR
46 Anne Reischmann DEU
47 Bruna Stolf BRA
49 Rosie Wild GBR
50 Laura Zimmermann DEU
51 Julia Skala DEU
52 Susie Cheetham GBR
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Should be good

I’m out there cheering the Mrs on, and will certainly keep track of the pro race.

No Taylor Knibb, so it should be competitive….

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