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Yes, every year Kona is the place to find the fastest pro and age-group triathletes in the world, but it's also the spot to spy the latest and greatest ways to get faster (and look cool doing it). This year's Ironman World Championship was easily the most exciting when it comes to new gear, as we saw (and tried!) multiple new bike releases, touched some eye-watering new aerobars and wheels, gazed at tech that could change the way we test our aerodynamics, and even tried on a nice upgrade to an essential piece of tri clothing (that has nothing to do with speed, really).
Sure the expo area in Kona was busy as always in the days before the Ironman World Championship, but there were unreleased bikes and bits spotted riding up and down the Queen K and Ali'i Drive. Pros were also playing with bike cooling systems, tinkering with wild hydration solutions, and even trying to sneak in bike setups that would ultimately be deemed illegal before race day.
We bring you four cool bits of tech that caught our eye, get up close with an unreleased new bike, ogle some insane custom paint, and tease two new bikes that we got to ride in Kona but we can't really tell you about (yet). Read on for more.
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We'll kick it off with some always-satisfying eye candy from the innovators at Dimond Bikes. Though most of the updates to their line are smaller details like stronger magnets on top-tube storage, you couldn't walk through the 2024 Ironman World Championship expo without stopping and gawking at two of Dimond's beautiful paint jobs on their Mogul model. I dare you not to be envious.
Though this mysterious new bike from Ventum didn't stay a mystery for long, we got an early look at a very different tri design from a brand with a long history in non-double-diamond frames. This UCI-legal frameset has been in the works for a couple of years (though it's been spotted beneath a few Ventum-sponsored pros already), and is intended more for the short-course triathlete who doesn't need integrated hydration (like the Ventum One). It's also insanely light at under 20 pounds for the build we looked at. Since this is a breaking-new bike, be sure to check out our own first look and way more information at the Tempus in our story here. Expect to see the Tempus available in spring of 2025.
Former pro T.J. Tollakson is no stranger to boundary-pushing aerodynamics, and nowhere else is that more visually obvious than in his unique line of Red Crown Racing wheels. Newly released this year, Red Crown has created two striking wheelsets that might not come cheap, but certainly break from the mold we see from other brands. The first is his tri-focused "Ruby In The Sky" wheelset that has a rim depth literally fluctuating between 80-85mm on a wind-cheating tri-spoke design. The Ruby In The Skys cost $3,800 for the pair and have a 22mm internal width with a 29mm external rim width.
Red Crown's second offering, the Ruby, is probably a little more appropriate for the crosswinds of the Queen K in Kona. This wheelset has a far less aggressive profile with a fluctuating 50-55mm rim depth and a 22mm internal width with a 29mm external rim width and cost $2,800.
Zoot CEO Shawn O'Shea confided in me that his most popular new item at the moment was Zoot's "Party Shirt" collection, and he wasn't wrong: You could find those shirts nearly everywhere you turned in Kona. However, in terms of pure tri-usefulness, I was most excited by some key updates to Zoot's Transition Poncho (which was also Hawaiian-themed). One of my own favorite pieces of clothing for the last few years now had shorter arms, a button-up neckline, and a longer (but slimmer) profile -- it's also available now. Though it might not technically make triathletes faster, it could literally save your butt (from being exposed).
While most of the pros' bikes in Kona this year boasted super-flashy custom aerobars, it was exciting to see a very cool new pair of upper-end aerobars for the rest of us. Profile's latest design (see what I did there?) is the ASC Pro -- a pair of aerobars that's compatible with literally thousands of stock Canyon, Cube, BMC, and Quintana Roo complete bikes, thanks to Profile's super-clean A2 and A3 basebar system they spec. The ASC Pro aerobars will be for sale very soon and are available in three lengths -- 325mm, 350mm, and 375mm -- with a 5-15mm offset (back and forwards) for $1,000.
Though they're not exactly the best-kept secrets in tri (yes, they've been spotted already this year), I'm excited because I had the chance to spend some time on not one, but two unreleased bikes out on the rolling hills of the Big Island. While you'll have to be patient for their winter rollouts and reviews, I can say that neither of these bikes will be eye-wateringly expensive and that both are a welcome (and unique) addition to the tri bike market. Two little clues: One bike is from a brand that has literally never released a tri bike before, and the other has typically only produced ultra high-end models.
Professional triathletes/professional tinkerers Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden have been spotted all over the Big Island playing around with some very unusual bike setups, and Body Rocket is part of the reason why: This "personal aerodynamic-testing system" uses sensors on four locations -- beneath your aerobars, in front of the head tube, on the pedals, and beneath the saddle to gather tons of data to measure your aerodynamics in real time (thanks to a Garmin device integration).
For Blummenfelt and Iden, this meant the duo was able to continue training and refining their positions without taking a costly and inconvenient trip to the wind tunnel in the lead up to Kona; for the rest of us, this product (that's still in the Kickstarter stage) helps out with AI to deliver meaningful advice on how to adjust position and gear to get "free speed." Of course free speed still comes at a cost, and the system is being advertised at roughly $3,700 USD and should see a full release in mid 2025.