Prior to Kona, Spencer Smith had a very particular set of conditions for his bike-maker. He won the world championships in Wellington, New Zealand in 1994 on a steep seat-angled, 26"-wheeled bike patterned after Quintana Roo's geometry, and from that time until his hiatus from triathlon last year that was the style of bike Smith preferred. Indeed, even when he went to Specialized three years ago one of the conditions was that Smith's bikes must be of the exact geometry that Smith had been used to riding, even though Specialized did not make a bike remotely like that for sale.

All that changed after Smith spent a year racing bikes for the Linda McCartney cycling team, and in his return to triathlon he chose a traditional bike design built by Sigma, an English company.

We confess that we do not know anything about this brand, perhaps Slowtwitch readers will give us more insight. It is not the bike Smith was riding for the McCartney team, the members were sponsored by Principia, a Danish company more well known -- actually -- in triathlon than in road cycling.

We talked to Spencer about his change in bike position and geometry, and he said it was a riding position better suited for the longer distances ridden in Ironman. But since his return to triathlon he seems not to have the killer edge during the bike leg that he had prior to his departure from multisport. Whether or not that has anything to do with the technical changes he's undergone in cycling is anyone's guess.

Smith's bike features Vision Tech pursuit bars, and Zipp deep dish carbon wheels. Smith is riding Campagnolo components, which he's been riding for some years now.

LATE NOTE: from Slowtwitch readers (with much appreciation):

From Andrew Murdock:

Sigma Sport is a cycling shop just outside London in Kingston-on-Thames. They make bikes under their own brand and also sponsor the Thames Turbo Triathlon Club which has produced luminaries such as Spencer, Tim Don, Julian Jenkinson and others.

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From Jon Lord:

just for info after reading your breakdown of Spencers bike used in Kona. I live just around the corner from Sigma Sport. Its just a small shop in Hampton Wick (on the Thames just outside Kingston and about 15miles from central London).

They have gained a good reputation by being practically one of the only road bike specialists in the vicinity of London. The shop really is small, with friendly experienced staff. They maintained the bikes used by the Linda McCartney team and managed to supply two out of the three bikes used by the British Olympic Triathlon team (Tim Don and Andrew Johns).

Spencer lives just around the corner when in England so I guess it's a convenient shop. They do supply many triathlon bikes and will make up any frame for you - so I'm presuming that Spencer had a fair amount of say on the frame and set up. Its worth remembering that Spencer had major back problems in his first year of going long distance when he pulled out of the METRX race in California so comfort might be a priority. Tim DeBoom also commented this year that Spencer pulled the leading pack along in Kona.

Its a great shop.