Next to the U.S, which has several hundred finishers in Kona every year, and Germany, with 175 finishers in 2001, Japan had the most Kona finishers with 117.
Its riders follow no convention. They march to the beat of their own drummer. This is the country most prone to riding homegrown product. Why ride an American or European product when Japanese ingenuity and attention-to-detail can make it better and/or cheaper? That appears to be the thinking.
They ride bikes like Intermax, Teikei, Westy, Maystorm, Noko, and Nakagawa, none of which, to the best of my knowledge, would ever be seen for sale anywhere other than here.
All of the bike brands which were represented by at least three bikes in the race are at left. As can be seen, indigenous brands like Attack, Shiromoto and Latido were right there with Trek, Cannondale, and Litespeed. Kestrel bucked the trend, however, and led all brands.
Fifty-eight of the 115 riders rode aluminum, and 37 rode carbon. Fourteen riders chose steel, and this is high. Japan is a big steel-producing country, however, and it has traditionally been the country from which a lot of top-quality steel bike tubing comes. Seven bikes were built of titanium.
Seventy-two riders chose to ride shallow versus only 42 who rode steep. Eighty rode drop bars and only 35 rode pursuit bars. Both these stats would indicate that the Japanese ride very conservatively, and they do. The exception to this is in wheelsize, where almost 56% chose to ride smaller wheels. This is certainly the only country in the world in which the majority chose 650c.
The other surprising result was in aero bar use. Syntace is the favorite overall in the race, and that is more often than not the case in each country. But here in Japan, Profile Design (with 65 aero bars) rules for a reason which is not clear to us. Indeed, Scott (15) is a close thid Syntace (18), and Shiromoto (10) is not far behind.
Shiromoto is an interesting brand, and we've written about it before. This company barely if at all sells its products outside its home country. But inside this island it sells aero bars, bikes, wetsuits, and who knows what else, and all of it is pretty innovative.
All of the bike brands which were represented by at least three bikes in the race are at left. As can be seen, indigenous brands like Attack, Shiromoto and Latido were right there with Trek, Cannondale, and Litespeed. Kestrel bucked the trend, however, and led all brands.
Seventy-two riders chose to ride shallow versus only 42 who rode steep. Eighty rode drop bars and only 35 rode pursuit bars. Both these stats would indicate that the Japanese ride very conservatively, and they do. The exception to this is in wheelsize, where almost 56% chose to ride smaller wheels. This is certainly the only country in the world in which the majority chose 650c.
