Precisely two-thirds of the wheels in the 25th Hawaiian Ironman were of the 700c size. Only one bike among the remaining third had anything other than dual 650c wheels (26" wheels).
This is exactly what we saw in last year's race. Maybe this is a statis point. As the chart to the right conveys, this marks the end of a steady drop from a time when the 700c and 650c wheel sizes were represented more or less equally in Kona.
Among the male pros, the overwhelming majority used 700c. The exceptions tended to be smaller riders like Shingo Tani and his fellow Japanese pros (Shiniche Ide, Takuye Shibata, Chiharu Chiba) and those who rode Softrides, namely Jurgen Zäck and Ryan Bolton.
It was the reverse among the women. Badmann, Bowden, Newby, Heather Gollnick, Gina Kehr, Fernanda Keller, Lisa Bentley, Ute Mueckel, Katja Schumacher, and quite a few others all chose 650c. Notable exceptions are Nina Kraft and Karen Thürig.
Is this the "correct" ratio of 650c to 700c in Kona? Probably, but not for the reason this ratio was evident in the race. The recent growth in aero bar designs that feature low-profile armrests mean that head tubes don't need to be as short as they were, and a tri bike's shorter head tube is one of the reasons for using the smaller wheel. But there were entirely too many road race bikes in the field (sez me), and that appears to me the main reason behind the greater number of larger wheels.
Whenever I write something like that last sentence I get a variety of emails chiding me for being an elitist and reminding me that a lot of people can only afford one bike for all purposes, and that it ought to be a road race bike. I concede the point, but also note that as I peruse the racks it appears this sole affordable bike often costs in the $4000 to $6000 range.
It will also be interesting to track 650c usage with the rate of female participation in Kona. As more women enter triathlon in North America, and the percentage of women in multisport increases, one would suspect the percentage of females entered in the Kona race to increase. A bit less than 25% of the field in Kona is made up of women, compared to 35% female among triathletes in North America, and 50% of all newcomers to American triathlon over the past three years. As these women mature and move up to Ironman distance, the percentage of women in Kona ought to grow and dual 650c usage ought to grow with them. Americans are of course only a portion of Kona competitors, and the rate of female racers is dependant on who qualifies from other countries.
