Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Steel for the Ironman


Vic is proud to announce that he has completed the bicycle build for Mey Tseng, who will compete in the Louisville Ironman on August 28.



He took the triathlon frame from a Nishiki Tri-A-Equipe' :

and put on the modern Ultegra components from his Mark Nobilette:


The Nishiki frame was built by Kuwahara, the "Carlton of Japan" (in that, like Carlton, they did a lot of business building bicycles for other companies, and had some bicycles released under their own name as well. This frame was obviously built by Kuwahara for Nishiki). You might recognize the Kuwahara built and branded BMX bicycle from the movie E.T.!


As far as components, Mey specifically asked for "brifters" (brake and shifter combination), so we put these on:


She might want a triple chainring with a "granny gear" for any hills around Louisville. Apparently, it is important in the Ironman to save yourself during the bicycling and the swimming portions so your body doesn't shut down for the running portion. I mean, I guess that is just pacing yourself writ large, but I can imagine that it takes a heck of a lot more calories to run 42.2 kilometers than it does to bike 180.3 kilometers, as you have to do in the Ironman (yes, I did just convert to metric, it is easier, but more on that in a later blog post).


GOOD LUCK IN THE IRONMAN MEY!!



by John Wade