- I'm here with Canadian athlete,
Paula Findlay's custom Trek Speed Concept,
ahead of her kicking off the 2019 race season
at IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside.
(funky electronic music)
Now, Paula is a five-times ITU WTS winner,
having won triple back-to-back titles
in the 2011 season,
ahead of representing her country
at the London Olympic Games in 2012.
Now, what is most striking
about Paula's bike is the frameset.
This Speed Concept made by Trek
is done in Project One custom colours.
And Paula has chosen a fantastic colour way,
if you ask me, in what is
Miami Blue
and Slate Gray,
and I just think it's really, really eye catching,
and will stand out a mile
in this coming race season, if you ask me.
Now moving on up into the cockpit.
The Speed Concept comes with a
specific handlebar and base bar design,
made by Bontrager, Trek's partner company.
Now, this base bar is an extremely
streamlined piece of kit.
Not much of it to hit the wind
when you look at it from the front.
The connecting part up to the base bar
is a 30mm riser, one piece riser, in fact,
and there's a little bit of an angle
you can see there,
that Paula has her aero bars set at.
And these aero bars are a ski bend variety,
which just gives little bit
of a less stretch and strenuous position
for her wrist when she's in the aero position.
And she has got the SRAM blips here
for her eTap gearing.
There's also a Zipp bike computer mount here,
so that she can see her numbers and data
nice and easily in that aero position.
Also talking about the aero position,
she's opted for a Zipp standard aero bottle
that she's got here attached using Trek's
custom mount that they have
for adding any type of water bottle
that you want for sitting nice and central
between your arms when you're in that aero position.
So all in all, it's an incredibly aerodynamic cockpit.
Finished off with, as you can see here,
the junction box for her SRAM eTap gearing,
and that is tucked away really nicely
behind that one piece riser that we have here,
and it's bolted very cleverly
onto the stem cap of the bike.
(funky electronic music)
Now moving onto the back of Paula's bike.
We can see that, fundamentally,
aerodynamics are key to the design
of this frameset.
Now something that Trek do extremely well
and have made a name for themselves
with this bike is their integration.
And the speed box here is a prime example
of the integration that Trek do
on their Speed Concept frame.
Because essentially, this box here
takes away the need
for tools and spares rattling around.
So anything you need for race day can go in here,
and indeed Paula is going to be putting
some CO2 and a spare tube
in her speed box, just in case the worst happens
and she gets a flat tyre.
So moving onto what I think is one
of the most exciting parts of Paula's bike
is the group set.
And I say that because, as you can see,
Paula is running the very new
SRAM AXS
1x groupset.
Now by 1x, I mean there's literally
the one chain ring here at the front,
doing away with the need for a front derailleur.
And that solitary front chain ring
is a 50-tooth,
with
170 milimeter cranks
and running the SRAM Quarq power meter.
And moving back to the cassette.
There's 12 speed on the SRAM AXS groupset,
and the gearing ratio on Paula's bike is 10 cog,
right through to 33 on the easiest gear.
Which basically means
almost any type of terrain is covered.
It's an extremely large range
of gearing on this bike.
Now the solitary derailleur
on this Trek Speed Concept
is a SRAM eTap which is completely wireless,
and, given the way that Trek Speed Concept works,
with total integration and hidden brakes,
this really makes for
one of the cleanest bikes you're going to see.
(electronic jazz music)
Now the final aspect of Paula's bike
to talk about is her wheel set.
And those wheels of choice on Paula's bike are
the Zipp 858 on the rear,
and the Zipp 454 on the front.
And Paula's running
Bontrager R4
25 mm
front and back tires
on this wheel set.
And stopping those wheels on this bike is
another really impressive aspect
of Trek's integration and the Speed Concept.
Because the brakes are entirely hidden on this frameset,
the rear brakes are tucked away here,
just underneath and behind the front chain ring,
and the front brakes are fully integrated
into the fork, meaning that everything is tucked
away and hidden from the wind.
And finally, the saddle that Paula is riding
is the Bontrager Hilo Pro.
And the pedal choice that she has
is the Shimano Dura-Ace.
Now, I've loved looking at Paula's bike today.
Mostly because I'm always drawn to a custom paint job,
and this is another brilliant example of that,
and a real head-turner
from the folks at Trek's pro workshop.
I think it is a stunning machine,
and will, without doubt, stand out
within the transition area.
Hopefully you've enjoyed this video
about Paula's bike, so please hit
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And if you want to see another pro bike
that I did with Tim Don,
you can find that here.