Mark: Hello everyone. Today, we are taking a little trip down memory lane. Now triathlon
dates back to the '70s and as we all know, it has gained a lot of popularity since then.
Back then, it consisted of a rather odd distance of 10-kilometer run, 8-kilometer cycle, and
a 500-meter swim. In 1978 though, the first Ironman Triathlon took place over in Hawaii.
That is where we're going to be stepping back to today but to the rather exciting era of
the '90s. We had phenomenal athletes such as Mark Allen, Dave Scott, Paula Newby-Fraser,
and so on. With that came some very exciting technological advancements and triathlon-specific
products. Today, let's take a look at some retro triathlon bikes from the '90s.
[music] Mark: Right then, starting in 1991, out of
the Queen K with Greg Welch aboard the Zipp 2001 bike. The obvious detail missing here
is the seat tube and the seat stays. Much like some of the designs we've seen these
days with the Cervelo P5X, the Dimond Marquise, and the Reap. This was actually a collaboration
between Zipp, Ralph Ray's SPINCOACH, and Desert Princess fame. The design was based upon Allsop's
Softride suspension system, which is something we will go into in a bit more detail later.
I'm sure many of you are excited to see that one.
Now essentially, this connected the front of the bike to the rear, to the saddle region.
The whole idea was that it reduced fatigue by reducing the amount of vibration through
the bike, which in turn would increase your comfort and allow you to stay in the aero
bars for longer. It was a fully carbon frame. It was also compatible with 26 and 27-inch
wheels, which is another thing we'll go into in a bit more detail through this video because
there's a slight variance in wheel sizes. It also looks like this was teamed up with
the Zipp 400 wheels that were released around a similar time although hard to tell, given
the motion blur in the image. We've also got the Scott handlebars. I'm not aware or don't
know of the model name. If you do, let us know in the comment section below. It looks
to me like this is a fully integrated handlebar setup with the aero bar to that base bar,
but the aero bars actually come out from the hood area. I don't know if it's for function
or aerodynamics, but the brake levers are also turned in and pointing horizontally.
I've also got down tube shifters. We've got just one bottle on the bike for an IMO but
guessing there are A stations and some gooey energy bar stuff on the top tube. Now, moving
on to the one and only, Mark Allen. [music]
Mark: There is a lot of interest over Mark Allen's bikes. Do correct me if I'm wrong
because I was only three at the time of the '91 Ironman World Championships. Huffy was
some sort of shop or something along those lines. Correct me if I'm wrong in the comment
section below. I'm really sorry if I got that wrong. They, prior to 1990, would actually
just rebrand a lot of frames such as those from Kestrel. In fact, the 7-Eleven Road Cycling
Team also rode on Huffy frames. In 1990, Huffy actually collaborated with
Lamborghini to custom design, and build their own frame, the Huffy Triton, which was in
fact, advertised in the Fortune Magazine on March the 12th, 1990. They said, "Limber up
Lamborghini-lovers; here's your kind of bike. Huffy's custom-designed Triton will set serious
triathletes or bulging businessmen back $8,000 to $10,000," which was quite a lot at that
time. "Each bike is built from scratch by the same gang of technicians that constructs
cycles for US Olympians." Apparently it was a flop. Yes, sorry.
Additionally to that, Mark Allen's here riding on the brand new newly released Zipp 400 wheels
along with the fairly new Zipp 3000 tri-spoke wheel. Additional to that, well, we could
keep going forever. We've got so many more photos to look through, including this one
now from Paula Newby-Fraser, from '91. [music]
Mark: It's time to talk about the wheels. Smaller wheels make you faster, right? That
was the thinking at the time anyway. There is maybe some research and backing to this.
I'm not going to bore you with the science of that today but you will see a lot of small
wheels in today's photos. 650c, 26-inch wheels, but these may well be as small as 24-inch
wheels. Really quite small. Now the bike is actually branded up as the Easton Hamilton
bike although a lot of people suggest it may well be a Felt. In fact, you will see the
Felt branding starting to creep in over the years on these Easton bikes.
Anyone know anything about JD wheels? I don't and I'm afraid I couldn't really find all
that much on them. I am hoping some people out there have an archive of knowledge over
the '90s period. Please do get involved in the comment section below. I'm just doing
the best off the geeky knowledge and research that I've gone to. Also, on the end of her
profile design aero bars, it looks like she's got the new Shimano Dura-Ace groupset that
was released around this time. Now, moving on to Jurgen Zack here in 1992.
[music] Host: Here he is riding a Quintana Roo what
I believe is the Zero Gravity model. The same bike, in fact, that he rode to a 4:27 bike
time in '93 on the Kona course. We can also see his front wheel here which is a Crema
4-spoke which was released that same year. That would be a tubeless set up with the Clincher
coming out later in the '90s. Back to Mark Allen again, I believe this is
on the Huffy Triton. Now we can actually see quite a standout design feature in this Triton
and that is the curved top tube. Also, compared to the previous year, it actually looks like
Mark may have stepped up a wheel size, maybe from 650c to 700c. Now moving on to the one
that a lot of you have been waiting for, we're into '92 with Greg Welch aboard the Softride.
[music] Host: Oh, yes. There we have it, the ultimate
a flexible beam designed to give you a soft ride. This was designed and developed by James
Allsop and David Calopp. Similar to the Zipp 2001 bike we saw earlier, it lacked that seat
tube and seat stays. The whole idea behind this was to reduce that aerodynamic drag whilst
improving ride comfort with that flexible top beam. As wacky as this design may sound
and look, they were actually incredibly popular. By 1996, at the Ironman World Championships,
there were actually 126 Softrides out of a total of 857 bikes. That makes up 14.7%, which
is quite impressive. Now carrying on in 1992 but now back to Paula Newby-Fraser.
[music] Host: She's still on that Easton bike but
you can now see that FELT logo creeping in that we were talking about before. The bit
I wanted to talk about was the size of the bike is absolutely miniature. If you compare
it to the bike she rode on the previous year, I'm not sure it is actually any smaller or
any different in size, but it does look like the head tube is slightly shorter. Maybe the
top tube's come down. It does look like the bottom bracket is weirdly high. I don't know
if that's just proportionately everything just looks a little bit off-whack because
we've got 24-inch wheels on there. I don't know.
She did ride this incredibly that year in '92. She set a women's course record in Kona.
8 hours, 55 minutes, and 28 seconds, which did stand for years. Now moving on a year
to 1993 and back to one of the sports legends, Mark Allen.
[music] Host: Here he's ditched his Huffy Triton and
now aboard the Look KG 196, which actually has loads of aerodynamic shaping going on.
Whether that was well researched, intended, and tested is another matter. It does kind
of look like they're onto something. They had a bayonet shaping to the frame going on
in the headset down into the forks. They also had a fairing cut out around the rear wheel
and extending behind the seat tube, which in all honesty, it looks quite modern. I'd
be quite happy riding around on that today. Now moving on, same year but now with Wendy
Ingraham. [music]
Host: Here she is on the Kestrel 500 SCi along with Zipp 400 wheels. If you look closely,
you'll actually notice there is no seat tube. There's also a really nice curve in the down
tube. I do wish we have more photos of this bike because her leg is hiding it but the
seat stays also have a lovely curve in them as they come up to the saddle. It is actually
a really nice manufactured and crafted frame. Now, staying in the same year but now on to
Scott Tinley. [music]
Host: Also on a Quintana Roo. I can't find the exact model name here. Perhaps you can
help me out in the comments section below. It does look very similar to the Zero Gravity
that we talked about earlier or they may be of the slightly longer head tube. Either way,
I mostly just picked this photo up to admire the tri-suit. Now, apparently, this was quite
fashionable in the '90s or so I'm told. Anyway moving on to the '94 Ironman World Championships
and here we've got Karen Smyers. Well here she is riding the Trek 5200 or 5,200
I believe because annoyingly her leg is actually hiding that little bit of detail on the frame
allowing me to identify that. I'm fairly confident in it though and actually this is the first
bike from Trek that used their OCLV technology which they still use today although it is
probably advanced somewhat since then. It stands for Optimum Compaction Low Void. It's
essentially the process they use to layer up carbon plies, use pressure then to compress
those layers together. Also, note she's got a 4-spoke wheel on the front and that is from
Spinergy. Now we're going to scoot forward a few years to 1998 to Natascha Badmann.
[music] Well, this is another bike that I'm sure many
of you've been waiting to see it is the CAT Cheetah. Rudi Kurth was the brains behind
this one He was a Swiss motor racing fabricator that simply became obsessed with bikes. He
designed and built this monocoque design but things didn't just stop there. Things became
even more exciting and interesting because he designed the X-fork whereby the forks simply
came straight up into the aero-bar eliminating the need for the base bar. Also, he designed
a hydration system that was built into the frame. Sound familiar? Yes, it certainly does.
Well, this design has certainly become iconic within bike design over the years and we would
love to hear from any of you guys out there that may have one of these bikes because they
really are quite special. Please please get in touch in the comments
section below we would love to hear from you. Now staying the same year in 1998 and now
for Thomas Hellriegel. [music]
Well, this is the final one for you today. It is quite simply the Centurion frame but
the thing of note here is actually the wheel size. We've got a smaller front wheel in comparison
to the rear wheel and this is an aero idea or craze that came and went quite quickly.
I guess this is the thing we love about triathlon, the fact we're open to these ideas and trying
them out and we still see that today in the way that we're pushing the boundaries with
bike designs particularly so in triathlon. I hope you have enjoyed today's video please
give it a Like if you have. If you know any more about this kind of era and the bike designs
and technology. we'd love to hear from you. You probably will know a lot more than me,
so get involved in the comments section below, and don't forget to follow GTN on our social
media channels. [00:12:57] [END OF AUDIO]