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Slowman do you have any statistics on Kona gearing?
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Dan,

I enjoy the bike surveys each year. With some of the discussions recently about Triathlete grinding it out in too big of a gear I was wondering if you have any statistics on gearing for Kona?

ie. How many oversized chainrings (greater than 53)

any compact gearing (50-34 ((maybe this is too new)))

% of triples (probably very small but very interesting nonetheless)

Kona has the long downhill with tailwind from hawi. So many Bring Massive gearing for this section.

BTW I knw a guy who went to Kona with a single "big" chainring several years ago and he said it was the most miserable day he ever experienced.

That tremendous wind can knock you on your ass!
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Re: Slowman do you have any statistics on Kona gearing? [konaby2008] [ In reply to ]
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"I was wondering if you have any statistics on gearing for Kona?"

Never raced the course myself but ain't it kinda flat there? IM france might be a better place to study gear ratios?
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Re: Slowman do you have any statistics on Kona gearing? [konaby2008] [ In reply to ]
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"I was wondering if you have any statistics on gearing for Kona?"

there's nothing in kona that would require any special gearing. yes, there's the big descent from hawi, where there's a chance of a tailwind that rarely seems to materialize.

used to be that you could overgear and be in pretty good shape, except for that darned hill at 111 miles just before the kona surf. now, the hill is in the beginning, but it isn't steep. so probably a 42X21 or 39X19 would be all anyone would ever need even in the most miserable of windy conditions.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Slowman do you have any statistics on Kona gearing? [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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[quote]probably a 42X21 or 39X19 would be all anyone would ever need even in the most miserable of windy conditions.[/quote]

There is the climb from Kawaihae back up to the Queen K that can be a b*tch if the winds are blowing as they were in 2001. That 50 knot crosswind we had on the Queen K turned into a pretty stiff headwind for that climb. I, for one, was glad I opted to bring a 39/23 for a bailout gear (700c).

Haim

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"Sometimes you need to think INSIDE the box!" -- ME
"Why squirrel hate me?"
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