20+ Years of IMWC Bike Counts: What's Changing, and the New Dead Bikes of Nice and Kona

Triathlon Forum
1

Originally published at: 20+ Years of IMWC Bike Counts: What’s Changing, and the New Dead Bikes of Nice and Kona - Slowtwitch News

Every time we do the old famous Bike Count, it requires a lot of things and a lot of skilled people, all of whom are either volunteers or “voluntold” to do so. These fine humans, the day before the biggest race of the year, get to (instead of planning and resting up for the hectic day to come) hang out in the sun and spend hours hyper-focused on counting bikes, wheels, pedals, power meters, etc. So for about 8 hours, they and we get to catch up and try to have some fun doing it. And without these people, the count would never happen. I’m convinced that the bike count is the real reason we have the famous TGINR Party.

The count’s history goes back some 20 years. And because of that, the tools matched and have evolved with the times. They used to have clipboards, pens, paper, and sheets that looked like this.

The day would be filled with frantic counting and making sure you could catch a pee break without missing numbers. Then, everyone would gather around as we started counting the chicken scratch. Wet pieces of paper with ink all over were effectively turned into totals and then turned into percentages. Then, that was turned into data records and new articles. It was indeed a product of passion.

And for the most part, it was a somewhat bulletproof system (because of the people, not the process). Time passed, and the people who knew how to do it stopped going to Kona. Ironman was, at times, challenging to work with on access, and then all of a sudden, in 2022, we had two counts to do: Wednesday’s count for Thursday’s race, and Friday’s count for Saturday’s race, and the whole history of data was different. I left the massive 2-day adventure in 2022 and started to think on how we collectively do this more effectively. Starting last year, not only did we have a count that doubled in location, but it was 100% gender-specific and also geographically inspired.

For Kona 2023, I showed up with digital form links that allowed people to kill the paper and the manual counting. Ironman gave us a dedicated wifi access point with our own password, so those who wanted to use the digital form did what they did best: stared at their phones, clicked away, and then left 5 mins after they were done. Meanwhile the software spit out the results. We still had some of the “OG’S” that wanted to use pen and paper, so they counted in analog and we hung out after and helped tally the numbers. And by the skin of our teeth, we had our annual bike count. And 2023 was the most odd set of numbers from the norm we had ever seen. Why? Because for the first time in the history of the bike count, it was 100% gender specific, we could now start to understand what men and women valued most regarding their bike equipment.

About 4 months ago I really wanted to make the bike count a big thing again. We all did: the media, the industry, and, of course, our readers. So we went all in on it and committed to the process and committed to making it happen. Now it’s no secret that Nice isn’t as popular as Kona; everything about that race is just smaller. From the expo to the number of participants to, well, everything. That also rings true for the people that are willing (and can) do the count right. Only a few people on planet earth are willing to stand around for 6-8 hours that can actually see what type of saddle someone is riding and be able to record that in the 1-2 secs they have to do it in.

So we needed to tighten up what we knew we could do from a person counting perspective, but also, we needed to look at the data and figure out anything we needed to cut. As in, data that simply doesn’t matter anymore, or isn’t relevant. Looking back at the decisions we made for the count, we likely made mistakes on two things (maybe more, but these stick out). First, rim versus disc brake counts, and secondly, we shouldn’t have killed Merida from the bike count, even though they can’t really be sold in the US.

Consoldation = new important catagory

Now, as for removing bike brands — the dead bikes. What is a dead bike, you might ask? They made up about 5.2% of the total bike count at the World Championship in Nice. When looking at how we could do the bike count better, we realized we had to streamline things. Remember: less options = more accurate count. Looking at the data, bikes have the widest variety with 38 options of bike brands on the original count list. We felt that 11 of those shouldn’t be included anymore. Why? These are companies that, although they might still be in business, their focus has changed. TT or triathlon bikes are either not part of their consumer offerings, or they simply don’t focus on it anymore. This saves the counter time and energy, but it also creates a new and important category: dead bikes.

Those brands we decided to no longer include are:

  1. Kuota
  2. Fuji
  3. Merida
  4. Boardman
  5. Guru
  6. Garneau
  7. Kestrel
  8. Cipollini
  9. Planet X
  10. Stevens
  11. Blue

Now I know that Cipollini makes TT bikes, and Merida makes both a TT and triathlon bike, but the count of each has never really been meaningful to the totals. But after some additional information, I will put Merida back in for Kona.

Why does this matter? It matters because it shows us the unique purchasing choices of men and women. And after Kona we will be able to start to dive into that little bit more. But the fact that people are riding (as a whole) more bikes combined that aren’t even in our business anymore, versus some of the bike companies that are investing heavily into the endurance space is something to talk about.

Let’s take, for example, Cube. We have four time as many women riding bikes that are from companies no longer in business (at all) or in business in triathlon and are, at minimum, 4-6 years old, versus choosing to ride the bike that 2023 World Champion Lucy Charles-Barclay is riding and has been talking about for years now. Why is that? What is Cube doing wrong with its messaging, or design, for women? If we want women to be successful in this sport (which we do), we collectively have to be working towards helping them in a more significant way. And now one way we can do is within the data of the bike count.

With the ongoing relationship we have with tech and Ironman, we will be able to do more with less. That also means we’ll be able to cover more data and trends. We are also hoping this process, that as we refine it, anyone can use it for other races. We as well as other media outlets are looking forward to getting to Kona for what will be the first year where the combined resources will have data from both men’s and women’s races. And we’ll also have complete data, for the first time, after venues have flipped for each gender.

What will change? What will look the same? And we learned a lot from our first live count article, and we have that all sorted too.

2 Likes
2

When did Giant establish the Liv brand? I’m unsurprised that their Liv Brand has such market share at a women’s only race. But what are the Giant bikes?

I think that plays into why women aren’t buying Cube bikes. Are women less likely to jump onto their second TT bike than men? Maybe if I look at my own house, my wife only has one bike and it’s a Liv road bike purchased in 2016. I’m on my second TT bike (after my bike being totaled in a crash with a driver) and a roadie. When we were seriously racing she never saved to jump and get a TT or things hit us where we needed to use our savings. Now, of the continuous IM racer, what is their bike churn like? Because I know what I spent on my TT bike and really there isn’t much that would change to it now except upgrading my front end signficantly before I would jump bikes. Because changing my front end might cost me $1500 max whereas a new stock bike of similar level is at least $6000.

I wonder if Liv’s share would be greater if they had someone like a Lucy or a Kat behind the brand?

3

Not trying to be obnoxious, but why reprint the entire article when it can be linked from the front page or from whatever archive it lives? Long discourse of this sort in a discussion, turn-taking environment does not help promote conversation; rather, it’s length functions as noise that makes many users reluctant to bother scrolling down to the first response. Something to consider from a usability perspective, at any rate.

1 Like
4

I’m probably one of few people racing a Giant Propel road bike and happy to see that it will be counted. 99% stock except power pedals.

I’m probably the only idiot who will have 2 bike computers on my bike. One specifically being used for the climb up to Hawi and back. The reason is I am concerned about overcooking myself and want to know my overall numbers for that section. (Yes I understand lap numbers but a 34-36 mile section will give me an overall gauge of my effort).

5

I like the reprint

3 Likes
6

No it’s a fair question. Just trying to make sure all the “Forum Users” get the whole site experience. You know maybe some “news” every once in a while :slight_smile:

2 Likes
7

I get it, that the counting is a massive manual feat, and maybe some of this was already tried, but how about:

  1. Request all attending athletes post a photo of their bike and let AI figure out, what frameset/components they are on. It won´t give you the whole picture, but may get to 80%+ and then on the day it´s more a confirmation game.

  2. Simply ask (in a drop-down questionnaire format) each athlete about their frameset/compenents. Some may not wish to answer, but you still have a stronger base of data going into the actual counting.

1 Like
8

Why not tri bike?

9

I like the reprint because it saves me from having to check in on the front page. Now I hit the front page 1-2 per week to get caught up on things that haven’t hit the forums. Before I was at the front page in the 3-4x week range.

Although truthfully my overall ST usage has declined from previous years where I’d check the forum multiple times per day. Now it’s maybe 5-6x per week.

2 Likes
10

For me it’s a comfort thing. I had a few tri bikes over the years and never could get comfortable. I realize this is on me. I prefer to ride a road bike. I road the course on Saturday and the first 25 miles from the bottom of Hawi back to Kona was pretty rough with what felt like a headwind the whole time. So I know a tri bike here would be better off.

11

“Why does this matter? It matters because it shows us the unique purchasing choices of men and women.”

I wanted to write “well, it’s only half true”, but in reality it’s closer to “one third true”.

Key factors are: the gender, the race specifics and the market location / demographics.

With the current IM WC setup, you would kind-of need at least a 2x2 matrix:

  • 1a: men in WC Nice: aero with disc wheel, more European brands like Canyon, Felt, Cube, Argon 18, DT Swiss, Swissside
  • 1b: men in WC Kona: aero without disc wheel, more American brands like Ventum, QR, Cervelo, Trek, Zipp, Bontrager
  • 2a: women in WC Nice: 50/50 aero/lightweight bike, more European brands
  • 2b: women in WC Kona: aero without disc wheel, more American brands
12

The climb to hawi is NOT hard

13

I agree completely… I just worry about overcooking myself in the heat. I have biked it a few times already and want to stay within my numbers…I am there to finish and not compete.

14

Why isn’t c-dale in the dead category?

1 Like
15

There’re more question marks: if the “dead bikes” account for 5.2% and there’re 11 of them, then on average each of them accounts for 0.47%. Still more then Ceepo, Ventum or Ridley, which all individually would be below the average in the “dead bikes”. I guess it has something to do with past numbers and the ability to compare those.

16

Don´t know the excact answer to that, but I would assume the dead brands are (why is it called dead bikes, anyway?) are no longer producing Triathlon bikes, while the brands that you mention does…