Best bike at Kona

Triathlon Forum
1

Forget about Cannondale, Cervelo, QR, Kestrel, Kuota, et al., none of them can touch Cheetah’s record - 7 wins (6 Badmann, 1 Bowden) and 1 2nd (Badmann).

I do not know if Natascha is sponsored by Cat/Cheetah but she has been racing on the same bike for a long time with no visible changes to bars/fork/frame. Pretty impressive, considering the changes made by other bike mfrs. in the interim.

It cracked me up listening to Paul Huddle and Paula raving about Natascha’s bike on the Ironmanlive show like they had never seen it before.

Given this most impressive record, why aren’t more people riding Cheetah’s? Cost? Sizing? Lack of dealers/distributors?

Dean Wilson
www.anaerobiczone.com

2

Yes, she is most definitely sponsored by CAT.

To answer your question – D) All of the above…

3

They are expensive, $8500 for a complete bike $6500 for frame.

They are not in any local shops and they only come in 650 wheels.

http://www.catbikes.ch/

4

I believe you also need a special case… Something Scott will need to address with the new Plasma… Unless Konaby2008 wants to give a lesson in cardboard artistry.

5

actually a little less than that 8500 SFra for the bike and 6090 SFra for the frame. at an exchange rate of $1.00 to 1.3 SFra, this would be $6,538 for the complete bike and $4,685 for the frame.

6

" D) All of the above… "

Another barrier is you have to invest in your own private traveling bike mechanic. Cool bikes, but there are so many propriatey parts on the CAT bikes they are hard to work on, take apart and put together. I once watched the boys at Bike Barn working over Lori Bowden’s old Cheetah before IMC one year. No easy job and they had three of the best Bike Mechanics in the province working on the bike!

Fleck

7

Unless Konaby2008 wants to give a lesson in cardboard artistry.

I think that I will retire from modifying cardboard bike boxes. I’m just glad my bike made it back in one piece.

BTW on the cheetah website they recommend transporting the bike in a nylon bag.

8

I thought the in frame hydration was interesting … was that new for this year?

9

Nope, same bike all these years. It also has hydraulic brakes if I remember correctly.

Dean Wilson
www.anaerobiczone.com

10

Everything on her bike has been the same in years past, except I do not recall the grip-brakes. I saw them on some male pro also, but I do not remember these in years past. Hmm.

11

I think this is a replacement bike. There was a lot of talk at Wildflower this year about her bike getting broken by the airline.

Dave

12

I was not aware of it being damaged. If so, she got an exact duplicate.

Dean Wilson
www.anaerobiczone.com

13

Yes, she said her bike was broken.

Yes, appears to be the same one

Yes they are expensive

Yes you can order one…3 month wait.

Fleck is correct. this is like tuning up a ferrari. Very intricate.

Lori claimed to love hers.

They are heavy, Maybe thats why it was “broken” at wildflower.

14

they are certainly not heavy…they have a model at under 8kgs with aero wheels and aero bars…

15

I think you may want to contact the builder.

I can only use the info they gave me!

16

Forget about Cannondale, Cervelo, QR, Kestrel, Kuota, et al., none of them can touch Cheetah’s record - 7 wins (6 Badmann, 1 Bowden) and 1 2nd (Badmann).

Dean Wilson
www.anaerobiczone.com

I’ve never seen a bike win a race. I always thought it was the athlete who had to pedal fast for any forward movement?

Frank

17

I know him and diane his wife. they have a really light model. each time there is an expo on a euro im, theyhave it…REALLY light

18

I got passed by a guy riding a Cat Cheetah at the inaugural 1/2 IM Florida. I sped up to pass him a couple of times and then let him re-pass just so I could get a better look. Pretty cool bike. I wasted a lot of energy doing that, but it was worth it.

19

you mean the beam wasn’t carry on??

20

Since you came after I arrived, and you left before I packed. But the way that I had to pack the bike in the box was super ugly. I’m surprised that Mr. Rapp didn’t make fun of me more for the packing disaster.