Originally published at: Kanute Takes On The Enemy of Speed with ZIPP - Slowtwitch News
Located at 5321 Walt Pl Indianapolis, IN 46254, is the SRAM/ZIPP HQ. It’s been over 10 years since I stepped foot into it. It’s a little different these days. What was once filled with lots of other companies, OEM wheels, HED, Bontrager, and others all had wheels present on the floor back in the day. This time around, none of those company’s products were present (at least I didn’t see anything of them). Usually, when you get older, things tend to look smaller than you remember them. At this point, the warehouse was for sure bigger or at least the depth of the factory was bigger and the lack of other wheel company’s products. What used to be a ½ filled factory with other companies products had been replaced with a bustling warehouse with only ZIPP/SRAM products.
We were invited to Indy to do a feature on professional athlete Ben Kanute who was recently picked up from Zipp at the start of 2024. It was a great chance for slowtwitch.com and me to see what was new and get some time in the ACH tunnel. Our job for the two days was to give you, our community, a better understanding of the relationship between Athlete and Sponsor, the enemy of speed. DRAG and, in this case, their united relationship against the enemy. I have been through this process a couple of times now. Jordan Rapp and Paula Findley are at Specialized, and Matt Reed and Andy Potts both at different times at the AR2 Tunnel in NC. Every time is a little different from the last. You have an athlete looking for ABC and a Manufacturer looking for ABC, and sometimes those are the same, and sometimes it’s ABC123. This time was very ABC and ABC.
We flew into Chicago to pick up Ben, who was staying at his parents’ house. The grandparents watched the kids so that he and his wife Courtney could go to the T100 race and get out of the AZ heat for a bit. So, I just told him that we would fly into Chicago and grab him.
Ben had never been to the ARC wind tunnel before, and I was excited to get to this one as well. It was the last major bike wind tunnel in America for me to check off the list. Ben’s dad tagged along, and we drove down to Indy Sunday night so we could get a factory tour on Monday and do the wind tunnel on Tuesday. Paraic McGlynn (Ben’s fit advisor) landed in Indy later that night, and we all devised our plan for the morning.
Now if you don’t know Paraic is one hell of an intelligent human. Almost too smart ( if you know what I mean); although he can still have a pretty funny dinner conversation, none the less he can be the type of smart when you sort of need to say, “Dude, I don’t care how fast this is, I look and feel silly and there is zero chance this works for 112 miles”. Even with that, it was a total pleasure hanging out with him for the two days we were together. I think Ben and he work well together because Ben seems filled with a lot of real-world common sense, and Paraic is just filled with Tech and Data, so between them, a pretty good balance settles in.
I have said this before, and I will repeat it here. Wind tunnels are only good if you come prepared to make the changes you can make in real life. So, in other words, if you can save 3 watts in the tunnel by wearing a helmet that doesn’t fit you all. Find 3 other watts somewhere else because that just doesn’t work.
Ben had four things in mind when it came to the tunnel that he wanted answers on before he started his big training block for Kona
His current TT position: He needed to go up and out and to do that he needed new bars.
Helmet: Do you wear the new Wing Dream Rudy TT and look like Darth Vadar, the older Rudy TT Helmet THE WING, or, knowing that KONA is just HOT, do you use a road helmet?
Calf Sleeves/Aero Socks: Does he wear them or not?
Bottle Positions: Ben wants the option of bringing 5 bottles with him for KONA ( I don’t know why, but hey, that’s up to him)
If you are tired of reading by now. This is when you hit the YouTube video above. If not you come back up and hit it after my rambling. #alwayswatchthevideoregardless
When he and I were on the phone planning this trip, I had some frank conversations with Ben about his position, and what I told him was the following: “You look like you are getting ready to do the Olympic TT, not an Ironman; you need to go up and out, and when you get to the wind tunnel, you need to take the time to test that all the way until you can’t go up and out anymore.”
The wind tunnel told him the same thing. He continued to put spaces under his bars and test, and then more spacers, and then more. Whenever he added and lengthened his bars, there was either no penalty or he would get 3-4 watts. In the meantime, his hips started to open, and his breathing improved. (Paraic had this fun, incredible tool that measured everything.)
Conclusion for Aero Position Result: Ben tested 5 different times around the aero bars and Eventually, Ben ended up 40mm taller, 20mm forward, and in the process became 8 watts faster. Ben chose the AERO THREE EXTENSIONS for his KONA ride.
Helmet—Since Ben is sponsored by the Rudy Project (which he loves), he only had three options: the new TT, the older TT, or a Road Helmet. The new Wing Dream saved Ben 2 watts over the older The Wing, and the Road Helmet he tested was 10 watts slower than the older TT (OK, for all you aero geeks on the thread that is a massive difference im not sure how anyone can wear a road helemt for KONA knowing that you’re giving away 12 watts.
Although, the challenging thing with the newer faster Rudy TT is can you keep the new visor on doing the whole race? Because if that thing comes off for any reason, you lose 13 watts. Not to mention all the wind that buzzes in your ears for the rest of the day, ask Jackie Herring about it.
Conclusion for Helmet Result: Ben gained 2 watts with the new Wing Dream Rudy TT helmet
Bottles: Ben got 3 bottles on the back without any negatives of drag.
Conclusion of Bottles: I dont think Ben should use 3 bottles in the back 🙂
Calf Sleeves: Ben tested three things in the end. Silca Aero Socks tested 2 watts slower than Ben’s skin, and Santini’s Calf Sleeves tested 2 watts faster than Ben’s skin. Now, I will point out that these are aero socks compared to Aero Calf Sleeves.
Conclusion for Aero Calf Sleeves: Santini’s Aero Sleeves and +2 Watts
Before and After
Baseline Position
Final Postion
Difference
Total Wind Tunnel Gains:
Bike Position + 8
Helmet +2
Calf Sleeves +2
Total Kona Savings = 12 watts
What I found interesting was the lack of time ZIPP took to test their products on Ben. We didn’t test the new Super 9 DISC wheel or any of their bars and cages. They didn’t want to put on other wheels besides the 858 NSW’s. And to be honest, it reminded me that ZIPP continues their core principles that I have known for 15 plus years ago. Zipp has always been great to work with when it comes to the athletes they believe in. They start relationships with long-term goals and understand the importance of that long-term commitment. The day before the wind tunnel was 6 hours of factory tours and meetings. The entire product team sat down with Ben to understand his goals and how they could build out the program to support those goals. Spending time with Declan and Nathan over those 2 days brought back that sense of athlete commitment that I have known the brand to have. So in other words, they didn’t need to test those things with Ben because those things didn’t matter. After all, they already knew the outcome. It was more critical for ZIPP to have Ben test things that he wanted to know about.
We just got back from Ben’s KONA Camp yesterday, and I’m looking forward to telling that story leading up to the race in the next 7 weeks 🙂
You can follow Ben Kanute on IG here