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9. A solid green indicator light shows when the battery is fully charged.

9. A solid green indicator light shows when the battery is fully charged. Flashing green indicates half charge, flashing red indicates low charge, and solid red indicates battery near empty. You can ride 1000-2000 miles on a charge, the battery can be charged 300 times without losing any capacity, and when its charge drops too low, it first shifts slower in the front, then shuts down front shifting, and, finally it shuts down rear shifting.

Published Oct 14, 2008

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8. The shift buttons on the aero-bar brake levers

8. The shift buttons on the aero-bar brake levers provide the option that time trial and triathlon bikes are missing. And since you can shift under load, you don’t have to anticipate in advance what gears you’ll need on a climb; just shift as your legs feel the need.

Published Oct 14, 2008

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7. No bar-extension shifters are more aerodynamic than these

7. No bar-extension shifters are more aerodynamic than these shift buttons; it takes only a tiny finger movement to shift. The top button on each side shifts to a larger chainring or cog, and the lower button shifts to a smaller chainring or cog. But you have another choice of where to shift from, so you don’t have to reach out here to shift while grabbing the base bars for a turn or a climb.

Published Oct 14, 2008

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6. Shimano’s long-awaited introduction of electronic Dura-Ace shifters

6. Shimano’s long-awaited introduction of electronic Dura-Ace shifters for aero bars arrived at Ironman. Quick, accurate shifting under load from either the ends of the aero bars or the brake levers should appeal to any time trialist or triathlete.

Published Oct 14, 2008

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Virginia Berasategui’s front Xentis wheel

5. Sixth-place Virginia Berasategui’s front Xentis wheel is down to 15 spokes; a 16th should be adjacent the valve stem, but it broke on the gradual uphill to Hawi (on smooth asphalt under a 90-pound rider)! Berasategui was with eventual winner Chrissie Wellington at Hawi, but her front wheel banging her fork for 100 kilometers took its toll, and she dropped far behind, but a 3:03 marathon brought her within seconds of 5th place.

Published Oct 14, 2008

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You’ve got to fuel up for the Ford Ironman World Championship

You’ve got to fuel up for the Ford Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. But you might be one of the many with overactive bowels out on the course. And Kuota shored up its second place in the bike count from last year – further ahead of Scott and Trek (who reversed positions from 2007) but even further behind a dominant Cervelo.

Published Oct 14, 2008

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The handlebar count sheet

3. The handlebar count sheet; that’s Profile with the most ticks. Some brands are incredibly dominant at this most important of triathlons; Cervelo frames, Zipp wheels, and of course Shimano components are without peer. Who knew there were so many Cervelo P3s in the world? A quarter of the athletes were on them, and among those at the front, it seemed as though half were! It’s bound to continue next year with the P4.

Published Oct 14, 2008

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Fizik’s Suzette Ayotte

2. The only category in the 2008 count with a change in leadership from the prior year was saddles. Here, Fizik’s Suzette Ayotte celebrates her brand finally surpassing Selle Italia in total saddles among the 1,700+ in the race. Shimano is the only brand to have led its category in every year of the race’s 30 years. Kestrel and Quintana Roo bikes had each been leaders here in the past; now they are rare.

Published Oct 14, 2008

News

Ironman competitors deposit their bikes

1. As Ironman competitors deposit their bikes in the transition area, a phalanx of industry people count brands of bikes, components, aero bars, saddles, pedals, and wheels. Always in friendly competition, SRAM counters sit on either side of the lone Shimano counter, Devin Walton. The ticks filling the majority of the sheet of SRAM counter Michael Zellman (in green shirt) are for Shimano, but SRAM surpassed Campagnolo in groups for the first time this year.

Published Oct 14, 2008

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14. The front derailleur small-chainring limit screw is on the outside of the main, outer link.

14. The front derailleur small-chainring limit screw is on the outside of the main, outer link. The large-chainring limit screw is the little black one on the link behind the cage. Just shift to the chainring you want and turn the limit screw to avoid chain rub on the big-small and small-big combinations.

Published Oct 14, 2008

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13. The rear derailleur limit screws stop its travel like on a cable-actuated derailleur.

13. The rear derailleur limit screws stop its travel like on a cable-actuated derailleur. The high-gear limit screw, the more outboard of the two, is to be tightened against the stop when the derailleur is on the smallest cog and then backed out a turn to allow the derailleur to overshift to get to the cog. The low-gear limit screw is just set as a stop when lined up on the large cog.

Published Oct 14, 2008

News

11. Unplug the port on one of the drop-bar dual-control levers, and you can plug in additional shift button

11. Unplug the port on one of the drop-bar dual-control levers, and you can plug in additional shift button to have on, say, the bar tops for climbing or the bar drops for sprinting.

Published Oct 14, 2008

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12. Shimano includes a tool with a fork for unplugging wires and removing port plugs

12. Shimano includes a tool with a fork for unplugging wires and removing port plugs. It also has a long groove for holding wires or port plugs as you push them down into the port in the lever.

Published Oct 14, 2008

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2008 Gran Prix of Gloucester, day 2: Wellons was part of the chase all day day and earned her second third place of the weekend.

Published Oct 13, 2008

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