Raelert’s New Ride

Andreas Raelert, the fastest man over the Ironman distance, arrives in Kona with a brand new bike from German-based Cube.

Raelert set the world record of 7:41:33 in 2011 at Challenge Roth. He has struggled here in Kona over the last few years, but appears to be ready for another go at the world championship title. A win in Kona has eluded the 39-year-old German, who made a dramatic Kona third-place debut in 2009. Since then the two-time Olympian finished second or third three more times, including a close runner-up finish to Chris McCormack in 2010 when the Australian outsprinted him in the last mile of the race.

Race week in Kona often sees the launch of many new products – we’ll be checking out the action from Kona next week here on triathlonmagazine.ca.

The new bike, the C:68, was introduced today in a release from Cube, which read, in part:

As part of the aerodynamic development process derived directly from Formula 1, detailed CFD analysis (Computational Fluid Dynamics) as well as measurements with the unique Instrumented Bike, which is based on the CUBE Aerium C:62, have also been performed. The Swiss Side team has specialised itself not only in the development of aerodynamic wheels but also in the optimization of the complete bike and rider system. The methods used by Swiss Side’s aerodynamicists are absolutely unique and ground breaking in the cycling industry. “The F1 CFD methods we bring are the absolute most advanced and our Instrumented Bike on-road measurement system is totally unique to cycling,“ says Jean-Paul Ballard, Swiss Side technical director.

The development work with Andreas Raelert has successfully delivered significant aerodynamic gains. His rider position as well as his equipment setup such as helmet, apparel, shoes and drink bottle configuration have all been optimised.

The highlight of the comprehensive bike and rider optimisation is the new lightning fast CUBE Time Trial Bike, enhanced with ultimate aerodynamics. Andreas Raelert will launch into the bike Kona leg on this new amazing looking stealth bullet.

Bernd Schenkl, head of engineering from CUBE, says: “The new bike is light and stiff with the advanced twin mold carbon frame. This frame is market leading in its form, with an extreme geometry transferring each and every pedal stroke into pure speed. At the same time, the bike modularity ensures the possibility for every rider to make their individual setup. Our goal is to build the most aerodynamic bike on the market. With this new bike we did a huge step forward to achieve our goal.”

This is also a massive boost for Andreas Raelert: “The new bike is a significant step forwards in performance. My partners, CUBE and Swiss Side, have delivered me the best possible equipment and setup so that nothing is left to chance.“