What do Canyon Bicycles, Ironman Triathlon and a very-long-named fish have in common? The answer lies in an all-new bike from Canyon, the Speedmax CF SLX Hawaii LTD.
The direct-to-consumer German brand is set to launch a brand new limited edition of its range-topping triathlon bike at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii this week, and it takes inspiration from a fish with a name that takes almost as long to say as it does to complete the event.
The fish, known as the Humuhumunukunukuapua’a, is the official state fish of Hawaii. It is a reef triggerfish, also known as a rectangular or wedgetail triggerfish, and is coloured in a vivid blue, white and yellow palette. Canyon says that the limited edition bike’s custom paint job is designed to emulate those colours.
“The incredible island of Hawaii conjures up so much inspiration for me,” explains designer, Lukas Beck. “I was particularly drawn to those in the front-row underwater seat for the first part of the World Championships. The special state fish, Humuhumunukunukuapua’a, has such a distinctively beautiful colour palette that catches your eye.”
Like an Ironman, the 22-character word, Humuhumunukunukuapua’a, can be broken down into three parts: Humuhumu is the Hawaiian word for all species of triggerfish, nukunuku loosely translates to ‘snout’ or ‘beak’, and apua’a means pig. Together, it means ‘triggerfish with a snout like a pig’, which refers to the visual appearance of the aquatic creature. It is also said to reference the pig-like grunting noise that it makes when threatened. No news yet on whether the Speedmax will emulate this too.
Canyon says the new Speedmax is equipped with ‘unbeatable’ components, although there appears to be something fishy going on, as this is later clarified as comprising Shimano’s second-tier – and therefore beaten by its own stablemate, Dura-Ace – Ultegra Di2 groupset. That’s not to say Ultegra Di2 is to be sniffed at – or grunted at – though; it received a solid 4.5 out of 5 in our Ultegra R8100 review and is widely considered among the best road bike groupsets available.
The Ultegra chainset is paired with a 4iiii Precision power meter. The cockpit comes courtesy of Canyon’s in-house products, the CP0019 base bar and CP0021 aero bar with triathlon-only mono extension, and Canyon has opted for one of the best triathlon saddles we’ve tested – the Selle Italia Watt Superflow.
Wheels come courtesy of DT…
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