It’s been an eventful few seasons for 35-year-old Joe Skipper. He raced five iron-distance events in 2021—winning Ironman U.K. and Chattanooga, finding his way onto the podium at two more. In 2022 he finished at another four iron-distance races—winning Ironman Arizona and Ironman Wales, but more importantly flaring up on everyone’s radar with a fifth-place finish in Kona. Known for his dangerous run, but increasingly for a fast-improving bike, the Brit showed off his Argon 18 to our photographers at his place in Antibes, just south of Nice, France.
Check out some of the special touches below that Skipper made to his bike to prepare for the unique demands of the Ironman World Championship course in Nice.
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Joe Skipper will be riding a large Argon 18 E-119 in Nice this weekend.
Skipper is running a SRAM AXS Red 12-speed with a small 165mm crank, SRAM Red power meter and a big 56t large chainring.
For the race in Nice, Skipper is using a super-light Revolver disk—one of the lightest available. For the hilly event he’ll be running a 10-36 cassette in the back.
Skipper has chosen a Revolver Troika Max front wheel and will be running Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT 25mm tires “as hard as feels good” on race day.
One of the very unique touches on Skipper’s bike is the front disc brake rotor cover from Revolver, the AEROTO. This “locking shield” fits on almost any disc rotor and helps improve airflow around rotors, according to Revolver.
Skipper’s front end is also incredibly unique: He has an extremely high-mount dual front hydration system from Revolver called the Blackbird Overarm. The mount is so high and split that Skipper’s face will rest either just above or at times between the bottles.
Though he’s using a SRAM Red eTap AXS wireless system, Skipper has nonstandard SRAM eTap clic-looking bar-end shifters to handle gear-changing duties.
Mounted onto his monobar aerobar extensions, between his unusual hydration system, Skipper is using a big Garmin 1040 bike computer for data.
Skipper will keep his nutrition in the built-in top tube storage of the E-119.
While Skipper isn’t going to use mid-frame hydration, he will utilize behind-the-saddle hydration on his very high-end Wove V8 saddle (retail: $600!).