Purposeful	Photo ©: Tom Balks

Speed machine

By John Stevenson

Number's up
Photo: © Tom Balks

Not many women casually throw a leg over a 58cm frame, but then not many women are current World Cup leader and 2001 runner-up Mirjam Melchers. Farm-Frites Hartol's powerful sprinter is carried to the line by her aluminium-scandium alloy Koga Miyata.

For those not familiar with the marque, Koga-Miyata is a European-Japanese collaboration that sits at the high end of the production bike range in Europe. As well as road racing and mountain bikes, Koga-Miyata makes a wide range of the kind of high quality utility bikes that only the Europeans seem to truly appreciate.

Shimano
Photo: © Tom Balks

Melchers and her Farm Frites-Hartol team-mates ride production Koga-Miyata frames, an indication of the confidence the team and the company has in the bikes. Koga-Miyata claims that the Scandium frame weighs 1270g: light, but not silly-light. As a wise man once said, 'everyone wants to climb on a 900g frame, but nobody wants to descend on one...' And of course, for a sprinter like Melchers weight isn't necessarily the major consideration.

For most of the Farm Frites bikes' running gear, the team turns to Shimano; hardly surprising as Shimano's European HQ is also in the Netherlands, just down the motorway from the team's base. All the running gear is Shimano Dura-Ace, from the brake/shift levers to the rear wheel.

130mm
Photo: © Tom Balks

Melchers' component choices are much as you'd expect from a fairly tall rider: 172.5mm cranks and a 130mm stem with a little rise to compensate for the bar height reduction from the Cane Creek integrated headset.

Comfy
Photo: © Tom Balks

Italy's Selle San Marco Aero provides Melchers' seating, complete with pressure-relieving cutaway, while speed in the final dash for the line is helped by Continental tyres.

The remaining components, handlebar, stem and seatpost, are by appropriately-named component maker Pro.

Full specification

Frame: Koga Miyata aluminium scandium
Fork: Koga Miyata carbon
Colour: Grey/black

Cranks: Shimano Dura-Ace 53/39, 172.5mm
Bottom bracket: Shimano Dura-Ace
Chain: Shimano Dura-Ace
Front derailleur: Shimano Dura-Ace
Rear derailleur: Shimano Dura-Ace
Brakes: Shimano Dura-Ace
Levers: Shimano Dura-Ace
Rear sprockets: Shimano Dura-Ace, 12-23, 9 speed

Hubs: Shimano Dura-Ace
Spokes: Shimano
Rim: Shimano Dura-Ace
Skewers: Shimano Dura-Ace
Tires: Continental

Stem: Pro, 130mm
Bar: Pro
Head set: Cane Creek

Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace
Seat post: Pro
Saddle: Selle San Marco

Cage: Elite
Computer: Shimano Flight Deck

More information: Koga-Miyata's website