Helen Wyman's Kona Major Jake. © Cyclocross Magazine
by Jamie Mack
Helen Wyman (Kona/FSA) is having a great season on her way to representing Great Britain in Tabor at the Cyclocross World Championships. There have been setbacks along the way, with the recent postponement of the UK National Championships, but through the season Wyman has pulled out victories, podiums and a top-10 at the World Cup in Koksijde.
The Kona Major Jake is the same frame found under top US riders Ryan Trebon and Barry Wicks. The stock frame is constructed of Kona Race Light scandium alloy. The addition of scandium makes for stronger tubes than aluminum alloys, which means less material is needed and a lighter frame can result. Wyman’s Major Jake is complemented by an Edge Composites Cross fork.
Similar to Ryan Trebon’s Major Jake, Wyman’s frame sports a logo from Caribou Pro Frames. Based in Taiwan, Caribou is a builder and designer of bike frames in various alloys. Caribou is a supporter of the Kona riders, providing custom designs and frames to the riders.
Wyman uses Shimano Dura Ace 7900 for the majority of the drivetrain on her ride, with the exceptions of the crankset and bottom bracket, which are supplied by team sponsor FSA. She has the FSA SL-K Light carbon cranks spinning on an FSA Megaexo Ceramic bottom bracket. Shifters and derailleurs are from Shimano’s top end road group, while the pedals come from the high-end XTR mountain group.
The brakes are also an FSA item – SL-K cantilevers equipped with Swisstop pads for carbon rims provide the stopping power. Wyman uses traditional cables, as opposed to sealed units, but uses full housing the length of the top tube and extra seals at the rear derailleur interface to keep the elements out.
The cockpit, also from FSA, consists of K Force carbon bars supported by an alloy OS-99 stem with an Orbit Extreme headset and carbon spacers from FSA. The front end is completed by a cable hanger from cyclocrossworld.com and a proudly-displayed, blue anodized Bike Pure headset spacer, a confirmation of Wyman’s anti-doping stance. Similar spacers can be seen on the bikes of Katie Compton and Thijs Al. The seatpost is a carbon FSA K-Force unit. For wheels, Wyman’s Kona was sporting FSA’s RD-488 carbon tubulars with 260 tpi 32 mm Challenge Grifo treads when Cyclocross Magazine checked it out.
Frame: Kona Major Jake
Fork: Edge Composites
Headset: FSA Orbit Extreme
Stem: FSA OS-99
Handlebars: FSA Carbon K-Force
Front brake: FSA SL-K cantilever with Yellow King Swisstop pads
Rear brake: FSA SL-K cantilever with Yellow King Swisstop pads
Shift/Brake levers: Shimano Dura Ace 7900
Front derailleur: Shimano Dura Ace 7900
Rear derailleur: Shimano Dura Ace 7900
Cassette: Shimano Dura Ace 7900
Crankset: FSA SL-K Light Carbon, 170mm
Bottom bracket: FSA Megaexo Ceramic
Pedals: Shimano XTR
Wheelset: FSA RD-488
Front tire: Challenge Grifo 32mm
Rear tire: Challenge Grifo 32mm
Saddle: WTB
Seat post: FSA K-Force Carbon
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