November 6, 2009 (Australia) – After seven days, 19 hours and 5 minutes the heroic feat was accomplished. Late October extreme cyclist Guido Kunze clearly beat the official world record for crossing southern Australia by bicycle – 4,200 km! Almost 16 hours faster than the former record holder, Australia’s Richard Vollebreght, the 43-year-old from Mühlhausen in the German state of Thuringia had covered the vast distance. Aside from his impressing will power and his outstanding fitness Kunze was able to perfectly rely on the performance of his high-tech equipment for the impressive – and successful – fight against the clock, against the elements and, last but not least, against his weaker self.

“There was not one single damage throughout the whole exercise”, said Kunze, who was supported and equipped for his record attempt by Paul Lange & Co., the official Shimano distributor in Germany. Shimano’s state-of-the-art electronic road racing component group Dura-Ace Di2, Dura-Ace wheels and pedals and Shimano Custom-Fit road racing shoes were provided to him and proved to be decisive factors for Kunze’s record ride.

“The Di2 showed 100 percent reliable and excellent function and didn’t have to be adjusted even once”, the German summarized. The only minor flaw came regarding the initial plan to cover the whole distance without recharging the Di2 battery pack which had to be cancelled in order to not endanger the overall goal of breaking the record. Due to the mountainous profile and extremely windy conditions on the first days Kunze had to shift much more frequently than usual. “I am still quite sure that even so I could have covered the whole passage without charging the battery. But we decided we didn’t want to take even the slightest risk and so we changed the battery for the final 800 kilometers” explained Kunze who was quite impressed by the endurance of the Di2 battery. “After all, despite the much more than usual shifting operations at the beginning, the battery had already brilliantly performed for impressive 3.400 kilometers without charging – and was nowhere near empty at that time.” Actually, continued Kunze, “I was very happy with the reliability of every single part of the components that worked perfectly without any damage or even the need to change any wear-parts.”

Similarly positive was Kunzes summary for the other Shimano parts used for this extreme endurance test under really challenging conditions. “Perfect function, no centering, great performance and great comfort”, was his short but all the more precise roundup for the Dura-Ace WH-7850-C24-CL wheelset while coming up with judgments like “perfect power transmission and perfect function” for the Dura-Ace pedal PD-7810. Individually adjusted with Shimano’s Custom-Fit technology, the high-end road racing shoes SH-R310 also proved to be a decisive factor for the successful record attempt. “They simply did fit like a pair of slippers and yet offered excellent performance due to their light weight and outstanding power transmission of the carbon fibre outsole – it simply doesn’t get any better than this!”

Thus, the results of Kunze’s barely eight-days-long “business trip” were not only the official “Guinness World Record” and the successful promotion for “Polio Plus”, a charity initiative of the Rotary Clubs, but also the quite impressive proof beyond doubt that the combination of extraordinary people and extraordinary technology indeed creates extraordinary performances.