Most product reviews you read in cycling are written by people who have ridden two or three options. Ronald Kuba has ridden almost everything. As a cyclist, an aero testing specialist, and the man behind a curated online store of products he personally believes in, his vantage point on equipment is unusual, built from years of putting kit on the bike, on the road, through his own testing protocols, and being unsentimental about the results.
That is also why his endorsement of any product carries weight. Ronald is, by reputation and by trade, picky. When he rides something, it has earned that place. We asked him about the long path that produced his perspective, where the obsession with aerodynamics came from, and why out of every cockpit option in the market, he rides Sync.
From Rider to Specialist
Every specialist in this sport has an origin story, and they tend to share a shape: a rider who started riding, kept riding, and eventually couldn’t stop asking why the bike did what it did. Ronald’s version starts, unusually, on two engines rather than two pedals.
Q: How did you first get into cycling, and what was the path from rider to specialist?
Originally, I come from a motorsport background. I raced motocross and various other moto disciplines throughout my childhood before switching over to pedal power. Initially it was only MTB trails and bike parks; the road and TT side followed shortly after.
I was always fascinated by the speed and purity of time trials. I only started proper training and racing in my twenties, but after a few events it was already apparent that TTs are my strongest discipline. On top of that, I have always been a bit of a geek. I studied mechanical engineering as well — so I was naturally drawn to TT. It is probably the most technical discipline within cycling.
Where the Aero Obsession Came From
Aerodynamics is the rabbit hole most cyclists peer into once and back away from. A small number fall in, and the ones who do tend to remember the moment, a piece of testing, a result that did not match the assumption, a number that wouldn’t leave them alone.
Q: Where did the obsession with aerodynamics come from? Was there a specific moment that hooked you?
The real eye-opener was my first ever aero test with Aerocoach, back in 2019. Before then, I did not quite realise how much difference aerodynamics can really make. To be fair, I think that applies to most riders out there.
I have been working on finding newer and newer ways to increase my efficiency, and it is pretty crazy to see how far I have come in this time. The pandemic pushed me to the next step of performing my own aero testing and research. Eventually it grew to be a large portion of my business, to the point where we now help riders from all over the world to get faster.
Tunnel-Fast vs Bike-Fast
Anyone who tests equipment for long enough starts to notice the gap between products that look good on a graph and products that earn a place on a personal bike. That gap is where most of the real information lives, and it is rarely talked about openly. Ronald sits directly on top of it.
Q: You test more equipment than most people will ever see in a lifetime. How has that shaped what you actually choose to ride yourself? What is the difference between a product that performs in a tunnel and one that earns a place on your own bike?
My personal bikes have always been test beds that I use to filter out what works and what does not. The rate of change in the industry is rapid, so I always feel the need to be one step ahead in this never-ending chase. This process also gives me peace of mind over the recommendations I give to my clients — plus, of course, the confidence I gain for my own competition.
From the outside, it might seem that I often make equipment changes just for the sake of changing parts, but the opposite is true. My time and resources are limited, so I always narrow the selection down to options that have genuine potential for a performance improvement, or that just make my life easier.
One of my main goals in the next year or so is to further expand my database and compile the test results into a usable format that I can share with my clients and viewers. I find this aspect really important for the future, as there seems to be a massive amount of disinformation out there.
Why Sync
The cockpit market has more good options than it ever has. For the kind of buyer Ronald represents — someone who has ridden, tested, or owned most of them — the decision to put one brand on his own bike, and to specify it on his clients’ bikes, is not a casual one. We asked him what tipped the scales.
Q: Why Sync? Of all the cockpit options out there, what made you choose Sync products specifically?
I am quite critical when choosing the parts I stock and use, and frankly, a lot of options out there just aren’t that good. They either lack a robust design philosophy behind them, or simply lack the quality, fitment options and performance.
Sync really do tick all of those boxes for me. The AB03 is an extremely well thought-out premium product, with the performance to match — as evidenced over and over in our tests. My life has honestly been a lot easier since its release, as I don’t need to look any further when speccing a high-end TT or tri bike for a client.
The distinction Ronald draws there — design philosophy, quality, fitment options and performance — is the honest four-part shortlist that most cockpit shopping should start with, and the one that a lot of the market still trips over. It is also the shortlist we designed the AB03 around.
The Overlooked Lever
There is a version of the aero conversation that is just about money — buy a faster frame, a deeper wheel, a more aggressive helmet. There is another version, less publicised, where the biggest gains are not the most expensive ones. Ronald has spent his career inside that second version, and his answer was the most detailed of the day.
Q: For the cyclist or triathlete trying to chase aero on a real-world budget, what is the most overlooked thing — the lever they are not pulling that would actually return time?
I would say the most overlooked thing is aero testing and fitting itself. I often find that riders don’t hesitate to spend thousands on new aero wheels — which yield very small differences — yet at the same time they perceive an aero test session as a luxury reserved for pro riders. Even though I have been doing this for years, it is still hard to convince them that the actual savings might be ten times the one found in a wheelset change.
Then, of course, there are quite a few things that don’t really cost anything but can still greatly improve performance:
Training on the TT bike, in the position, with the correct helmet, and increasing position discipline
- Setting up the correct tyre pressure via a pressure calculator or testing
- Creating a pacing plan (and sticking to it)
- Doing a proper warm-up and cool-down
- Implementing the correct strategies for nutrition, hydration and fuelling
As far as budget technical upgrades go, tyre setup and chain lubrication should be top priority. I still see many riders who get this wrong, despite the widely available test data on tyre and lubricant performance.
It is worth sitting with that first line for a moment. The single biggest lever available to a rider chasing aero, according to someone who spends his life inside the problem, is not a component. It is the decision to test the rider — to put themselves through the same process the fastest athletes in the world are already using.
Thanks to Ronald for the time. We are stoked that you enjoy using our products!
