09/09/09
ironguides Welcomes the Kestrel 4000
Once in awhile a product comes along that makes our heads turn -- and stick! Kestrel Bicycles has always been known for its aesthetically pleasing lines and top performance. Now with the new 4000, Kestrel is ready to turn the industry on its head.
Category: Equipment
Posted by: Vinnie
Bike technology has improved dramatically in recent years, so for Kestrel it was Priority One to prove the merits of the 4000's design in the wind tunnel. I wanted to know where we stood.
And our testing at A2 shows we’ve beaten them.
Here's a list of the Kestrel 4000's specs, from Triathlete Magazine's Jay Prasuhn:
- The 4000 is a fully wind tunnel-designed rig. It has a cyclo-cross style in-line front brake akin to that of Specialized on the Transition, with a FSA top cap and built-in cable guide/stop. It’s mounted to a frame-integrated fork. “We tried the nose cone setup and at yaw, the bike was dying,” Harad says. “We found this solution to be much better.”
- The seat mast is removable in three parts; the carbon fiber base will be fixed by a horizontally-oriented bolt at the front base of the mast. The Ritchey-designed post head and upper mast (which will be comprised of carbon fiber and alloy) will then slide into that initial extension. This makes for a bike that can travel in a bike box without issue.
- The rear chainstays are swept inward, and have a unique organically torqued shape on their lateral sides. “We couldn’t figure out where we were losing on the stays, but after working on the shape, we found this to be optimal to pulling wind off the wheel,” Harad says.
- The rear derailleur is run on replaceable vertical dropouts, giving the tire a fair amount of space (approximately 1.5cm) from the concave curved seatpost.
- The rear brake is located under the bottom bracket, using a scissor-style brake caliper with a straddle wire and stop/guide akin to that found on the front brake.
- Seat angle on the multi-position Ritchey post head will go as forward as 82 degrees.
- The bike will come in three spec levels: the LTD, with Shimano DI2 (with a battery pack mounted under the non-driveside chainstay) with colormatched gold 3T aerobars and Vision Carbon Aero crankset (instead of the shown Shimano crankset) at about $10,000, a SRAM Red version with Zipp VukaAero aerobars at about $8000, and an Ultegra version at about $5000.
- Specifications will feature color-matched Zipp wheels on the Limited and SRAM Red versions. The Limited will also feature a special gold Wippermann chain and gold race-day cassette and full carbon fiber saddle with carbon rails.
ironguides athletes can benefit from ironguides Preferred Pricing on all Kestrel frames and bikes, with unmatched savings. Contact your ironguides coach to find out more about your special rate as an ironguides athlete.