Kestrel 200 EMS

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QuangVuong
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Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby QuangVuong » Tue Dec 10, 2013 9:35 pm

In the earlier hours before my accident, where I destroyed my Gios, I brought home a Kestrel 200 EMS frame. I was directed to the eBay listing by one of the Sydney retro riders, and decided to get it as it was relatively cheap. Little did I know I would be building it up right away.
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Now, from what I can tell, I believe this is a 1999 model. I found that the Ruby Weave colour and original EMS fork(with a titanium steerer) was released that year as per the brochure. The 200 model should be the second model Kestrel made, after the 4000 in 1987, with my frame benig made in the last years of production. The frame weighs 1225g, and fork 500g, making it the lightest frameset I own. Built up with the 105SC group from my Gios, it ends up being a 9.1kg bike.

This is what I got done today. I have a carbon post which will go on, and will need to route the rear brake housing through the top tube which will take a while tomorrow.
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The deep ruby colour is lovely. The gumwall and white touches surprising match well.
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singlespeedscott
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby singlespeedscott » Tue Dec 10, 2013 10:30 pm

The frame looks to be in good nick.

That's a big saddle to bar drop you have there.
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QuangVuong
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby QuangVuong » Tue Dec 10, 2013 10:33 pm

The frame has more paint chips than I would like, but what can I do. Im not gonna go and repaint this one. And I cant seem to shove the seatpost in any further as at the end of the aluminium insert(the seatpost bolt place) inside the frame seems to be a small lip around the edge. Im asking around on the American forums to see if that is normal or not. I sure hope it aint the remains of an old seatpost. The seatpost would be about 5 cm further down.
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GaryF
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby GaryF » Wed Dec 11, 2013 3:53 pm

It's a very appealing bike and a nice outcome after your very bad luck with the Gios. Love the ruby colour.

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koen
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby koen » Wed Dec 11, 2013 9:30 pm

GaryF wrote:It's a very appealing bike and a nice outcome after your very bad luck with the Gios. Love the ruby colour.
Yes, very attractive looking bike. Well done.

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QuangVuong
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby QuangVuong » Thu Dec 12, 2013 9:08 pm

Fully done now. The torn Turbo replica saddle was replaced, and a braze on FD was used. The rest came straight off the Gios. The bottle cages are only temporary. I will need to wait on some silver or white cages.
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The clear ruby colour shows up well in sunlight.
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The frame came from Santa Barbara Bikesmiths over in California. The Castle Hill owner before me bought it off some dude from Brisbane, and thats all I know where the frame came from.
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As for the seatpost issue I had, I found the reason behind it. The seat tube is made of carbon and there is an aluminum sleeve inserted into the top, which is used to clamp the seatpost.There is a cavity in the seat tube below the sleeve with a slightly larger diameter than 27.2, which allows for minor movement of the seatpost when subjected to forces when the bike is ridden. Over time, this movement can cause cracks at the top of the seat tube. If the seatpost is too short, and the bike tips over, this leverage can easily crack both the seat tube carbon at the top, and the aluminum sleeve inside. Cutting the seatpost to exact length eliminates most of this movement, and helps to avoid the cracking of the top of the carbon tube, and more importantly, the cracking of the aluminum sleeve. Guess this is something Kestrel didnt take into account, even though hey went to the lengths of wind tunnel testing for aerodynamics(first company to do so for a production frame), and FEA testing. This is why I am using the aluminium one, as opposed to cutting my carbon post.
Last edited by QuangVuong on Thu Dec 12, 2013 9:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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rheicel
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby rheicel » Thu Dec 12, 2013 9:23 pm

Well done. Looks like a fast bike too!

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utedeej
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby utedeej » Thu Dec 12, 2013 11:14 pm

Nic build qv. Bad luck about the gios. I think this might be the first non lugged carbon bike in the retro section!!!

I agree with Garyf too, lovely colour.

servicimo
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby servicimo » Fri Dec 13, 2013 10:04 am

Ha! looks great.

I'm the dude in Brisbane (actually Maroochydore) he bought it from. I bought it from a girl in Brisbane and the story goes that is was her dads and she brought it over from the states to use while she was studying in Brissy. It was built with full campy record 10 speed group which is what I bought it for....it was filthy! Here was the gumtree pic...

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You didn't by chance get to remove the bottom headset race off the forks on one piece did you? It looked like it had been attacked and I didn't want to stuff it up. It goes with the record headset I raided from it. :)
one nice bike.....

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QuangVuong
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby QuangVuong » Fri Dec 13, 2013 12:09 pm

Wow, to think it was one of the members here who sold it to him. Well, I guess I now know the origins of the frame.

The crown race came off fine. A bit bent and scratched from someone else's removal attempt, but still usable. I sent you a PM.
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QuangVuong
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby QuangVuong » Sat Feb 08, 2014 11:20 pm

Dropped another 600g off this bike. Now its running a mix of 7900, 6700 and 5600 bits with a RS-80 wheelset. Now 8.5kg as in pics. Still need to buy a pair of bottle cages for it though.
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Lovely 7900 DT shifers. Each click resonates throughout the frame.
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The ruby red weave doesnt come out until it's in the sun.
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Where old meets new. 6400 pedals matched to 6700 cranks, and the end of the era 6500HP headset
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singlespeedscott
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby singlespeedscott » Sun Feb 09, 2014 8:05 am

Looks good. To bad about those old Shimano 600 pedals.

You could at least put some clips on them?
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minhyy
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby minhyy » Sun Feb 09, 2014 9:35 am

singlespeedscott wrote:You could at least put some clips on them?
I'm trying to progress him to foot retention and eventually clipless
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KGB
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby KGB » Sun Feb 09, 2014 11:44 am

That is a great looking bike. Some thin wire Ti cages would look nice I think.
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philandkath4
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby philandkath4 » Wed Mar 05, 2014 11:24 am

Hi guys , A newbie to your site (from sunny UK ) & I have recently acquired a really nice Kestrel 200sci in 'plum' - & as with yours, a couple more paint chips than I thought it had, but nothing serious.
Can I ask , .... is it a criminal offence to kit it up in Campag ? (given the Americans ftted Shimano )& secondly ,would I de-value it by repainting it ~ all properly done with the decals etc of course !
I have a mixture of kit- mostly Campag, some noce vento wheels G' set> all chorus - an adaptor for the stem / forks for an unthreaded set up & plan to use oversized 31.6 bars,with shifters- not levers & DT gear levers ...so a bit of old & new .. any thoughts? ..
At what point will folks say I've spoilt it ??? thanks - some great photos of your work by the way !
Phil ..Liverpool UK

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QuangVuong
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Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby QuangVuong » Wed Mar 05, 2014 8:20 pm

Nothing wrong with Campag at all. Kestrels came in either a Shimano or Campag equivalent. And you can see that the previous iteration of the bike came with Record. I was gonna go with the 6700 STI levers as well, but the DT shifters popped up for cheap, so I grabbed them and they went onto the bike. The threadless stem doesn't sound the best to me aesthetically(my opinion only), but I guess it could work as the 200 does look like a much newer bike.

And as for the paint, I'd say its up to you. It is your bike, and seeing that you are gonna reproduce the decals, it'll be fine. Dunno if it'll devalue it, but if it comes up well, then you've restored it and it'll be back to a new looking condition.

And how did a Kestrel end up in the UK? Was there a distributer over there at the time? And by plum, is yours the dark red colour? Or a clear red like mine? I do look forward to seeing yours built up though.
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munga
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby munga » Thu Mar 06, 2014 11:43 am

Quang if you still want the kestrel carbon fork, pm me with a decent offer and we can go from there (lowballs will be met with abuse).

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munga
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby munga » Thu Mar 06, 2014 12:00 pm

I can send you pics tonight if you would like to make an informed decision..

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vaeske
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby vaeske » Thu Mar 20, 2014 10:32 am

did you make an informed decision QV?

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QuangVuong
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby QuangVuong » Thu Mar 20, 2014 10:49 am

Am still awaiting Munga's pics and measurements of the fork.
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munga
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby munga » Thu Mar 20, 2014 2:34 pm

arrgh. forgot about this little job. sorry quang. i'll get some photos tonight.

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munga
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby munga » Thu Mar 20, 2014 4:34 pm

thanks for your patience.

uploaded pics to >> http://s262.photobucket.com/user/munga1 ... bon%20Fork" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

if you have any questions, please ask. $90 shipped.

Roager
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby Roager » Mon Apr 07, 2014 5:35 pm

I am also riding one of these in Melbourne. It actually belongs to my Brother in Law, from Canberra. It seems to be a pretty good ride, especially considering it's age. A bit harsh maybe, and pretty lively steering I think, but don't have a good comparison with newer carbons. I would be interested to hear opinions from anyone who has ridden one.
Trying to work out how to drop a pic into here!
R

Roager
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby Roager » Mon Apr 07, 2014 5:48 pm

Ok, here is a link to a couple of pics of my black EMS 200...
http://s1158.photobucket.com/user/Roager2/library/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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munga
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Re: Kestrel 200 EMS

Postby munga » Mon Apr 07, 2014 7:54 pm

Quang, are you still interested in the kestrel fork? If not, please pm me so I can list it for sale.

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