Getting close to finishing a complete rebuild of a 1989 Kestrel. Originally I bought this thinking it was in decent condition, once it arrived I was quickly disabused of that notion. I came with an extremely heavy Quadra shock and when we decided to rebuild it I went looking for a periodish fork that didn't weigh a metric ton. I ended up finding a nos vicious cycles fork that fit nicely on the bike and didn't end up looking too thin on the bulky frame. New decals and new white paint on the frame, fork and Spin tri spokes really made for a nice look. I originally had thought about trying to replicate the faux rock paint but I saw a Kestrel road frame done in a gloss white and I really liked the clean look. I had a nos set of Sachs New Success to put on it but I dint end up liking how that looked so I cobbled an XT 735ish setup out of the parts bins and it looks top notch I think. Found an XT front derailleur with the funky connector for the Kestrel setup and most of the other parts just fell in line. Spin Tri Spoke wheels, XT 732 shifters and I believe the crank, brakes and the front and rear derailleurs are 735 era. The litespeed bar was for another project but it works better here and as always a nice flite 1990 saddle, ESI grips and some eggbeater SL's and I think I debadged a Kalloy 267 seat-post and added a nice King stainless cage. Its pretty close to ride-able, just needs final brake adjustments and caps on the cables and it ready for offish road work.
1989 Kestrel MXZ rebuild
- Thread starter gis_guru
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Disco Drive
Senior Retro Guru
wheels really suit it....but i'm more interested in the Boulder Defiant Ti in the background.
Once A Hero
Old School Grand Master
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Such an organised work space
Bike looks great too!
Such an organised work space
Bike looks great too!
Thanks, I cant take credit for the space, it is at my buddies house. I provided a bunch of the tools and alot of the frames and he purchased a couple of 72" stainless chests to house our tools and small bits and pieces. He also found the frame holder and the work bench it is from an Italian manufacture and I would recommend them both if I could remember the name of the maker. The room is still a bit too small for all of the frames I think we have 8 or 10 scattered around the rest of his basement and my house.
Thanks, I was thinking about a more period correct restore but I soon realized a lot of the stuff from 1989 wasn't the best looking or in many cases the best working. Once I went away from the faux rock finish I figured all best are off and just wanted to build it with parts that looked like they should be there. The Spins were on another build and when the frame was going in for paint they were sanded down and painted to match. The vicious cycles fork is also a later vintage, probably mid 90's but the Mag 21 that was on there literally weighed as much as the frame and needed a rebuild. Plus I like the straight blade look of the vicious. The decals are a NOS set and I think they look better on the white background than when they were on the faux rock.
FYI the company we got the stand and the frame holder is called Bici Support and their stuff isn't the cheapest but they have some cool things.
https://www.albabici.com/bicisupport/bi ... t-main.htm
https://www.albabici.com/bicisupport/bi ... t-main.htm
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