1989 Kestrel MXZ carbon fiber bike

[FirstFlight]

The original owner of this bike purchased a MXZ in 1988 which cracked behind the bottom bracket.  The original frame was sent back to Kestrel under warranty.  It arrived back at Kestrel, in Watsonville, CA, the same day as the Loma Prieta earthquake struck which cause extensive damage in the Watsonville area.   It took a couple weeks for Kestrel to get up and running. The paint facility wasn't operating so they offered a primed frame which the original owner accepted with the thought that aftershocks could delay the frame even further.  The frame was painted with some paint leftover from a custom Harley Davidson project and features a darker fade at the tube intersections.  The components show some upgrades that were made over the years including the addition of a Rock Shox Judy suspension fork along with some Ringle bits.

More pics @ http://mombat.org/MOMBAT/Bikes/1989_KestrelMXZ_Red.html

 

[Mike Muz]

Re:

Wow!

I do like that! Nice style of frame, reminiscent of the Scott Endorphin I wanted, until I recently heard about their tendency to crack.
Hope this fares better. Should do, as it has seat stays of sorts that the Scott was lacking.
Beautiful colour too.
Got to be a BotM contender IMO

Mike

 

[ti_pin_man]

I rode a kestrel for a day with spinergy wheels in the Cheviot mountains. Grand bike, very very stiff and the only negative was the harshness of the ride which was down to the wheels I think, not the bike. Even today looking at the second hand market there aren't many of these around, rare in the day and rare today. This one looks a very interesting model, well done for finding it.

 

[24pouces]

Re:

Nice bike with nice paintjob.
But, I would prefer it without the upgraded parts…

 

[redfern1950s]

Re:

wow......,very nice.

Ive never seen one in any other colour than graphite or white...., so cool

 

[FirstFlight]

Re: Re:

But, I would prefer it without the upgraded parts…

We contemplated going back to the original specs but it already had the suspension fork and we didn't really have an appropriate rigid fork. It is also representative of what we all did back then, upgrade as newer/better parts came out.

Plus, we already have a nice original example @ http://mombat.org/MOMBAT/Bikes/1989_Kestrel_MXZ.html