The weather in PA recently has made it a bit hard to get out for rides so I haven’t done a lot of miles recently. I have been able to check out some of the interesting features that Kestrel has built into the 4000.
First up is the ability to slide the rear dropouts fore and aft for nestling the rear tire as close to the frame as possible. Other manufacturers have chosen horizontal/track bike style dropouts. In my time as a pro cycling team mechanic I did plenty of wheel changes and could do them pretty darn fast. Give me one of the horizontal dropout bikes and I’m fumbling around a bit. I can imagine that changing a rear flat in the heat of a race might cost you some extra time. With the dropout system on the 4000 you have a standard vertical dropout set up with a degree of adjustability to allow for different tire depths. Two screws on each dropout allow you to move the tire as close as possible to the shaped “seat tube” area. (I’m using quotes here since the 4000 doesn’t have a standard seat tube.) The rear wheels drops out of the frame easily, just like it would on a standard vertical dropout.
This adjustability should allow you to take full advantage of the time that the folks at Kestrel spent designing the 4000. Here’s something really important to remember, though. Make sure you use a properly calibrated torque wrench when adjusting the dropouts (or any point on the bike with specific torque settings). You don’t want to strip a dropout plate the night before a race because you decided to go by feel. Torque wrenches are cheap compared to entry fees, new carbon parts, etc.
Here are a couple of pictures to show you what I’m talking about. (Click on the photos for larger, high-res images.)
Inboard view of the dropout - Shown with the dropout pulled back
External view of the rear dropout
Tight clearance for better aerodynamics
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