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Andy Potts' Custom Kestrel 4000 Bikes

 Jul 6, 2014 article & images by Nick Salazar


In September of last year, I had the privilege of working on Potts' bikes for the first time, doing a custom treatment to help eliminate excess wire and drag from his Kestrel 4000 rigs. This year, I wanted to improve on the previous effort, which ended up resulting in some serious modifications and adjustments. So this time around, we pulled out all the stops, doing modifications including drilling the frame, cutting the aerobars, and splicing-and-soldering Di2 wires to achieve the cleanest version of this bike possible. Check the video above for a video walkthrough of the bikes, done by Potts himself, and be sure to look the gallery below for lots of inside info in the captions.

Andy's first race after we built these bikes was Ironman Coeur d'Alene, where he rode the black bike to victory! That gives an awesome feeling of validation to us at TriRig, and we're always happy to see Andy ride to the win. Go Potts!


Tags » andypotts,  kestrel,  rigs,  servicecourse,  shimano,  tririg

Andy Potts + Bikes 

  • Andy Potts with his brand new Kestrel 4000, after the complete TriRig Service Course treatment. On its first race out, Ironman Coeur d'Alene, Potts rode hard for the win. That's always a good feeling, for both Potts and TriRig.
  • Andy Potts with his brand new Kestrel 4000, after the complete TriRig Service Course treatment. On its first race out, Ironman Coeur d'Alene, Potts rode hard for the win. That's always a good feeling, for both Potts and TriRig.
  • Andy Potts with his brand new Kestrel 4000, after the complete TriRig Service Course treatment. On its first race out, Ironman Coeur d'Alene, Potts rode hard for the win. That's always a good feeling, for both Potts and TriRig.
  • Potts' twin Kestrel 4000 rigs, identical in every way except color, just awaiting his arrival.
  • Potts' twin Kestrel 4000 rigs, identical in every way except color, just awaiting his arrival.
  • Potts' twin Kestrel 4000 rigs, identical in every way except color, just awaiting his arrival.
  • Potts inspects his new rig for the first time. 'Where did all the wires go?'
  • The AP Pro, Nathan's BTA bottle named after Potts, is a very tight fit on the arms, leaving no gap for air to slip in.
  • The AP Pro, Nathan's BTA bottle named after Potts, is a very tight fit on the arms, leaving no gap for air to slip in.
  • Potts looking quite happy with the rig.
  • Thanks, Andy! We're honored to work on your bikes, and wish you the best.

Bike Build + Customizations 

  • Step one: take inventory. Potts dropped off FOUR bikes for us to work on. Two were his old bikes, just in for some updates. Two were his brand new rigs for 2014, which both needed to be built from scratch.
  • A whole wealth of Shimano parts came with the bikes. This is an incredibly expensive and drool-worthy shot, in my opinion.
  • Four Shimano PRO Missile aerobars ready to be build. I shudder to remember how long it took us to get these things dialed.
  • The PRO Missile bar is a fickle mistress, requiring a lot of finesse and tricks to get the wires where they're going.
  • The original PRO Missile installation. This is usually as good as it gets for a Missile Di2 installation, with all four Di2 wires coming out of the base bar (even the extension shifter wires). However, after getting to this point (which takes about 5 hours PER BAR), we realized we had a better solution, and had to reroute the non-drive-side wires.
  • This is what the wires look like when putting the 5-port junction on the top tube. Quite a bit messier than I'd like to see ... so it was time to customize!
  • Missile customization, step 1: dremel, baby, dremel! I cut off a small portion of the Missile's rear wing tip, opening up more space for wires to come out. Ordinarily, there's only about a 1mm gap between the Missile bar and the Missile stem, making backward-facing routing impossible. The best you can do is the down-and-around path we took with Potts' bikes <a href='2013_09_Andy_Potts_Service_Course' >last year</a>.
  • Missile customization, step 2: reroute all four Di2 wires to come out of the newly-expanded hole at the back of the drive-side wing tip. This was a serious challenge. The two wires from the non-drive-side have to come through the stem clamp area, then make a 300-degree turn to come back on the hole. Definitely not a simple operation, but well worth the effort.
  • Missile customization, step 2: reroute all four Di2 wires to come out of the newly-expanded hole at the back of the drive-side wing tip. This was a serious challenge. The two wires from the non-drive-side have to come through the stem clamp area, then make a 300-degree turn to come back on the hole. Definitely not a simple operation, but well worth the effort.
  • Missile customization, step 3: cut, splice, and resolder all the Di2 wires, to form a single connection that can hug the stem, and insert directly into the top tube. This eliminates a lot of wasted volume, and greatly eases the task of hiding everything from the wind. Of the 40 hours we spent on Potts' bikes, probably at least 25 of them were spent just doing work on these bars.
  • Missile customization, step 3: cut, splice, and resolder all the Di2 wires, to form a single connection that can hug the stem, and insert directly into the top tube. This eliminates a lot of wasted volume, and greatly eases the task of hiding everything from the wind. Of the 40 hours we spent on Potts' bikes, probably at least 25 of them were spent just doing work on these bars.
  • Finally, Andrew Strauss takes Potts' bikes for a quick spin to make sure all is well. The bike is dialed in to Andy Potts' position, but Strauss isn't a bad fit here. Close enough to do a little shakedown spin anyway.

2015 Model (Black Bike) 

  • While both bikes are built the same, I tend to prefer the look of the black bike, which features a lot of nude carbon. The round cage shown here was eventually swapped for the TorHans VR bottle, shown in the video.
  • Front end, showing the Missile bar, clean Di2 integration, and TriRig Omega SV brake.
  • Potts is riding the AP Pro bottle by Nathan. To clean up the mount for that, we used a TriRig Alpha BTA mount, and zip-tied it directly to the Missile bars. This was a bit cleaner than the standard mount that came with the bottle, and significantly lighter.
  • Di2 9070 11-speed. Only the best for Potts.
  • Di2 9070 11-speed. Only the best for Potts.
  • A closer look at our custom Di2 integration. This single Di2 wire carries information from ALL FOUR shifters on the aerobars. And no, it was NOT an easy task. We drilled a small hole aft of the brake cable port, to route the wire. But with that Di2 grommet in place, it looks like a stock installation.
  • Another custom bit was routing the battery. Shimano's BTR-2 'Lipstick' battery won't fit inside the Kestrel seat tube (or any of the frame's tubes for that matter), so the standard battery is the only option here. To hide it, we routed the wire around the sharp curve of the seat tube cluster, up through the seat tube, and out a small hole we drilled in the back of the seat tube. With that in place, we could fit the battery under the Adamo saddle, between the rails. An XLAB Gorilla XT cage zip-tied in place gives Potts a nice place to store an additional bottle without creating additional drag.
  • Another custom bit was routing the battery. Shimano's BTR-2 'Lipstick' battery won't fit inside the Kestrel seat tube (or any of the frame's tubes for that matter), so the standard battery is the only option here. To hide it, we routed the wire around the sharp curve of the seat tube cluster, up through the seat tube, and out a small hole we drilled in the back of the seat tube. With that in place, we could fit the battery under the Adamo saddle, between the rails. An XLAB Gorilla XT cage zip-tied in place gives Potts a nice place to store an additional bottle without creating additional drag.
  • Another custom bit was routing the battery. Shimano's BTR-2 'Lipstick' battery won't fit inside the Kestrel seat tube (or any of the frame's tubes for that matter), so the standard battery is the only option here. To hide it, we routed the wire around the sharp curve of the seat tube cluster, up through the seat tube, and out a small hole we drilled in the back of the seat tube. With that in place, we could fit the battery under the Adamo saddle, between the rails. An XLAB Gorilla XT cage zip-tied in place gives Potts a nice place to store an additional bottle without creating additional drag.
  • And here's the payoff: not one shred of frontal area from wires, cables, boxes, or the like. For the Kestrel 4000, I don't think it gets any better than this.
  • Potts requires a 5mm spacer under his Missile bar, so we gave him a very snazzy Parts of Passion spacer ... in TriRig Orange, of course.
  • Potts requires a 5mm spacer under his Missile bar, so we gave him a very snazzy Parts of Passion spacer ... in TriRig Orange, of course.
  • The complete rig, all ready to race. Of course, the front wheel will be switched out for a carbon tubular on race day. This is just what we had on hand for photos.
  • The complete rig, all ready to race. Of course, the front wheel will be switched out for a carbon tubular on race day. This is just what we had on hand for photos.
  • Another angle of how the two front-end cables go into the frame. We preserved lock-to-lock steering, but kept everything completely hidden from the wind's view.
  • Another angle of how the two front-end cables go into the frame. We preserved lock-to-lock steering, but kept everything completely hidden from the wind's view.
  • Another angle of how the two front-end cables go into the frame. We preserved lock-to-lock steering, but kept everything completely hidden from the wind's view.

2014 Model (White Bike) 

  • The white bike is identical to the black one in all ways except paint (and a slight revision to the chainstays that Kestrel is developing for 2015). All the same customizations described for the black bike were done for this one too.
  • The white bike is identical to the black one in all ways except paint (and a slight revision to the chainstays that Kestrel is developing for 2015). All the same customizations described for the black bike were done for this one too.
  • Potts is riding the AP Pro bottle by Nathan. To clean up the mount for that, we used a TriRig Alpha BTA mount, and zip-tied it directly to the Missile bars. This was a bit cleaner than the standard mount that came with the bottle, and significantly lighter.
  • Not one shred of frontal area from wires, cables, boxes, or the like. For the Kestrel 4000, I don't think it gets any better than this.
  • TriRig Omega SV up front. Potts has represented us quite well over the last year, and we couldn't be prouder.
  • A closer look at our custom Di2 integration. This single Di2 wire carries information from ALL FOUR shifters on the aerobars. And no, it was NOT an easy task. We drilled a small hole aft of the brake cable port, to route the wire. But with that Di2 grommet in place, it looks like a stock installation.

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