Two of those would be Schwinn and Cannondale. You could also include Rockshox. Some brands like Motobecane Bottechia, Windor, have their names bought thru lisc. agreements to be sold be Bikes Direct.com
Steve
SMp

Biopace chainrings

Kestrel. Their original 4000 and 1st gen KM40 frames were amazing and Kestrel carbon forks were a hot upgrade when steel and aluminum forks were the norm. Unfortunately, with ownership changes and a lack of R&D, by the late 90's-early 2000s, their products became dated and the brand popularity suffered.

Recent years have seen new models, revitalized marketing and sponsorship, and Kestrel has become a relevant once again. Steve Harad deserves much of the credit and it is great to see a brand closely tied to the early days of triathlon re-emerge as viable and coveted product.

Brian

Cool with the hybrid "beam" (softride) top tube. But no cranks or rear spokes?

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[ The sign of intelligence is you are constantly wondering. Idiots are always dead sure about every damn thing they are doing in their life. - Vasudev ]

One brand, I want to see "come back" is Softride. They were huge in the mid 90's and the beam bike design was really good especially if you are an older rider. With the deep pockets in the "masters field", the fact that Softride was unable to overcome the UCI rules just speaks to their lack of aggressive marketing. Their target was and always should have been triathletes...the other market is RAAM/ultra riders (Softride won a RAAM under Gary Tatrai....), but RAAM riders don't pay your revenue.

Just reinforcing Brian's pos...the carbon bike that started it all...circa 1989



The reason I got my first 4000 is because Mark Allen made them cool riding in the Alps winning the old Nice Triathlon



....here is my original Kestrel 200 SC going up Richter Pass IMC 1991. I later uprgaded it with the Carbon Kestrel EMS Fork in 1994. The EMS fork was THE aftermarket carbon upgrade to go to, and in the early days it was the only really safe option as many forks from Looks etc were failing. I was going to only put my life in the hands of the engineering/artists in Watsonville CA (they were engineers and artists at the same time)



Fast forward 20 years, I could have gone with any bike but my heart has always been with Kestrel. I have had Kestrels in my garage for 20 years. in fact, my first 200 SC you see in tht picture lasted till 1999. It developed a crack in the top tube after 10 years, so Kestrel sent me a lifetime warrantly upgrade 200SC, this time in Candy apple red

This is not my bike, but just got this picture off the net



Here is the latest edition at the Baie Des Anges last year in Nice. The Kestrel must pay hommage to where Mark Allen had some of his most amazing victories before the Ironwar that all of you know about in Kona.




On a traniing ride just south of the old "pit" in Kona



I keep bugging Steve that some of the old paint jobs are actually pretty nice. I'd like to see the 4000 come out in the simple white, red and black that the original 4000 was available in.

Being UCI illegal has not hurt Kestrel, so I lament that softride was unable to make a go at making the beam bike profitable.

Dev

I have a set of original Biopace rings on my Bianchi commuter. Not as elliptical is the current Rotor rings.

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Coaching - Future Endurance

x2 for the basic Kestrel paint scheme.

In the current superbike environment of "more is more" I'm hoping it swings back to "less is more".
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[ The sign of intelligence is you are constantly wondering. Idiots are always dead sure about every damn thing they are doing in their life. - Vasudev ]

http://www.thecoolist.com/...b1k-bicycle-concept/

Some more info on that Peugeot concept bike thing.

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´Get the most aero and light bike you can get. With the aero advantage you can be saving minutes and with the weight advantage you can be saving seconds. In a race against the clock both matter.´

BMANX

On the theme of "less is more" the original Kestrel 500 SCi was well ahead of its time, first released in late 1994 as some of my military teammates were riding them at IMC 1995. I got this picture off the internet. I actually like the lines of this bike more than my current Airfoil pro pictured above (well, actually the one pictured above was destroyed in my crash at IM Switzerland, so I have a replacement....thanks Steve)

Beautiful...

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[ The sign of intelligence is you are constantly wondering. Idiots are always dead sure about every damn thing they are doing in their life. - Vasudev ]

The first time I saw one of those Kestrels on a club ride I kept staring at it. The rider was a pretty girl but all I could see was the bike. Finally her boyfriend rode up to me and wondered why I was hanging around his girlfriend and all I could say is "that the coolest bike I've ever seen"....
SteveMc

Jerry Tatrai is riding a Titanflex now. I think he won RAAM on it.

Friend of mine bought that bike in red when it came out in the 1990's. Still uses it, still fast.

Wow, thanks for sharing these photos and stories. That basic "white" Kestrel would sell big-time today - that's a sweet looking bike. I'm a huge Kestrel fan (current ride is a 2009 Airfoil Pro, aka 'The Blue Streak'). I love the new Kestrel's, too. If I can figure out how to upload a photo of my ride (without screwing things up) I'll do so.

Wendy Ingraham also road the 500 SCi to several top 5 results in Kona. I can't seem to post this picture

http://admin.ironman.com/...ted/h-1000158186.jpg

That bike is timeless hot. You could pull up on one of those and still look cutting edge.

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