Kite 'cross protypes are here

Just before I flew out to Italy for SSIT (more on that later) the Kite prototype frames arrived. Out of the box they looked lovely. No decals as I want to play around with some different colour options They are essentially a lightweight steel 'cross race bike. Canti only, no rack mount, mudguard mounts or other such nonsense - if you want a tourer or commuter buy a Peregrine ;-)

There are a couple of different little touches which set this aside from many 'cross bikes. First, it's singlespeedable by virtue of the old-style semi-horizontal dropouts. Though this one doesn't, some of the prototypes have downtube cable stops, the type which take a threaded barrel adjuster, as well as a stop under the chainstay for the derailleur cable. Most likely production frames will have a similar arrangement.

The rear cantilever brake bosses are also a little different. They are shot through the seat stays to keep the brake arm lower to the stays and thus reduce torsional flex on the stays and therefore improve braking. Plus they are nice and low profile and look good.

The finishing is pretty close to what I envisage for production frames. The main frame colour could be a shade darker grey, and the downtube panel I think should be closer to black with a stronger pink logo. And of course it will get it's own Kite headtube badge, a left-over Peregrine is shown here.

I've only had a short spin on mine and intitial impressions are very good. Stiff, light and fast. Steering is very responsive without being twitchy, and it still feels good at speed. We have four of these in the UK and two in the US (Wisconsin and San Francisco) which will be getting to various 'cross races and rides over the winter. Testing all being well it's then likely we'll have these ready for production next year.