Fred Smedley, the max insertion is 11cm, which is a touch over 4". I chose to cut my aluminium seatpost as opposed to the carbon one. From RobbieTunes, I have found out the reason behind it, which you can find below.
Bradtx, older Kestrels are almost non existant in Australia. I guess there wasnt a importer/distributer over here. I have seen a few 200 models and an old Talon around on eBay, but never have seen a 4000, or the 500SCi ones. I would believe I own the first 4000 here, which I just received today. Its 1.6kg as a frame only, compared to the 12 year newer 200 that's only 1.2kg. I could bring this one to sub 9kg if I chuck on my carbon wheels, or just chuck on better tyres and a liughter saddle.
Anyway, it's fully done now. The torn Turbo replica saddle was replaced, and a braze on FD was used. The rest came straight off the Gios. The bottle cages are only temporary. I will need to wait on some silver or white cages.
The clear ruby colour shows up well in sunlight.
The frame came from Santa Barbara Bikesmiths over in California. The Castle Hill owner before me bought it off some dude from Brisbane, and thats all I know where the frame came from. Dont know who brought it over to Aus.
As for the seatpost issue I had, I found the reason behind it. As told by RobbieTunes: The seat tube is made of carbon and there is an aluminum sleeve inserted into the top, which is used to clamp the seatpost.There is a cavity in the seat tube below the sleeve with a slightly larger diameter than 27.2, which allows for minor movement of the seatpost when subjected to forces when the bike is ridden. Over time, this movement can cause cracks at the top of the seat tube. If the seatpost is too short, and the bike tips over, this leverage can easily crack both the seat tube carbon at the top, and the aluminum sleeve inside. Cutting the seatpost to exact length eliminates most of this movement, and helps to avoid the cracking of the top of the carbon tube, and more importantly, the cracking of the aluminum sleeve.
Guess this is something Kestrel didnt take into account, even though they went to the lengths of wind tunnel testing for aerodynamics(first company to do so for a production frame), and FEA testing. This is why I am using the aluminium one, as opposed to cutting my carbon post.