Kirk Ride Report

[FierteTi52]

Well I finally dodged the rain and had my maiden voyage on the new Kirk. The bike was designed as an all arounder and today's ride it was dressed in race bike mode with 23mm Vittoria Open Corsa CX's. Now I know what everyone's talking about regarding the magic carpet ride. This bike has Dave's MOJO all the way. The Kirk is by far the best riding bike I have ever owned. It has it's own personality that makes the ride and handling an extension of yourself. The handling is so neutral feeling you don't have to do a whole lot except enjoy yourself. The feel is solid although the bike turns like it is on rails. You can turn your head to check traffic or reach down for your bottle and the bike just holds it's line. Dive into a corner and the bike seems to take the right line around the corner.
The fit is spot on. When I set up the bike, I took a few measurements and the bike was instantly dialed in. The only adjustment I made on the ride was lowering the seat a few mm's.
I'm real happy with the parts selection. The new Shimano R 700 compact cranks shifts perfect with a standard D/A front derailleur and the Shimano long reach calipers stop way better than Cantis while allowing me to run cross tires and Ruffy Tufy's.
The bottom line is I'm very pleased and Dave is a true expert at what he does. Going custom is kinda scary, but I couldn't be happier. DK ROCKS!
Jeff

[victoryfactory]

Does this mean you're changing your name to kirksteel52?

VF

[victoryfactory]

nm

[pale scotsman]

Going custom is kinda scary, but I couldn't be happier. DK ROCKS!
Jeff

I had the same fears and about 18 months of hesitation of going custom, but now I kick myself for putting off my Kirk (http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=13883) so long. Every freakin' time I get back from a ride I've got that stupid grin. We've got some rough roads and Daves magic makes the frameset super stable. Besides that it's the quietest bike I've had.

[Johny]

The Kirk is by far the best riding bike I have ever owned.

So Jeff you will sell your other bikes? :)

[FierteTi52]

So Jeff you will sell your other bikes? :)
Johny,
I'm going to have to sell one of my bikes to thin down the herd, I think you ride a 52, so take the 1.5 hr drive to Buffalo and we can talk business.
Jeff

[93legendti]

Johny,
I'm going to have to sell one of my bikes to thin down the herd, I think you ride a 52, so take the 1.5 hr drive to Buffalo and we can talk business.
Jeff

I am interested, if he is not... :)

[Tailwinds]

I am interested, if he is not... :)

I am interested, if they are not. :p

Oh, and YES -- it IS a magic carpet ride, isn't it?! It's great how a bike can feel so comfortable yet so lively and fast at the same time.

[Johny]

Johny,
I'm going to have to sell one of my bikes to thin down the herd, I think you ride a 52, so take the 1.5 hr drive to Buffalo and we can talk business.
Jeff

Thanks Jeff. I was joking. I too have toomanybikes. Anyway, I am glad you dig your new Kirk.
John

[Johny]

Looks like 52-53cm bikes are in high demand. :D

P.S. I have a stock 53cm (53x53) 2001 New Serotta Colorado III/icon fork (carbon blade, 1" steel steerer, uncut, threadless). Never assembled...new new new. Famous red/yellow fade paint scheme. Anyone interested? PM me. :)

[FierteTi52]

It has been a while since building my Kirk and all I have to say is what a great bike. I have been using my Ottrott for our club paceline rides and I used the Fierte Ti on a rainy 65 mile charity ride recently. I was planning on riding the Kirk until I woke up and it was pouring. Tonight I went out on the Kirk and wow was the ride ever nice. This was the first time I was out on it in a few weeks and the feel was magical. Not quite the all out hammer down feel of the Ottrott in a sprint, but so well behaved. As mentioned before, riding the Kirk requires almost no mental input. It just rides perfect. Sooo nice!
Jeff

[Ray]

I used the Fierte Ti on a rainy 65 mile charity ride recently. I was planning on riding the Kirk until I woke up and it was pouring.
Why use the Fierte in that situation? With long reach brakes, you should have all sorts of fender clearance on the Kirk and it sounds like the ride is better tuned for longish, more relaxed rides anyway. Steel doesn't melt in the rain and doesn't rust if you take even a little bit of care of it. And riding with fenders in the rain improves that experience about 1000 times.

You're gonna have to get it wet one of these days anyway...

-Ray

[rnhood]

Nice review Jeff. I looked at the pictures of your bike and it is beautiful. I wouldn't put in the rain either for a while. Not until some of the newness wares off some anyway. The ride gets even better when you go to 25 or 28mm tires. Bikes like this put pleasure back into riding.

[FierteTi52]

Why use the Fierte in that situation? With long reach brakes, you should have all sorts of fender clearance on the Kirk
-Ray
Ray,
I went with long reach brakes for tire clearance and didn't include fender mounts to the design. With a steel frame I figured not to be out riding the rain unless I was caught by suprise, so no fenders. Typically I don't ride in the rain, but I have a cross bike with fenders for winter, rain, and lousy weather riding. I used the Fierte Ti because it will not rust.
Jeff

[JasonF]

Steel doesn't melt in the rain and doesn't rust if you take even a little bit of care of it. You're gonna have to get it wet one of these days anyway...

-Ray

Although intellectually I know you're right, I still have a tough time taking my Sachs out in the rain. Silly, I know. After all, I have fired 75 year-old shotguns that have been through every type of weather imaginable and still look great.

[Ray]

Although intellectually I know you're right, I still have a tough time taking my Sachs out in the rain. Silly, I know. After all, I have fired 75 year-old shotguns that have been through every type of weather imaginable and still look great.
I understand the impulse, but what helped me get over it was my old Bianchi fixed gear. I hated that frame, more or less. So I tried to kill it. It already had plenty of rust when I got it 9 years ago. I've ridden it through all manner of salty winters and never cleaned it, inside or out. Left it outside in many a rainstorm, including out on the deck at a beach front house in windy thunderstorms where you couldn't believe the salt deposits that formed. Just kept the drivetrain and headset maintained and let the frame go to he!!. Couldn't hurt the damn thing. I finally gave it to a friend who had a similar bike he liked and wanted to check out fixed riding. It's still going very strong. If this frame can take this kind of abuse with NO maintenance, wiping the salt off in the winter and frame-saver-ing it every few years should take care of about anything. Or just don't ride it in salty winter conditions. Steel's tough.

-Ray

[David Kirk]

It's interesting to me that there is such a concern with steel frames and rust. For so many years (showing my age here) steel was the only viable choice and we rode/raced our bikes in all conditions. If it was in the rain we wiped the bikes down at the end of the ride just so it didn't look like crap the next time we got on them. The same way you would with a carbon bike at this point. Racers rode steel bikes for 20K miles a year in all types of weather and piled them into the team van with little concern.

I've owned many steel bikes over the years (Raleigh, Ritchey, Serotta, Merckx, Fisher, Trek and my own of course...the list goes on.......). I have never had a bike have rust problems. This includes my racing my Ritchey steel mountain bike in everything from dust to snow and then being thrown into the back the the station wagon for the long drive home. There were rock chips, scrapes, dents, chain gouges, mud, slime,moss, snow....the works. In short I beat the crap out of that bike. It was a full on race bike and not meant to be babied. That combined with the fact that I didn't pay for it made it all the more disposable. In the end, after years of hard racing the bike looked pretty rough but was 100% structurally sound. I had it repainted and it looked and rode like new.

A while back I wrote that steel bikes didn't start having rust issues until the advent of aluminum, titanium, and carbon bikes. I still feel that way. It's as if the builders of those non-steel bikes needed another selling point to close the deal. There may be plenty of reasons you might want to choose a non-steel bike but I don't feel the rust concern is a valid one.

Dave

[Grant McLean]

It's interesting to me that there is such a concern with steel frames and rust. For so many years (showing my age here) steel was the only viable choice and we rode/raced our bikes in all conditions. If it was in the rain we wiped the bikes down at the end of the ride just so it didn't look like crap the next time we got on them. The same way you would with a carbon bike at this point. Racers rode steel bikes for 20K miles a year in all types of weather and piled them into the team van with little concern.

I've owned many steel bikes over the years (Raleigh, Ritchey, Serotta, Merckx, Fisher, Trek and my own of course...the list goes on.......). I have never had a bike have rust problems. This includes my racing my Ritchey steel mountain bike in everything from dust to snow and then being thrown into the back the the station wagon for the long drive home. There were rock chips, scrapes, dents, chain gouges, mud, slime,moss, snow....the works. In short I beat the crap out of that bike. It was a full on race bike and not meant to be babied. That combined with the fact that I didn't pay for it made it all the more disposable. In the end, after years of hard racing the bike looked pretty rough but was 100% structurally sound. I had it repainted and it looked and rode like new.

A while back I wrote that steel bikes didn't start having rust issues until the advent of aluminum, titanium, and carbon bikes. I still feel that way. It's as if the builders of those non-steel bikes needed another selling point to close the deal. There may be plenty of reasons you might want to choose a non-steel bike but I don't feel the rust concern is a valid one.

Dave

I agree. I ride in Canadian winters, on heavily salted roads, and never had an issue
in 25 years of riding. I've never sprayed anything inside my steel bikes.
My experience working at a bikeshop for this time, i've seen a few bikes with
rust issues, but it seems neglect is worse than abuse. Anyone who has "fear"
of rust just needs to get over it.

Components get abuse from all the grinding with the crud. I've smoked through
tons of chains, cogs, and rings riding in the winter. Brake pads by the truckload.
My beater commuter Bianchi is from '88 and it's still going strong, with about
the 10th drive train, now that it's a single speed.

g

[Ginger]

Besides...if it does rust out it gives you a reason to buy another bike!

(I grew up on a farm, you can bury steel in the dirt for 20 years, dig it out and clean the surface rust off and it's still good steel...)

[H.Frank Beshear]

I getting ready for TOMRV our clubs annual 2 day ride. The chance of rain just gets better and better :crap: . Kinda makes me wish I had taken time to put on the fenders. Oh well when I get home I'll wipe it down with a soft cloth pull the seatpost and drain the water. I do feel better about it when I read post like Daves though. Frank

[Tom]

That's my thinkin'

[shoe]

funny i just had this discussion about rust. was getting ready to build up a frame this weekend and asked my gal to order some framesaver at the shop...they said how noxious it was and that it really wasn't necessary . their response was you will be riding a tricycle before your frame rusts out. 30 years as a mechanic i'm gonna go with his advice... so in ten years ask me how it's holding up.dave

[Dekonick]

all frame saver is - a can with linseed oil.

It is not noxious.

It can be messy to apply (I have found just using boiled linseed oil sloshed in the tubes works fine) but is not noxious.

I have never used framesaver - but have a can of boshield for the mower etc...

Linseed oil is great stuff for protecting metal from oxidation. It is also good for protecting wood... :banana: Does the Calfee bamboo bike have problems with jungle rot?!? :p

[dave thompson]

<snip>.... Does the Calfee bamboo bike have problems with jungle rot?!? :p
Uhh, Jungle Rot is a human condition.

[rePhil]

I have had the top tube cable guides that rusted. That nasty paint bubbling, flaking, making it a pain to remove the cables rust.They were so bad they needed to be replaced. I know my sweat is toxic but I had no idea it was that bad, that combined that with Florida salt air and humidity.
The frame was many years old, and on it's 3rd respray when I switched to ti.
Every steel frame I have owned(3) with one exception had been repainted. ( I guess I keep them too long?)

[shoe]

i am simply starting rumors on heresay. i have never used it and since my bike was built up today let the expriment begin. to be honest i wanted to use it since i think peter weigles bikes are soo blanking cool..(might as well support him one way or another)they just talked me out of using it at the shop is all...dave