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11 years ago I walked into Dave Kirk's shop while out west on business. I didn't know Dave, but had met him 2-3 times before and we had mutual friends from Saratoga. I pulled the trigger on a frame for my 50th birthday shortly after visiting. He had measurements, etc and general idea of what I wanted (I'm very center of the bell curve for fit) When build time came around I gave him total artistic freedom. He carved the assymetric lugs as to how he thought I would like, I had given him an idea on color, and when it was ready to go to paint, he contacted me because he was changing his graphics design - wanted to know if I was cool with that. I said surprise me. When it was prepped for paint, Joe Bell called me and we discussed paint codes, could no long get what I was looking for, so he asked if he could mix something special for me - surprise me.
The bike was a true creation by Dave and finished with the same flair by Joe. I did sell the bike a short while back to Adam (HilltopperNY) for a few personal reasons. I'm fairly certain if Adam reads this post he'd agree it is a special frame. Now, I am in the planning phase of getting another classic from Dave that I can ride until I can't ride any longer.
The choice of builder is the critical part. I believe there are "Framebuilders", and people that build frames - there is a difference. A framebuilder will translate the conversations into creations. Thank you Dave, I look forward to number two.
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