Kirk Frameworks

[David Kirk]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

I'd file the question under "tertiary relationship with bikes/framebuilding."

Just from following your work the past few years, it seems that ol' Chapman's philosophies play at least a partial influence in your thoughts on bike design.

Your rear dropout design, in particular, strikes me as something Colin might have done if he had picked up a torch to put bikes together rather than win Formula 1 and Le Mans titles.

Thanks so much - this means more than you know and no higher praise could be had IMO.

dave

[MattTuck]

Might I just add that I got this email from Mr. Kirk this afternoon... can you say PSYCHED?! So this thread seems like a very timely builder spotlight! nice going William.

New Bike Time

Hello There,

I hope things are getting pretty and fall like in Mass by now. It's still
too warm here and with the wildfires in Idaho it's been pretty darn smoky.
Soon enough we will get some snow and that will put the fires out.

It looks like it¹s about time to get our ducks in a row in regards to your
new bike build. There are a few things we need to do but they are pretty
simple and easy.

The first thing I will need is for you to fill out the attached
questionnaire. The questions are designed to give me a better idea of how
and where you ride so that I can be sure to design the bike to best suit you
and your needs.

[William]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

Might I just add that I got this email from Mr. Kirk this afternoon... can you say PSYCHED?! So this thread seems like a very timely builder spotlight! nice going William.

That's great! Pictures when in process and done or it didn't happen.






William

[SPOKE]

Originally Posted by William

.

That to pic is my JKS!!!!

[MattTuck]

Originally Posted by SPOKE

That to pic is my JKS!!!!

Which one? the Blue with the white panels?

[Mr. Squirrel]

dear mr. dave,
do you slip braze and then fillet braze over a joint? do you apply the fillet in quarter sections around the tube, or one continuous bead? what sized tips do you prefer? my uncle cletus lived in the attic over a welding shop. he liked #2s. do you like nuts?

mr. squirrel

[David Kirk]

Originally Posted by Mr. Squirrel

dear mr. dave,
do you slip braze and then fillet braze over a joint? do you apply the fillet in quarter sections around the tube, or one continuous bead? what sized tips do you prefer? my uncle cletus lived in the attic over a welding shop. he liked #2s. do you like nuts?

mr. squirrel

Hello my furry friend,

I think what you call 'slip' I might call 'tinning'. Tinning is the act of brazing the two tubes together by flowing a small amount of brazing material between the two tubes but not putting extra on the outside to create the fillet. The tinning is very important in that it really is what holds to tubes together and the fillet just reinforces the tinning. Proper tinning flows a small amount of filler between the tubes and forms a small fillet inside of the joint. This is where the majority of the strength comes from.

When the tubes are all set into the jig and fluxed up I tin each joint completely. I work my way around the frame and tin small sections of each joint until all the joints are completely tinned.

Once all the tinning is done and the frame is cool it comes out of the jig and gets put into a work stand for the laying of the fillets. I put a fresh layer of flux on each joint and then lay the fillets on each joint in 4 sections. i work two of the sections in the clockwise direction and the other two in the counter-clockwise direction and this keeps the joint from creeping and twisting as the brass cools and contracts. It's a sequence that I've worked on over the years that results in a frame that needs no cold setting to get it to be straight once cool.

Your uncle Cletus is a smart rodent.............I too like the #2 Victor torch tip best and I use it for 99.8% of my brazing. Listen to Cletus - he's the man.

I do like nuts but my favorite nuts are peanuts and I suppose those are actually legumes and not really nuts...........so I don't know. Hmmmmm? Points to ponder.

Dave

[jr59]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

Might I just add that I got this email from Mr. Kirk this afternoon... can you say PSYCHED?! So this thread seems like a very timely builder spotlight! nice going William.

[David Kirk]

You know.........I had a thought this morning that really struck me for some reason.

I've been on this forum for a long time! That might seem silly to say but I recently realized that I will mark the Kirk Frameworks 10th anniversary next June 3rd and I was hanging out here a year or two before that.

That is a long time in my book.

It's also interesting to me that I spent 10 years working at Serotta and the same amount of time, so far, doing my own thing. I learned so much about f-building and life during my 10 years at Serotta and I will be forever grateful for it.......that said.......those 10 years did not pass quickly or easily. It could be a hard place to work and spend time back then and it was by no means care-free. Still - there was no better place to learn the craft............

Contrast this to my current nearly 10 year vocation - I work hard at this, very hard frankly, but it has almost always been easy and fun. That might sound like a contradiction and I understand that but it isn't in my head. I work hard but I get to call the shots and do exactly what I think is best. This kind of freedom brings with it a type of happiness and joy even. It's sort of a "I'm tired but it's a good kind of tired" kind of deal.

When I did the simple and basic math not too long back and saw that the 10th year is getting big in the windshield it was hard to believe. I had to pull out the calculator and subtract 2003 from 2013...........sure enough - 10 years. Still hard to grasp as it has gone so quickly and with so little drama.

I hope that this place will still be here in another 10 years, that I will still be a willing and welcome participant and that I will still be bellying up to the bench and doing what makes me and my customers happy.

Here's to another 10 years!

The drinks are on me.


dave

[54ny77]

Got that right. I need (not just want, but need) a JKS w/Terraplane rear at some point within that timeframe (sooner rather than later). So please do me a favor & stick around!

Originally Posted by David Kirk

Here's to another 10 years!

[v531xc]

Originally Posted by 54ny77

Got that right. I need (not just want, but need) a JKS w/Terraplane rear at some point within that timeframe (sooner rather than later). So please do me a favor & stick around!

ditto the post above!

Fillet Terraplane once my college loans are paid off

-Varun

[William]

Originally Posted by David Kirk

You know.........I had a thought this morning that really struck me for some reason.

I've been on this forum for a long time! That might seem silly to say but I recently realized that I will mark the Kirk Frameworks 10th anniversary next June 3rd and I was hanging out here a year or two before that.

That is a long time in my book.

It's also interesting to me that I spent 10 years working at Serotta and the same amount of time, so far, doing my own thing. I learned so much about f-building and life during my 10 years at Serotta and I will be forever grateful for it.......that said.......those 10 years did not pass quickly or easily. It could be a hard place to work and spend time back then and it was by no means care-free. Still - there was no better place to learn the craft............

Contrast this to my current nearly 10 year vocation - I work hard at this, very hard frankly, but it has almost always been easy and fun. That might sound like a contradiction and I understand that but it isn't in my head. I work hard but I get to call the shots and do exactly what I think is best. This kind of freedom brings with it a type of happiness and joy even. It's sort of a "I'm tired but it's a good kind of tired" kind of deal.

When I did the simple and basic math not too long back and saw that the 10th year is getting big in the windshield it was hard to believe. I had to pull out the calculator and subtract 2003 from 2013...........sure enough - 10 years. Still hard to grasp as it has gone so quickly and with so little drama.

I hope that this place will still be here in another 10 years, that I will still be a willing and welcome participant and that I will still be bellying up to the bench and doing what makes me and my customers happy.

Here's to another 10 years!

The drinks are on me.


dave

Cheers Dave!! (I'll take you up on that ).

Here's to another ten!! Any tenth anniversary special editions in the works?






William

[David Kirk]

Originally Posted by William

Cheers Dave!! (I'll take you up on that ).

Here's to another ten!! Any tenth anniversary special editions in the works?






William

Thanks all for the kind words. I love to hear that folks have my work on the short list.

Yes Sir William - there will be a 10th Anniversary bike. I'm working on some stuff and don't know when I'll have it finalized nor what the price will be but I can say that there will be a max of ten of them and they will all be made to measure of course. Other than that I ain't saying.....for now.

Dave

[William]

Dave,

We always hear about the building process and the customer testimonials (which we all love to hear about), but are there any disruptive forces that you have to deal with in the business? Getting tubing, lugs, large bike company competitors, etc....? What are the outside forces a FB has to deal with in running their biz?




William

[William]

Originally Posted by David Kirk

Thanks all for the kind words. I love to hear that folks have my work on the short list.

Yes Sir William - there will be a 10th Anniversary bike. I'm working on some stuff and don't know when I'll have it finalized nor what the price will be but I can say that there will be a max of ten of them and they will all be made to measure of course. Other than that I ain't saying.....for now.

Dave

Nice!! Can't wait to see what you come up with.




William