Kirk revolution - my flexible friend...

Picked this up last weekend after winning it on ebay, and have been busy putting it back into working order.

Its the dx model, so most of the groupset is dx (hubs, pedals, brakes, rear mech etc) and lx sti brake/shifter pods.

The wheel bearings were in bits so they've been replaced, along with the headset bearings, and all the cabling is new. The left shifter was knackered, so I've unbolted it from the lever, and put a gripshifter on there just so its rideable for the moment until I source some thumbies also a new chain, and the jockey and freewheels were lubed up.

It even came with its original vetta turbo gel saddle, but it was wrecked, so a modern ti one is on there for now.

Anyway, all that effort to make it rideable so with great anticipation I cranked it off the curb into the street and jesus christ is it a bit wobbly Quite comfy though, and everything mechanical is working beautifully; I was surprised that the significant degree of frame flex, there was no ghost shifting and it pedals well.

Very weird, so once I've finished this off, I may move straight on to my next retro rebuild, as I need something I can confidently take off road (not far from afan argoed), it'd be a shame to knacker it with daily abuse.

Heres the pics of its current state anyway!

normally means the frame has gone faulty, my 1993 one is quite stiff, but i did own a 1992 one and it was very scary to ride.

Mine is very flexible as well, but seems to have no cracks etc. I have used it many time of road, and still do, and it is still fine. I have to admit I was a bit scared the first time to stand on the pedals, but it actually feels very efficient. My feeling is that the flex only occurs when not pedalling straight, implying it was optimized in strength only in the pure pedal direction. After all, it was one of the first frames computer optimized.
Yours is looking good, have fun with it!

thats the most craziest frame ive ever seen

FLEXY FRAME KIRK

ohh yes the kirk revolution, just bought one recently and boy does it wobble, me thinks it will have to go .

drew

Sorry to hear that you bought a Kirk :roll:
They didnt sell too well back in the day mainly because they were sooo heavy and the firm went bust under the weight of all the warranty claims for duff castings
There is a thread back here somewhere where I got savaged for claiming they were sh1....t then as the evidence piled up it turned out I was right :?
Kinda funky in pink tho isnt it

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought magnesium alloy has similar stifness to aluminium. Where that flex come from?

Air bubbles in the castings make the strength of the frame rather more like a Cadburys Crunchie

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... 4482c2cc0e


page 2 halfway down

as captian says the pouring and moulding of the frames was so poor ..well you can see the results in the thread