Kirk's Marmite Revolution

sherlylock

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Hi folks....thought I'd share my latest purchase!

Not been on RB for a while - been concentrating on getting my classic Mini build finished and actually been riding bikes rather than rebuilding them!

Anyways....I decided I wanted a new project so been keeping an eye on eBay for bikes local to me and last week this beast turned up. Not knowing a huge amount about them I instantly recognised it from seeing them on RB I decided to take a punt on it. Offered a pocket money amount of cash for it and collected it at the weekend.



Been reading up on the Kirk story, which I find fascinating, and been looking through the various threads on RB associated with the Revolution and it seems to be a bit of a Marmite bike. I guess this is down to people owning them in the past and suffering the problems associated with the early frames.....and people like me who don't know any better ;)

Worried about what I'd seen about cracking/corrosion/bottom brackets falling out etc I wasn't sure what to expect. First impression when I collected it was "blimey.....that's heavy" and how under spec'd it is (it's the mid-range Altus c10 model, 1992) - the only decent bit of kit on it is the LX front dérailleur - needless to say there's a huge pile of rusty scrap to throw away after the strip-down!

Managed to strip the bike down over the weekend and found no real issues - one captive nut fell out which I need to try and relocate (could be interesting!) but the seatpost came out as did bottom bracket and headset came apart with no issues.

Not sure what the plan is yet - initially I'll probably build it back up with some better components and give it a trial ride (after checking over for cracks!) to actually see what it's like to ride - then if I like it it'll probably get a full resto and become my daily commute.

Be interesting to see if I can turn this ugly duckling into a swan! :)

Some pics:











 
Re: Re:

Hotwheels.":3exrfc6x said:
Copper spokes are a nice touch, not seen those before! ;)

Haha - they match the copper chain too! It's an absolute heap of shi....but interesting! Think it's been stood outside for a while. Frame seems in good nick though, don't think it's had a lot of use judging on wear of the components.
 
Got it all stripped down on Saturday morning, everything came off OK, no stuck seatpost or stuck bottom bracket. Can't see any obvious damage or cracks to the frame - all seems good. Even managed to re-insert the loose front mech threaded insert.

Gave the frame a quick clean, cleaned the front mech and wire-wooled all the remaining paint off the UNO stem - which has come up surprisingly well.

Cleaned out and re-greased the headset (although this still feels graunchy so is past it's best - will be replacing this!) and fitted some grey anodised Wolber AT18s that I acquired recently.

Decided on trying to cobble together an LX groupset for it (M565 / M567) to match the front mech. I had this setup on my old Bear Valley SE and I thought it was really, really good.



Grass needs a cut.....must be that time of year again!



Weight loss! All the ginger/heavy bits removed and discarded.



The groupset that came off the bike is an odd mix - I can't get it to match any of the brochure details that I've found on the RB site. The grey frame and associated graphics suggests that it's a '92/'93 Revolution A20 (mid range) but the components don't match - the rear mech is Altus C10 and I've no idea about the cranks/chainrings/thumbies/brake levers. All looks like real low end tat. I guess the bike is so old that all this stuff could've been swapped out in the past.....but for lower end kit? Cheaper I guess.......
 
Re:

Looks good :cool:
Wanted one of these in the pinky/magenta colour back in the day thought they looked cool!
 
I had one of those. Bought it from Halfords, snapped it 2 weeks later (rear dropout), took it back, paid £100 extra and came out with a Carrera which lasted me about 5 years..

Still, it looks quirky ;)
 
Haha.....yeah I guess that's why there's some dislike for these bikes then and reading back through some previous RB threads it really manifests itself in some proper hatred! Which in my mind is cool.....better to be either loving/hating something than just feeling a bit non-plussed about it I reckon.

Anyways.....this build is inspired purely out of curiosity really. I love the Kirk story, bit dismayed at the truly British outcome, love the look of the thing and no idea what it rides like (a cracking ride so I've read - although I may have mis-interpreted this!) ;)

I'm hopefully going to build it sympathetically with components that it possibly deserves (rather than the low end heavy tat I've just removed). It certainly won't be dripping with XTR, XT and the like but likewise it also wont be Altus!

Saw a video on another forum recently where a guy has videoed himself flexing a Kirk frame (stationary too).......wow! I reckon the later frames must be better though......mine doesn't seem half as "chewy" as the one in the video.
 
sherlylock":2rs0j57i said:
strippeddown.jpg
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This looks really smart, the black and design makes it look quite modern in a good way. I wonder what it would like like with a straighter fork.
 
al-onestare":c6uganof said:
sherlylock":c6uganof said:
This looks really smart, the black and design makes it look quite modern in a good way. I wonder what it would like like with a straighter fork.

I have had a similar thought - I've got a set of Kona P2 forks at home (albeit with a steerer that's too short for this bike) - might offer it up to see what it looks like......
 
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