What to do in the event of a total blackout: a Revolution!

[Obi-Juan]

Well, yes, we suffered a total blackout in Spain a week ago. At 1:00 PM, I realized I couldn't do anything that required even the slightest electronics, not even make a phone call. THERE WAS NO PHONE...of course, they couldn't call me, nor would I get emails, etc.
I had to do something to entertain myself.

In September, I bought a beautiful Kirk a Silverfish. It was a good time to start.

 

[Obi-Juan]

I was watching a Tour de France in the late 80s when suddenly a TVM escaped from the peloton.
What!!!!
What the hell is that bike!!!

I don't know who the rider was, I don't know what year it was, I don't know what stage it was... I only remember the bike. It's definitely the best advertising in the world, seeing the product advertised and nothing else.

That afternoon with my group of friends, we discovered it was a Kirk Precision, that it was made of magnesium (WOW), and what else did it matter? It was spectacular.
I wanted one, my friends wanted one, we all wanted one.

 

[Obi-Juan]

Well, in June, I saw a unit for sale in a beautiful mauve color.
Yes, tacky, but beautiful.
I contacted Silverfish, who told me it was badly damaged from humidity (not from use, which it hadn't seen before), and I asked them to hold it for me until I returned from vacation.

It finally arrived after spending some time in customs (they took it apart for inspection and cruelly scratched it with the cassette...).

I finally had a Kirk after so many decades. I finally had another metal in my collection: magnesium.

I wasn't really interested in the material, I'd already mentioned this to Silverfish, so I didn't mind the rust. Interestingly, I was able to sell the cranks and GRIPS!!!! (That helped pay customs).
I was also impressed by the stem; it was very nice and light, so I removed the paint and rust and powder-coated it black for future use. The rest basically went to the trash (I took the pulleys and some other useful parts)

 

[Obi-Juan]

The fork is a CR-MOT Spinner, but it weighs over 900 grams. I remember that when they tested the Kirk Precision in Bicisport magazine, they used a legendary Vitus fork. I really liked the idea, but finding a Vitus MTB fork isn't easy.
There's another problem: the head tube is very long; not just any fork will do.
So I went to plan B. I thought of a Pepperoni, an Orange, or maybe a Kinesis!
A very nice 6061 aluminum fork appeared, in very good condition. I decided to powder-coat it as well to match the black of the original. The fork weight is correct.
Speaking of weight, I've seen in some chats where people ask how much the frame weighs. Well, if you've seen any of my work, you'll see that I weigh everything. Absolutely everything.
Obviously, the Revolution was also heavy, and I think it's best to leave the mystery unresolved. It's more romantic to think of the magnesium Kirk as a magic-weight frame and let people dream.
The bare frame is gorgeous, and since weight isn't an issue, I can let my imagination run wild.

P.S. I read somewhere that magnesium frames float in water. I also read (and have seen videos) that magnesium explodes when it comes into contact with water, which is why Pinarello and some other brands abandoned magnesium frames.
Well, curiosity won out over the risk. I must be somewhat unconscious, but I can confirm that the claim that magnesium frames float is an urban legend.

 

[Obi-Juan]

I don't have any bikes with purple anodizing. I hate that color, but I admit it's the best for this mauve frame. I will take the opportunity to put some more pieces in purple because I found quite a few interesting pieces and NOS
I found some nice hubs and some Tranz-X Secura Lock NOS skewers.
Those skewers are part of MTB history, and I was eager to put them on a bike. They're not the best, but they were widely used by tens of thousands of cyclists and worked well. I had some nice Araya RM 17 NOS skewers that I think would look great on them because of the pink logos. Some purple nipples, and let's get to work.

 

[Obi-Juan]

During all this time, I've thought a lot about what groupset to use. I got a bunch of Ritchey components (cranks, handlebars, brakes, brake levers, etc.), a Sachs Quarz DIRT, and even a Suntour XC Comp, which I love (I've never seen a Kirk Revolution at Suntour).
The problem was the front derailleur; it has to be Shimano.
I started searching, and tons of DX and XT models appeared.
But I also found a single, solitary XTR.
Oh! What a crazy idea I had! I have some pretty scratched M900 cranks, which is why I've never used them, and a nice rear derailleur.
A Kirk with XTR, I like the idea.
I'll put in an XT cassette; I have several and they need to be used.
Also, the XTR 952 I have is already reserved for another project I'll start soon.

 

[Obi-Juan]

The fork is threaded but with a very long 197 mm tube, so I decided to install a Modus headset specifically for use with Ahead stems (it has a system of nylon bushings that fit the threads; it's not as easy as it seems, but it works well). It's the Teflon bearing version, so despite its volume, it weighs less than 100 grams. And it's purple.
The stem is a Radikal, a Spanish brand from the 1990s. I chose it because it's black and therefore works well with the fork, and because its beam shape is reminiscent of the frame.
I took advantage of the fact that I had a battery (and another spare) in the Wurth to polish the cranks. They were very helpful. A few purple screws and they were ready.

 

[Obi-Juan]

And the rest of the big blackout was just riding my bike as much as I could.
In the end, it was a lot of fun, although thankfully it was only one day of blackout.

The tires are Hutchinson Rock-X-Country. It's true that I've used that model recently on the Look MI-960, but these have the cream sidewall, very nice, new, and most incredibly, operational.
I think they're ideal for continuing this Revolution.

 

[zonoskar]

Wow, those cranks turned out very nice. You did all that during the blackout? Not a big fan of the purple-on-purple look, I would have gone for silver.

 

[Obi-Juan]

Wow, those cranks turned out very nice. You did all that during the blackout? Not a big fan of the purple-on-purple look, I would have gone for silver.

Well, honestly, I know the XTR M-900 is a "serious" groupset. But the Kirk always seemed "irreverent" to me, perhaps not so much in the 90s MTB scene, where there were already some crazy designs, but on road bikes, which at that time were basically 11-tubes, the Kirk was a breath of fresh air, as were the Vitus ZX1, the Kestrel, and some other monocoque bikes without the classic 11-tubes. But the Kirk wasn't carbon...
That's why I wanted to give it a somewhat casual, less serious look.

I've had the wheels assembled for a couple of weeks. I enjoy building wheels and do it in the evenings after dinner.
Thanks for your comment on the cranks. I spent about 3 hours on them.
I tried a new abrasive that someone recommended (Osborn Polimaxx). It's really fantastic. I'm no expert at polishing, but after polishing many parts and frames, I have to admit that these abrasives made the job easier.
I made the stickers because I was planning on putting those cranks on the Klein Pulse, but since I ended up using Syncros, I put them away.

I've actually made a lot more progress on the bike; it's almost finished.