2004.

I knew going into this business that if getting the ball rolling was a challenge then keeping it rolling could be even more so. The funny thing is when you first hang your shingle you have no money at all but you have the luxury of time……….but when you get orders in hand and feel the pressure of getting bikes out the door on schedule the balance shifts a bit………you have a little bit of money but no time whatsoever.

This lack of time in my case was mostly of my own making. Since I had no money but had lots of time I opted to make most of my own jigs, fixtures and tools. This includes my own jig to set up frames in. A good jig costs thousands of dollars and I had only hundreds so I designed and built my own set up that was VERY cheap to build, exceedingly accurate and very, very slow to set up. It mattered little as I had time…….at least at first. The catch is of course if I couldn’t make the bikes in a timely fashion I couldn’t make enough money to afford to purchase more conventional tools. I vowed from day one that I would not barrow any money to get things rolling and that the business needed to generate enough cash to afford any upgrades out of pocket. This meant I needed to figure out how to make what I had more efficient. I never conceived of my ‘reverse jig’ being fast and it wasn’t………..but with some tweaking I cut the time needed to set it up way down. Oddly – learning to save time takes a lot time.

The same thing happened with my tube mitering. I’ve hand mitered my tubes from day one. Back then I did it by hand because I didn’t want to incur the expense of buying a machine to do it. In time I was able to tighten up my processes to the point where I can do it in little more time than it takes to do the same process on a machine…….and I don’t have to take up precious floor space with a machine I would use only minutes a week. But tweaking this process and teaching myself the tricks to get a very tight miter in a very short period of time took time too.

There was a lot of this kind of learning in 2004.

2004 was also the year I could have lost the business. As a new venture cash flow was tight and timing was everything. When I started building I used the good folks at Cycle Fantasy to paint my bikes and they did a very nice job. I was happy with the arrangement and we were always tweaking things to make the process more efficient. But then the rug got yanked out – I got a call from Cycle Fantasy telling me that due to health issues they had decided to stop painting……….as in right now. I had at least eight bikes or so there and they wanted to know where I wanted them sent. Now finding a good painter in this biz is the Holy Grail and mine just had to shut the doors. I more than understood why they had to do it and don’t fault them and at the same time I was up the creek sans paddle.

The first person I called was Joe Bell in Spring Valley Ca. I knew he was considered to be the best and everything I’d seen in person looked just right to my eye. I called JB and told him my predicament and told him I was looking for a long-term relationship and a partner. He said something like “I’m expensive but I’m really slow.” That sounded a bit ominous but he said he was willing to give it a try so I was too. I had Cycle Fantasy send my bikes to Joe and Joe stepped up in a huge way. He knew that I was going to need to get these now late bikes to their customers to keep them from loosing faith and for me to have much needed cash flow. He painted 3 bikes in less than 2 weeks for me and got them right out. Without that I might have gone under. JB and I have become good friends and partners over the years and I consider myself lucky to have his decal on the chainstay of every bike that goes out the door.

JB's pearl white over fillets.

Ice blue, cobalt blue and pin stripes by JB.

JB's two tone orange.

Another noteworthy thing in 2004 was the development, testing and finally release of the curved Terraplane seat stay option. Following on the work I did while at Serotta I wanted a seat stay design that was simpler, lighter and more attractive than the Hors Catagorie design I did for Serotta. I felt it needed less rear wheel travel and that with this very limited amount of travel damping would not be an issue. I started working with various designs and did a lot of static testing of spring rates on individual stays not in a bike. The hard part here was figuring out how to take a very thin (.5 mm) tube that was double tapered (larger in diameter in the middle than at either end) and that was heat-treated………..and bend it into a smooth and graceful shape. The very strong tendency is for the tube to kink or collapse during the process. I did a lot of study and settled on a method used typically in bending the huge and long tubes used in structures like bridges and arches. I scaled it WAY down and with some expensive trial and error (a lot of very expensive tubes when into the recycling bin) I got the bending down.

Once I had control of the bending of the stays it was time to test ride them and change the design as needed to get the ride quality and amount of wheel travel I was looking for. Changing the travel was pretty easy. I made a tool that accurately and simply measured the travel. The harder part was getting the ride as I thought it should be. I took my personal bike, serial number 1, and cut the stays out and replaced them over and over again with various stays curved with differing radii and with different duration. That bike looked BAD with burnt paint and unfinished brazing. But it taught me a lot. Taking what I learned on that test bike I built myself a new bike with the new stays and rode the crap out of it. At some point along the line the name “Terraplane” came to mind (a machine that flies over the land) and it stuck.

After I was sure of the merits of the design I offered it for sale and posted photos of it online. The reception was ‘lukewarm’ at best. Many said they didn’t like the look and some said it will never work…………a few even said it was dangerous. Frankly those folks had no idea how the design worked as a whole and just didn’t understand it. I did my best to explain it but no explanation in words would get the point across. In time the customer ride reports got out and they were universally positive. This meant more folks took the plunge and ordered the Terraplane option and their ride reports went out and so on and so forth. In time over 50% of my clients have opted for the Terraplane option. In the 9 years I’ve been building with the stays I’ve not had a single failure and every ride report I’ve gotten has been positive. It was a real risk at the time but one I’m very glad I took. I wish I’d kept the photo of the serious pile of seat stays that I ruined while learning the bending process – that was worthy.

Very early Terraplane prototype.

Version 1 of Terraplane artwork.

Karin on her early Terraplane.

After some time the Terraplane became more established and accepted and I got few really interesting phone calls from other folks in the business posing as potential customers asking how I did the bending. It was so transparent that it was funny. In one case the ‘customer’ was asking only about the stays and nothing about the cost or the paint or anything – they only wanted to know how I bent the stays. It was an odd conversation to say the least. When it was over I thought about it for a minute and then called the caller’s number back and a person answered the phone “XXXX Cycles, how may I direct your call?” Funny stuff.

I don’t know about other people but once I decide to do something I get pretty darn focused and that was certainly the case when it came time to get organized and start my own business. The hard part was knowing what actually had to be done. I knew how to build frames having built thousands of them by this point but I had no idea what I needed to do to allow me to start making and selling them legally. Some things were pretty obvious and others less so but I got good advice from my lawyer and friends and stuff started coming together.

One of the first things I needed was a logo and frame decals to be printed. When it came time to design the logo I kept coming back to a logo I designed and used in high school when I made skateboards. I changed it a bit to suit the size requirements of a bike frame and then took the sketches to a local graphic artist that took my color pencil drawings and turned them into electronic files the folks at Screen Specialty Shop could use to print them.

Kirk down tube logo.

Kirk head tube logo.

While waiting for the decals to be printed I bought some tools that I was missing as well as a surface plate that I would use to fixture frames as well as check their alignment. With this out of the way I built the first two frames – one for Karin and one for myself. They were both made of Reynolds 725 tubing and were both ‘all road’ type bikes for back road use around Bozeman.

The original 'un-jig' and surface plate.

Using plate for alignment.

Karin set up a simple website (her first) and word got out that I was building under my own name. It was about then that I got a call from Patrick Brady asking if I would be interested in having a profile done about me and my work in his new magazine – Asphalt. Of course I did and the only catch was that I didn’t have a bike to send him. I had a bike but it didn’t have paint or decals so it was of little good. I gently pressed the good folks at Screen Specialty and they turned around the order very quickly. I had the frame in a box and ready to send off to Cycle Fantasy for paint and once the decals arrived I was expecting to take a set, put them in the frame box and send it out ASAP. Best laid plans as they say………….the decals looked great but they were not the size I was expecting. In fact they were pretty darn small. Panicked, I called the printer, sorted out the miscommunication, and some new correct size versions were printed in just a day or two and then red labeled out to me.

The frame went off to Cycle Fantasy and came back very quickly thanks to Dave and Colleen’s hard work and it went right off to Mr. Brady. There was only one small hitch. There was a ‘made in Montana’ decal on the seat tube with an outline in the shape of the state and the painters, like most people, didn’t recognize the shape and turned it 90° so the state was on its side. Oh well – shit happens. Patrick said he’d try not to take any photos showing that decal. One fact that I wish I could have corrected in the article was that I was credited for cutting the first Tour de France lugs while working at Serotta. While I cut a bunch of those lugs over the years at Serotta I did not design the cut, nor was I the first one to make them – that was all Kelly Bedford’s work and that seat lug might be the best example of minimal elegance ever in the bike world. After the article came out I wrote in about the mistake but unfortunately it was never printed as the magazine folded after just a few issues.

Asphalt magazine.

Asphalt article.

Asphalt article.

The first Kirk - #1.

Kirk 31 seat cluster.

While this was all happening I became incorporated in the state of Montana on June 4th, 2003 – I was now legal. A few more small tools and the purchase of liability insurance and I was 100% ready to take orders.

The first order came in during early July of 2003 from a very cool guy named Dave T. from Washington State. We talked a number of times on the phone and had, what in retrospect, was a funny conversation – sort of a “who’s on first” kind of thing. Dave asked me if his frame would be the first I built and not wanting him to think I was learning how to build with his frame I of course told him ‘no’. But what he was really asking was would he get the first Kirk frame and with it serial number one. “Nope – don’t worry, I’ve made plenty of frames……….”. We went round and round with this for some time before I figured out what he was really asking. Once through with that awkward dance Dave made plans to come visit me in Bozeman where we rode together and had great steaks and wine that Dave brought with him. What a great way to start. Dave got serial number 03 – Karin and I got number 1 and 2.

Things took off pretty quickly and I was a bit overwhelmed to be honest. I built 16 frames in the second ½ of 2003 and I was off and rolling. I had work and happy customers and wasn’t even loosing money so things were going better than I expected.

Next week – 2004.

Just a heads-up to let you know that Karin updated the photo galleries with a bunch of new bikes. Click on the galleries link on the left and take a look. Also note that if you want to look through the older galleries that there is a link at the bottom of the page that will take you there.

Thanks for looking.

Dave

What follows is part one of a series of blog posts that will highlight the various goings on over the years at Kirk Frameworks. I’ll be making one entry per year and these entries will come out roughly one a week. Now I realize that this is nothing truly historic or all that important in the big scheme of things but I thought it might be an interesting diversion to look back and chronicle what happened when, and maybe give a bit of insight into why it happened at all.

I suppose it’s obvious by now that this year, 2013, marks tenth anniversary of the formation of Kirk Frameworks. I founded the company in June of 2003 and set up shop in our home…………a dedicated phone number, a website designed by Karin, some artwork for logos and a few new tools and I was in the framebuilding biz on my own. I had worked as a builder and built my fair share of frames over the previous 14 years working for others, but 2003 was the first time they were completely of my own design and with my name on the down tube. It might go without saying it felt very good to hold that first frame in my hands and see the logos I designed gracing it. It was a moment that will not soon be forgotten.

Before I dive into the first year, 2003, I thought I might share what lead up to my forming the company and starting work under my own name. So this first installment will be “Pre-2003”.

Pre-2003

I started working as a framebuilder in 1989 when I got a lucky break and was offered a job at Serotta in Middle Grove, NY. I was an experienced wrench and wheel builder and was good with tools and my hands but I’d never done any framebuilding before so there was a lot to learn. In the end I spent 10 years at Serotta and every day there taught me something new. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to do this as a career, and would eventually want to do it on my own, but I had no firm plans and just let things happen organically.

After I’d been at Serotta for about 4 years I was contacted by an old friend from my previous life in retail and he asked me if I wanted to strike out on my own and offered to financially back the effort. This was a serious temptation but I guess deep down I knew I wasn’t ready to be on my own. I was about 30 years old at the time and could make a very nice frame but something was missing……….I wasn’t sure what that something was but I knew I didn’t have it at the time.

So I stayed at Serotta until 1999 when Karin and I decided to move to Bozeman, MT to live life in the high mountains that we loved. Karin would be going to grad school in Bozeman but I had no plans of any kind. I knew I wanted to snowboard a lot and needed a break from standing at the bench after so many years but didn’t know what I wanted to do. I opened the phone book and saw there was a framebuilder in Bozeman so I put on a clean T shirt and went down there and introduced myself to Carl Strong and Tony Smith of Strong Frames. I liked them immediately and shortly thereafter they offered me a job helping out in the shop. I worked a few days a week (not on powder days!). We made some very nice bikes and it was a great place to spend time and make friends in Bozeman.

Strong Frames.

Carl, myself, and Tony.

A few years later Strong Frames and I, along with Ibis Cycles, formed a company called Acme Cycles with the idea that Acme would produce frames for Strong and Ibis, and other small companies on a contract basis, from our hole-in-the-wall shop in Bozeman. It seemed to be going well but I didn’t love the work at this point. We did a lot of production line work with hundreds of steel Ibis’ coming out of the shop along with plenty of Strongs. I liked working on the Strongs as they were all different but the Ibis were mostly the same. I’ll let you in on a little secret – it’s not that much fun to build the same frames every day – day after day.

Strong Frames and Acme at Story Mills complex.

Inside Story Mills - Strong and Acme

Well, as it turned out the guys that owned Ibis and formed Acme with Carl and me were not very ethical. Now I’m not talking about Scot Nicol here – he’d sold the name to a couple of investors and these two ended up being very shady to say the least. Without belaboring the story they robbed Acme blind and stuck Strong with the bill. Not good.

So Acme went away and with it my framebuilding job. It was the first time in 13 years I wasn’t building frames. Strong made the right decision to downsize but this left me without frames to build. So I did various things for a while……I was the supervisor of the Bridger Bowl Snowboard school, I worked for a friend drilling water wells and I made some kinetic sculptures.

At just the right time I got a call from Ben Serotta. They were short handed in New York and needed some temporary help. So I flew back and worked some very long days for about two weeks doing my best to help them out. By the time I left New York we had an agreement for me to build brazed steel Serottas from Bozeman. Serotta sent me tubes and I turned them into frames and sent them back to be finished up and painted. It wasn’t ideal for either of us but I was proud to be working with Serotta again and it paid the bills. I rented a corner in Strong’s shop and used their jig (sorry about the flux mess Carl!) and in the span of about 4 months I built about 40 Serottas.

Strong Frames where I built steel Serottas.

It was great to be doing what I loved and I didn’t fully appreciate how much I’d missed it until I got my hands dirty again. After about 4 months Serotta rightfully pulled the plug due to the very high cost of shipping stuff back and forth. It was the right thing to do but it left me once again without frames to build. I had most of stuff needed to build along with a strong desire and suddenly felt the time was right.

It was the spring of 2003 and that I knew it was finally the right time to start my own business and build frames under my own name. I felt that at this point I had developed the skill set needed to not only make a nice frame but to be able to do all the other stuff one needs to do to run a profitable business. With Carl Strong and Ben Serotta each supporting the idea and no toes to step on I was free to do my own thing.

Next up – 2003.

In addition to being an over the top bike guy I’m also a car guy………..maybe what I really am is an ‘anything with wheels guy’. In any case I’m very passionate about cycling and the bike business and I’m also a sports car lover. I bring this up because of an article I just read in my favorite sports car rag, EVO magazine.

Now I should say early on that I’m about to ask more questions than I have answers to and that this is really a bit of self-indulgent navel gazing. With that said –

The latest issue of EVO compares the 4 previous generations of the Porsche 911 GT3. The article compares and contrasts the 4 latest versions of the 911 GT3 in preparation for the newest version that is about to be released. What I realized was that when the first version was put out there it was loved for its simple and analog nature. It was a true driver’s car and to get the most out of it the driver needed to have real skills behind the wheel. The first gen GT3 did not suffer fools and I’m sure more than a few ended up stuffed backward into ditches. But this was part of the joy and challenge of the car………it rewarded driver skill and that act of being rewarded was huge fun.

When the next version of the GT3 came along it of course had more power, was heavier and faster, and had more electronic ‘aides’. When it was being introduced you could hear the moans out there in car-land. Many thought it had gotten too heavy and full of ‘stuff’ that the real driver didn’t need. The press was not trilled about a GT3 with so many electronic nannies to take care of the driver and that demanded less of the driver to get the most out of the car. It was of course faster and easier to drive at the same time and one would think this would be good and I’m not saying it isn’t but the enthusiasm at the time of the release was muted.

But looking back I see a pattern – whenever a new GT3 is introduced it is of course compared to the older version and it is usually derided for being too soft/fat/complex/easy…..etc compared to the previous version. Despite this the new car sells well and owners love them. Then the next new version comes out and it is now too full of stuff and complexity and it is now derided and the previous version (which was too soft on introduction) is just right………in other words the old car was just right and the new one not so. Lather, rinse, repeat. With each new version we tend to rewrite the list of things that are acceptable and make a GT3 a desirable car.

The new and about to be launched 911 GT3 will not be available with a stick shift and it has rear wheel steering to help keep the rear end of the car behind the front and out of the shrubbery and EVO is skeptical. Me too. But I bet folks will love it and in a few years time, when a newer version is launched we will lather, rinse and repeat.

On the other hand we have a company like Lotus. I am a Lotus owner and feel very fortunate to own my 2005 Elise. It is simple and nearly analog. It has antilock brakes (a good thing IMO) but that is it. No traction or stability control, no SATNAV, no power steering, etc………..the rear wheels push the car, the front wheels steer it and all four slow it down. It’s as basic as a riding mower and really rewarding to drive. And…………..wait for it………….Lotus can’t sell enough of them to make any money. Is it too simple and stark? May be. Lotus the company is trying to reinvent itself and a big part of that will be with cars that are bigger/heavier/more powerful/faster and full of electronic stuff to keep you from stuffing your shiny new toy. Will it work? The existing customer base of Lotus is begging them to keep the cars simple and light but that path has not worked financially so Lotus needs to change direction and appeal to a greater number of people. Only time will tell but history says things will work out if they can change quickly enough and get the plan into potential buyers heads. The Lotus situation makes me wonder if trying to keep things light and simple is what we really want. Many say they want it and then they go out and buy a car with all the bells and whistles.

So what the hell does this all have to do with bicycles I can hear you asking? I realize I’ve lost most of the non-car audience by now and I appreciate your sticking with me. I think I see a parallel developing between the bike and car world with the high tech changes we’ve been seeing over the past few years. Ceramic bearings, electronic shifting, disc brakes, hydraulic brakes, 11 speed cassettes, and exotic materials have all become commonplace and I don’t know that this is a bad thing. But is the same pattern that besets the sports car world may be taking place in our bike world. If I had a nickel for every time I heard “no one needs electronic shifting” I might be able to afford the new Shimano 9070 Di2 kit. But the fact that ‘no one needs it’ seems to matter little. The stuff is very expensive and yet they can’t keep it on the shelf. For something no one ‘needs’ I’d say it’s doing pretty well.

Looking at the patents being filed tells me more changes are coming and most will be greeted with a jaundiced eye and some rightfully so………..and at the same time many will work and sell well. Will we, a few years down the road, be saying ‘sure electronic shifting is cool, I need that, but this automatic transmission is a step too far”? I guess it wouldn’t surprise me.

I like much of this new stuff that no one needs. The Di2 stuff flat out works and is fun to use. I like my light carbon aero wheels. I like having 11 speed cassettes. I like most all of it. What I don’t know is if I enjoy cycling more because of it. I’m certain it takes nothing away from the experience for me but I don’t know that this new stuff allows me to enjoy the ride any more than my Suntour Superbe stuff did back in the day. Does the fact that I no longer need to be good at the act of shifting mean I’m less skilled and get less reward? Do my 1300 gram everyday wheels mean I need less fitness and skill to get them over the hill and down the other side? I honestly don’t know.

I guess in the end I’ve dragged you this far into the weeds because I feel like there is a pattern to this product development and change and if we see it for what it is we might be less nervous about those changes ruining the sport we all love so much. After all, when I was a kid working in a shop I can well remember wrenching bikes with the new 6 speed freewheels in place of the normal 5 speeders and recall some of the sage shop guys saying “What’s next? Bikes that pedal themselves?”

Thanks for reading.

Dave

This is a JKS X that I just finished that is now on its way to JB for paint. It was built for Brendan of Competitive Cyclist. You might recall that a bit less than a year ago Brendan contacted a few builders looking for a modern steel frameset and I was fortunate that he chose me to build for him.

Brendan isn’t a huge guy but we chose to go with a JKS X. Think of it as a ‘spring classics’ type build to be used on bad and/or dirt roads. It has room for 28′s and the wheelbase is stretched just a bit. Should make for a great ride on the rough stuff.

I’ll be sure to post some photos of it when it comes back from JB’s and looking forward to getting the first ride report. Brendan has been really cool to work with and I suggest you check out his business if you are in the need of stuff – http://www.competitivecyclist.com/

After days of snow we are supposed to see 50° this afternoon so I might be hard to find after say 3:00 this afternoon as I play a bit of hooky

Have a great ride.

Dave

A few shots from my mixed dirt and paved ride Friday afternoon after I shut the lights off. I rode over ‘Grand View’ which is silly steep dirt and then went back down into the valley. Then I went up one of my favorite climbs – Story Hills – and the views were as usual wonderful. It’s about 2 1/4 miles up and about 650′ vertical all on private, perfect dirt road. It was about 55° and bright and clear. Today it snowed sideways……..ahh spring in Montana.

Anyway – this is what it looks like riding in the foothills north of Bozeman.

Dave

This year, 2013, marks the tenth anniversary of the Kirk Frameworks Co. To celebrate this milestone I will be offering a limited edition of 10th Anniversary specials. The production of these special 10th Anniversary Specials will be limited to ten bikes in total and once these ten are sold no more orders will be taken for this model.

The 10th Anniversary Specials will be unique versions of the JK Special lugged road race bike and will be equipped with the curved Terraplane seat stays. These framesets will be made to measure and will be built with many features unique to the project. The exact specifications are still being finalized – below is a list of the frameset’s features –

• 10th Anniversary paint scheme by Joe Bell
• 10th Anniversary Kirk graphics
• 10th Anniversary special lug shaping
• 10th Anniversary head badge
• 10th Anniversary front and rear dropouts
• 10th Anniversary brake bridge
• 10th Anniversary brass cable adjusters
• Includes painted to match stem
• Each frameset will be signed and numbered

At this point the final price is not 100% firm but I expect it to be about $5000 for the frame and fork set. None of the features that make this 10th Anniversary bike unique will ever be repeated. Di2/EPS internal wire routing is a no cost option. Special pricing will be available on my favored build kits based on top of the line Campagnolo, Shimano and Sram components.

I’m expecting to deliver these late in 2013 or early 2014 so they will no doubt be ready for the 2014 riding season.

I will be taking ten deposits only and making a list of names of those interested should someone in the queue need to give up their spot. Please contact me with any questions you might have and I’ll do my best to right back to you.

Thanks so much for all the support over the past ten years and here’s to the next ten!

Dave
406 586 3555
info@kirkframeworks.com

JUST A QUICK FOLLOW UP HERE – AS OF NOW ALL THE BIKES HAVE BEEN SPOKEN FOR. IF YOU WERE INTERESTED BUT DIDN’T HAVE A CHANCE TO GET IN THE QUEUE PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME. IF ANYONE NEEDS TO DROP OUT OF THE QUEUE I WILL FILL THE SPOT WITH NAMES OF THOSE INTERESTED……………THANKS SO MUCH!!

This week’s frameset is a JK Special that is headed to Florida once JB gives it some fresh paint. it got super warm yesterday (at lest for Montana during the first week of April) and I was even able to work with the door open – such a treat.

With this frameset in a box I can now obsess on this weekends big event – Paris Roubaix. I feel PR is the greatest one day sporting event on the planet bar none and really look forward to watching it early on Sunday. Hot coffee and cold hard cobbles are a great combo.

Until next week………..

Dave

The answer of course is “None more black”. All road crosser built for discs headed to California.

Thanks SB!

dave