cuda2k

yes, it's new, yes it'll be decked out in Campy 11sp, if you don't think it belongs here, take it up with an admin.

I decided that here in C&V would be the home for the thread following the creation of my new ride. After all it is the C&V crew who's opinions I respect and feedback I care about.

Early April of this year, I sent off my $300 deposit to Dave Kirk up in Montana after speaking to him at length at the NAHBS show in Austin and finally crossing off the other two names on my short list of builders to work with on what will be my first, and likely for a while only, custom frame. I knew what sort of ride I wanted, I knew what type of bike I wanted, and after talking to Dave it seemed like he was on the same page with his vision of how a bike should ride. I knew he had the background at Serotta, and the examples of his work I had seen at both the Portland and Austin shows showed the quality of work that I was willing to spend some major coin to own. I spent from then till December 1st trying to patiently wait for my name to finally reach the top of his queue, in the mean time trying to keep myself busy either thinking of paint schemes, working on other projects, trying to talk myself out of taking on yet more projects, etc.

On the 1st I finally got that email saying it was time, and since I already had all my measurements, and the measurements of my current fleet of bikes already set and ready to go it wasn't long till Dave was able to send me back a recommendation and design for my new frame. A quick check of the numbers he sent against my favorite ride, the Gazelle AB-Frame confirmed it was a close match, just a little shorter in the top tube, and obviously to be built with the best of modern steels and setup for modern equipment. Dave's JKS Series of bikes uses a custom blend of Reynolds and TruTemper steels, Llewellyn lugs, his design Triple-F dropouts. I decided on the classic look of the horizontal top tube "Classic" edition of the JKS series, and added Dave's signature curved Terraplane stays for extra stick-to-the-road-ness. We did decide to use a lightly heavier downtube than he usually uses to aid in keeping the frame stiff enough for quick accelerations, so a 853 Pro downtube is going in place of the 953 Stainless.

Dave should be brazing up the front triangle today, but sent me the following photos yesterday evening showing the tubes laid out for inspection, as well as a nice view of the perfectly mitered tubes and the front triangle all fitted into the jig.









And for those curious, here's the build dimensions:

rat fink

This promises to be one of the coolest builds in C&V. I'm excited.

CuRed

Pure awesomeness.

cuda2k

So far, I've got about 60% of the components picked out. Mainly just seatpost / bar / stem / saddle yet to be selected and purchased. Here's the selections so far:

- 2010 Campagnolo Athena groupset: Alloy w/ carbon levers. Decided to stick with the carbon levers since A: it probably won't be the only bit of carbon that goes on, and B: the 2011 Alloy shifters changed internals that doesn't allow for multi-shift in both directions. and, C: the alloy lever seemed noisy, at least compared when off the bike.

- Custom wheelset: White Industries H2/H3 polished alloy hubs, HED Belgium C2 rims, 24/28 spoke, 2x cross built with CX-Ray spokes. Silver spokes, black nipples, black rim. Wrapping those in Conti GP4000s tires, 23mm.

Pedals will likely be another set of Look KeO's to match the rest of the bikes, saddle will likely be a Fizik Aliante, maybe a Selle Italia Flyte. Bar/stem/seatpost, maybe 3T, maybe Richey or maybe something else.

As far as paint goes, that remains the big decision. As those who remember back when I was painting the Serotta, you recall just how long it took me to make that decision, and that was a paint job on a bike I'd essentially got for $350. This frame is setting me back decidedly more. So here's a few options I've been throwing around:

(note, the dimensions of the frame in the mock up images below are not of my bike, just the only side profile of a bike I could get my hands on while trying to keep myself sane prior to Dec. 1st)

Medium Blue, white panels, medium-dark red accent.


Medium blue, white panels, silver accent.


Pearl White (bright pearl, not as gold hued as many ideally), with a British Racing Green like hue of green.

(or the same scheme with a nice rich Red hue instead of the green)

... or even more options:

green, two panel. (Kirk's old style decals)


and the same w/ Red panels:

Oregon Southpaw

Yes.

KonAaron Snake 

Cudak - pretty sure I can get you the alloy 2010 Athena bits that multi-shift if you;re interested. Let me know. I've checked for other people and I get different pricing each time, so I'd just place you directly in contact with the seller.

As for paint - i dig all three, but prefer the blue/white, silver accents in #2.

cuda2k

Thanks Aaron, I think I'm going to stick with the carbon levers. Both the Serotta and Gazelle have carbon levers, and honestly I kind of like them in the way they don't get as hot / cold as alloy in the summer / winter months. I've got a set of the Tektro R200a levers that are soon to be put back into service that I recall freezing my finger tips on when it gets cold.

Added a few other paint options to the second post, and the build dimensions to the first post.

bigbossman 

Listen to this man.

But - I'm kind of surprised that he would choose something so understated and elegant.

non-fixie 

Nice! Thanks for sharing.

BTW, I thought orange, burnt or otherwise, was the 'in' color these days, judging by a recent thread on the subject.

cuda2k

Aaron/BBM: That is the current front-runner.

non-fixie: it is. And a lot of Kirks have been going out the door with at least some orange on them lately. But I'm no slave to trends or fads. Looking for something that will look just as good 5 years from now as it does the day it arrives on the door step. That said, this color combo has grown on me:


- JKS-Classic show bike that was on display at NAHBS: Austin 2011

rat fink

For the Look Keos, I highly recommend the Keo 2 Max model. I had some. They are very light and have some of the silkiest bearings I have ever found. They look nice as well.

Be sure, however, to get the more recently made units. They redesigned the seals about a year into production because the old seals were too stiff and it would cause the pedals to hang. The second design never hangs, and is smoother out of the box than any of my SPD-SLs were. Just FYI.


This is what I would pick for color. I really like it. I like the first white/green as well, but white (as a main color) doesn't age as well and can look dated easily.

sauze

awesome thread , just chiming in to say the blue/white colour scheme in #2 really jumped out at me.

KonAaron Snake 

You'd better hope I don't get you in secret santa...yellow tires and tape!

Roger M

Very Nice. I recently read a couple pages in the book 'Custom Bicycles' a passionate pursuit , about David Kirk

Very skilled guy. I'm sure whatever direction you go with it, will be awesome.

ColonelJLloyd 

Wow. This is going to be awesome. Looking forward to the finished product. The in-progress pics are great!

Wino Ryder

Damn nice 'cuda. This bike is going to be 'born' to you.

personaly I like the pearl white with red panels IMO. Green panels would be nice too, with the 'old Kirk' script maybe in gold. I'm thinking '68 Chevy 'Spring Green for the green panels, which is a real rich metallic.

Think about it.

garage sale GT

It's life, Jim, but not as we know it.

non-fixie 

Although my remark wasn't meant all that seriously, I must say that this does look good. And it stands out really nice between the black & white with red accents stuff they're fielding nowadays.

jr59

First let me say that Dave kirk makes very nice bikes! SUPER nice!

Second; Orange bikes are fast!

Third; Aaron, pretty funny!

cuda2k

If I was planning on hanging a black group off it, the Orange would be higher on my list probably. But since this is going to have "classic" bones with a horizontal top tube, I'm more inclined to stay a little more subdued. Then again, I could just keep the Athena group in the closet, or *gasp* sell it, and buy a Chorus group. But I've already got the wheels on order and they're got those pretty alloy White Industries hubs, etc etc. Of course, those wheels could go on the Serotta, the Serotta's wheels trickle down to the AB-Frame who's Open Pros are starting to show their age... ya'll are making me spend more money without even tryin. Really though, I like the blue/white/silver combo, and there's about a 70% chance that is what it'll end up being. Honda Atomic Blue is what I'm looking at right now, or something similar. I also saw a nice blue on a Tomassini at the NAHBS show that I took some photos of that isn't quite as muted that would look good as well.

tugrul

The boxed Kirk logos are an eye sore IMHO.

I'd go with the old style decals, and the frame inverted to have pearl panels on your color of choice.

jr59

Does N+1 work for groupsets and wheels as well?

See, there you go!

non-fixie 

Now you really got me going. This is my favourite bike color-wise:

BigPolishJimmy

How about blue with white fork blades and a custom label?



Edit: *photo updated because of RIF (Reading is Fundamental)* The joke doesn't work now, as it wasn't really all that funny to begin with. I was serious about the white blades *

cuda2k

Ya'll aren't helping me narrow down the color options with these good looking oranges.

tugurl, I didn't care for the new decals either when I first saw them, but they are starting to grow on me. And when they are used as paint-masks there is some interesting looks that can be achieved with them. I haven't written off the idea of using the old decals, the painter, Joe Bell, still has a stock of most colors according to Dave when I spoke to him last April about the decals.

Jimmy, think you've fallen into the trap of confusing me with the other 'Cuda here in C&V. Kurt is cudak888. - no harm no foul, happens about every other month or so.