Originally Posted by
CyclingFool95
Nice looking bike. I wanted to buy a Clark Kent back in 95 after reading an article about them in Bicycling or BG (I forget which). They had some kind of issue (I think that might be when they closed up shop?)....
The issue was contaminated welds in the later models. When CK started building ti frames, they had two excellent framebuilders - Ivo Vinklarek and Don Herr. These guys were top-notch, no complaints there. When demand outpaced supply, they took on contract builders who apparently didn't know how to back purge titanium properly. As a result, a lot of those frames failed spectacularly. Everything went downhill from there, and one of the owners absconded with the cash or some such. Fascinating study of great to horrible in not too much time.