Kirk Magnesium Precision frame worth?
 

Is there a market for these frames (a road frame, undamaged as far as I know)?

cdr

Photo?

East Hill

You mean will someone buy it on ebay? Yes. Those things are so bizarre I'm sure there's someone who'd love to ride it.

As in David Kirk? Those are some BEAUTIFUL frames, I would love to own a Kirk... I am sure someone would love to buy it..

It's my friend's wife's frame, too big for her (don't know who initially sold it to her), too small for him, they don't know what to do with it. It's hanging on a hook at Pacific Coast Cycles in Oceanside or Carlsbad or wherever that shop is located (on the PCH).

I think I'll tell them to just eBay the thing.

cdr

I don't think David Kirk ever worked in cast magnesium. I think he's talking about one of these things:

http://www.firstflightbikes.com/KirkPrecision.html

I don't think I've seen an uglier bike, but I'd like to have one.

I will interject, the owner of Pacific Coast Cycles (In Oceanside) KNOWS what stuff is worth, and has a number of vintage bikes for sale for serious coin, Taylor, Masi, Tesch, Alex Moulton, to name a few. He even worked for a time at Masi Carlsbad.

Its ebay, if his account doe snot have too much bad feedback, if no ebay account, help him out for a cut. Otherwise, sell it for the scrap price, not a good riding frame.

Harsh? Only like Mc Cain in this respect, tell it like it is.

End of rant.

I'm somewhat surprised at the weight; I thought that with cast magnesium frames they'd be lighter. The brochures say the bikes weighed from 21 to 23 pounds.

Yes, magnesium is light but there's more material there. Remember, the frame members are solid, not hollow like a tubeset.

Watch out for open flames!

I rode one in the early 90s at a bike trade show in Long Beach. Very smooth, given I was riding on the convention center floor. As an engineer I had a deeply visceral response to it. If I had one I'd strip off the parts and hang the frame on the wall over my fireplace. I looked into them here on BF a few years ago and found they had serious problems with cracking after short periods of use. Really the were all prototypes. All made in one size in one gigantic die-cast mold. Refining the design would cost another half million for another mold with each redesign. Modern software would help.

I would bring some welding glass to see 21 lbs of magnesium bike frame go up in flames. I would giggle like a school girl while risking retina damage to watch it burn.

Edit: Ken: You, as an engineer would hang a hunk of Magnesium over your fireplace? Eeek!

Oh my.

Imagine that lot going up in sparks.

East Hill

There is no concern there. In order to burn, you would have grind those frames up into fine particles to increase the oxygen to magnesium contact ratio. It burns only as a powder or very thin ribbon. A larger, solid piece will not ignite. Think of it. It is used in all kinds of lightweight, high temperature applications like engine blocks without concern. When a race car bursts into flames, the magnesium rims, transmission casings, engine blocks, etc, do not go up in flames with it. If they did, few very drivers would survive and most race car fans would be suffering from varying degrees of blindness.

It would fun having a piece to scrape, though.

East Hill

You do not know your history of LeMans well, it ALL burned.

Not really, just the Mg, and it was thin sheets. Not cast, there was plenty of the car left over. The fifty gallons of race fuel and ten gallons of oil on board might have helped a deal too. Even then it still would have been the same disaster if it were an electric car made of jelly beans.

Met John Fitch a few times at Lime Rock, he's a cool dude and has done a lot of work to improve safety. I think he also still gets a new Mercedes every few years and I'm sure he's not worried about the many Mg parts they still have.

I see them from time to time on some of the European auction sites. I believe the last one
went for around €100.

marty

Actually, I am well aware of the 1955 LeMans accident. This was a very unfortunate set of circumstances, the combination of the fuel tank erupting, very thin magnesium bodywork and attempts to douse the flames with water. If you review the footoage, I think you will find that is a standard fire until the safety workers try to douse it water. This is a big no-no with magnesium. Only then is there any evidence of the magnesium actually reacting and burning.

It is not that hard to ignite. I burned a volkswagen engine block (just 1/2) drilling the block for bigger cylinders...I could just imagine setting a Kirk on fire from a loooong slide across rough pavement or, um, slickrock.