Reynolds 

The Trimble TT fairing:



Or the Titanflex frame?

Rocket-Sauce 

How about a Kirk Precision frame? Cast magnesium

old's'cool

That's really cool! Must have been pretty light, but maybe fatigue prone? Do you happen to know why we're not all riding cast Mag frames, or why they didn't take over racing?

crank_addict

Damned be the looks but I'd love to have a Titanflex. Plus I'd go full geek with a Zzipper.

Rocket-Sauce 

I don't know why they didn't catch on. I do recall the Kirk frame was more expensive (by a LOT) than anything out there.

There are other mg frames, but more traditional welded (ie not cast).

Pinarello's top of the line frame, the Dogma, was Magnesium up until 2009
.

Paketa still hand makes very nice custom magnesium frames. Paketa Custom Magnesium Bicycles :: Tandem bicycles colorado::Road Racing Bicycles :: Mountain Bikes:: Tandem bicycles denver colorado :: paketa cycles website


Kirk website Simon Haydn Online v2.0 - Kirk

old's'cool

As point of reference, I don't know if it's current, but not long ago at least, cast magnesium was one of the materials of choice for the structure behind passenger car instrument panels, for its stiffness/weight ratio. So that indicates, at least for high manufacturing volumes, that it need not be prohibitively expensive.

jbchybridrider 

I saw one on TV the other day at a street parade.

jbchybridrider 

bicyclelove

I don't think they use magnesium any more because of the way it burns. The flame is HOT and invisible. It will even burn underwater!

bicyclelove

That Kirk frame is way too cool! I love the wacky lines, it's my vote for the Dodo-bike frame.

Italuminium

they broke. Badly. And the factory had a big magnesium dust explosion.

I saw one in the flesh a few months ago and it is an impressive piece of kit.

Great history site here: https://www.kirk-bicycles.co.uk/Kirk-History.htm

Litany of the failures there: https://cozybeehive.blogspot.nl/2009/...d-bicycle.html

Rocket-Sauce 

I remember seeing a Kirk in the shop and thought "Only comes in one size (too small), and too damn expensive for a 105 equipped bike." For the same $$ you could get any number of handmade Dura Ace or Campy bikes.

RFC

I think there was a South Park episode about a similar cycling development.

dddd

I remember reading that for the most part, failures started occurring with notable frequency only after they employed their construction methods to mountainbikes, at which point someone published what seemed to be incriminating x-rays of their frames showing where there were hidden stress-raising features inside of the hollow sections. Of course, the same could be done with welded aluminum frames, which similarly used thick sections of alloy at the welded joints to reduce stress levels where internal discontinuities were to be inevitably found.
I think it is Specialized who, in very recent years, showed off a revised design in their advertising, actually illustrating a smoother internal load path in a cross-sectional view of their welded alloy frame's joints.

BTW, Kirk's frames were made of a mix of aluminum and Magnesium, as are many things such as suspension fork lower legs and motorcycle hubs. I've heated such castings with a propane torch (avoiding sharp corners) to facilitate bearing replacements and the like.

dddd

Once production was up and running, several frame sizes were offered.

Perhaps the US distributor was applying a heavy mark-up, much as racing tire prices here seem to consistently get inflated.

Italuminium

The site links above mentioned that they were so much more expensive than comparable bikes in the UK too.

crank_addict

Could only imagine how volatile it was - dust created by machining magnesium cast flashing.

Regarding bike related / manufactures and explosions:
Weinmann Sports explosion on February 28, 1995 in Olney, IL (rim production)
Aluminum dust in the air ignited. The plant often was full of dust in the air and workers didn't bother wearing mask.

The explosion injured more than 25 people, including four critically. One worker was killed at the scene of the disaster while another died a few days later at a hospital.

old's'cool

Are you telling me they ass-plode!!? Say it isn't so!

bicyclelove

Maybe even more than carbon fiber!! LOL

bicyclelove

Once you decide on the parts how are you going to "build" the bike. I wish I could photoshop well enough to make a picture of the Dodo-bike

RandolphCarter

If 20 inch rims are used, we can mount a set of Super Sucker solid tubeless tires:

crank_addict

Do you think we could find use for that 88t buzzsaw on fleabay?

old's'cool

I'm overwhelmed by the input, but due to my lack of spare time, I think I'll have to let this thread take on a life of its own, and maybe an enterprising contributor can take up the photoshop challenge! I guess we could start some sub-threads, to "vote" on the build, if necessary.
There has been so much cool and weird input, that I haven't even had time to digest it all, to be able to determine my own preferences for the fantasy dodo-bike.

1simplexnut

airless not new apparently :-)

bicyclelove

I love the name! The mascot looks good too. Is it an octopus?