1988 TVM Kirk
- Thread starter hockinsk
- Start date
kevin clark
Dirt Disciple
Re:
Lovely always wanted one, but was afraid of the frame disintegrating
Lovely always wanted one, but was afraid of the frame disintegrating
Re:
Did 50 miles on it on Sunday around Elham Valley, plenty of rough and fast descents. Their main issue was never snapping, but the glue fails on the sections that close the frame to make the downtube and seatube hollow and stiff. I've had one where I was riding it, the glue on the panel behind the seattube failed and it immediatly felt like riding a noodle. I'd imagine if you were racing and the glue failed, there would be a risk of it snapping. For it's day the technology and science that went into this frame was unbelievable really. £4.6M was invested over just 4 years development.
Did 50 miles on it on Sunday around Elham Valley, plenty of rough and fast descents. Their main issue was never snapping, but the glue fails on the sections that close the frame to make the downtube and seatube hollow and stiff. I've had one where I was riding it, the glue on the panel behind the seattube failed and it immediatly felt like riding a noodle. I'd imagine if you were racing and the glue failed, there would be a risk of it snapping. For it's day the technology and science that went into this frame was unbelievable really. £4.6M was invested over just 4 years development.
Re:
really a rare nice extraordinary bike - TVM-Sanyo Team used these British product in 1991 together with their Zullo bikes - but their bikes has been yellow painted
an they used steely forks and classic wheels, but most of the TVM Team riders prefer the classic builded Zullo
...
on the other side - I hope you not like to smoke a cigarette - Attention! Take care this bike is really flammable
really a rare nice extraordinary bike - TVM-Sanyo Team used these British product in 1991 together with their Zullo bikes - but their bikes has been yellow painted
an they used steely forks and classic wheels, but most of the TVM Team riders prefer the classic builded Zullo
...
on the other side - I hope you not like to smoke a cigarette - Attention! Take care this bike is really flammable
Attachments
Re:
It's only flammable if you grind it into dust luckily!
Mine is probably an earlier TVM frame. It was painted the same colours as the one Phil Andserson used in Kellogs Tour. Video here is basically the same frame with shorter wheelbase, scooped out seat tube to accomodate the shorter wheelbase, not metal inserts anywhere, slimmer top tube and enclosed chainstays. Only difference is the actual TVMs frames had more material added around the BB area to stiffen it up and rear mech cable ran straight, not under the BB. I believe mine is probably an earlier prototype tried until they reached the characteristics TVM wanted, in order to race it. It rides a fair bit better than my factory Kirk Precision.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq4ioEdou6Q[/youtube]
I've done about 200 miles on it now and it's all held together fine, so confident in re-spraying now without risking wasting my time and money. So this will be next. Get it back to original next year.
I can see why the TVM frames had the beefed up chainstays and BB area. Above about 40mph descending, the flex in the rear triangle begins to be noticed as it starts to squirm around a bit. Overall though, it's a nice frame to ride. Bit heavy, need to run tyre pressures a bit lower as the vertical stiffness compared to a carbon frame is through the roof. Far too stiff really that way, but i'd happily do a flat road race on it anytime.
It's only flammable if you grind it into dust luckily!
Mine is probably an earlier TVM frame. It was painted the same colours as the one Phil Andserson used in Kellogs Tour. Video here is basically the same frame with shorter wheelbase, scooped out seat tube to accomodate the shorter wheelbase, not metal inserts anywhere, slimmer top tube and enclosed chainstays. Only difference is the actual TVMs frames had more material added around the BB area to stiffen it up and rear mech cable ran straight, not under the BB. I believe mine is probably an earlier prototype tried until they reached the characteristics TVM wanted, in order to race it. It rides a fair bit better than my factory Kirk Precision.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq4ioEdou6Q[/youtube]
I've done about 200 miles on it now and it's all held together fine, so confident in re-spraying now without risking wasting my time and money. So this will be next. Get it back to original next year.
I can see why the TVM frames had the beefed up chainstays and BB area. Above about 40mph descending, the flex in the rear triangle begins to be noticed as it starts to squirm around a bit. Overall though, it's a nice frame to ride. Bit heavy, need to run tyre pressures a bit lower as the vertical stiffness compared to a carbon frame is through the roof. Far too stiff really that way, but i'd happily do a flat road race on it anytime.
