90s Kirk revolution and bonus Scott

[Pirate-monkey]

Put the wheels on today, the original front mech (LX) an XT rear mech, both have been cleaned, checked and lubed.

Seat post and a retro Tioga saddle I snagged off of EBay.

Fitted some rainbow/oil slick bolts, QR levers and went to fit the handle bars to discover if ordered the wrong size for the I-beam stem. After a quick search the bar colour I want doesn’t seem to come in the right size so looks like I’ll have to change the stem or get different colour bars.

Oh as this will (hopefully) become my daughters bike, she wanted pink stickers for the girls and this is where she wanted them so…..

On another note, it still feels extremely light, hopefully be in the low to mid 20lb range once done.

 

[Pirate-monkey]

So as the handlebars I want to use don’t fit the ibeam stem I had to get a different one. Got it changed over, fitted the bars along with the XT shifters/brakes I got for a bargain price and obviously some grips.

Projects on hold for the moment just because I’m extremely busy with work so hopefully can get a bottom bracket sorted to get the crank and pedals fitted.

On a side note, the tea wheel bearing need adjusting, possibly replacing, will take a look when I get more time.

 

[jimo746]

Looking good, paint looks great. Have you actually ridden it yet? Some were fine, others just straight up cracked, and yet more were flexy to the point of being unrideable.
I've had 2, one was fine (built it with more modern kit), the other was like riding an elastic band.... funny, but useless.
Yeah it was a British Mtb, Dawes bought the "company" later on in the production run as development costs, delays, & quality control issues had taken their toll, so the later Kirks will have "Assembled by Dawes" decals on them.

There was a really good website detailing the Kirk history but I think it's been dead for a while now, but thanks to the "way back machine" you can still view the archived pages. Interesting reading

Link:. https://web.archive.org/web/20180327180413/http://www.kirk-bicycles.co.uk/Kirk.htm

 

[jimo746]

Just a few of the "factory seconds...."

 

[Pirate-monkey]

I ride it before dismantling it. I checked it over for cracks before purchasing, looked for a solid 20mins.

It rides fine, I’d never take it off road it’s more for just cruising round the streets as the Scott is not great for that sort of thing.

If the frame cracks, I’ll just buy another retro frame and swap the parts over. No big deal, I just always wanted a Kirk “back in the day” but didn’t have the money then.

 

[Pirate-monkey]

After spending some time getting some V-brakes, cables etc, then spending this morning fitting them and setting them up, I pretty much have finished the Kirk!

Had to order a new 44T chainring as the one fitted to the crankset I bought was bent, I knew this when I purchased it and was hoping I could straighten it, but it’s all over the place so I just got a new one which I’ll fit once it arrives.

So today was my first ride!! Albeit round my garden. At first I was, I know these flex a bit but this feels horrible!! Note to self, check your tyre pressures before riding when it’s sat for a few weeks doing nothing. Once I fixed that, it rides quite nice, will be perfect for the street riding I plan to do with it and occasional train riding.

Lastly, I weighed it, cam in at 25.5lb so I’m happy with that. I could easily make it lighter with some rigid forks, but I’m old and I like to be comfy.

 

[Retro Spud]

….although there were rumours of dawes ties on my friendship group but i could never get any evidence of this at the time. My friend group always called it a dawes kirk 500,

This is true ^ one of mine has a Dawes sticker on it