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TECH FEATURES: KIRKLEE CUSTOM
Road Bike Action
September 14, 2009
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Bike builders make up a funny lot in life. From all those that we’ve dealt with over the years, we can safely say that no two are alike. Some are cranky, some are geeky, some are serious and some are funny. The two things that most of them do have in common is a distinct sense of passion (the job is too hard to do without that), and best of all, a good story to tell.
Thanks in large part to the arrival of the North American Handmade Bicycle Show a few years ago, custom bike builders the world over have begun to enjoy an increased level of celebrity. Yeah, it may be just a bicycle, but to see what names like Ellis, Gordon, Eriksen and Parlee are able to create is to celebrate the virtues of individual imagination and vision rarely found in the contemporary world of consumer goods.
Having only been in business for two years, KirkLee Bicycles is a new name to the game. Still, despite their rookie status, the Austin, Texas-based frame shop has already made waves with their custom carbon bikes. KirkLee is made up of two people: Brad Lee Cason and John Kirk McGuire. Brad handles the building and PR side of things, while John, who spent years as a carbon engineer for Easton, does the design work.
THE FRAME
The one word that defines a KirkLee frame is custom. The Austin workshop is full of carbon tubes that have all been designed by and made for KirkLee. Brad will pick from a selection of tubes of different shapes and sizes for each frame made. “We designed our own laminate schedule for each tube,” Brad says proudly. “And from there, everything is imaginable and up in the air in regards to what we can build.” Each frame is made off a template using the “tube to tube” process. No molds are used.
Brad says their method for building a customer’s bike begins with a discussion of what the customer’s wants and needs are. While short of painstaking, sometimes the process becomes more involved when the wants of the customer clash with the knowledge of the builder. Brad recounts a recent exchange he had with one customer who was looking to have a 13-pound bike made for him. The problem for Brad was that the person weighed over 200 pounds. And he was sure that such a light bike would not bode well for the big rider. “Sometimes you have to be honest with the customer. I told him he needed to consider the bike’s ride quality, and he really needed to think about riding a 15-pound bike. I mean, I’m sure he could’ve looked in the mirror and found some place to save the two pounds! All our bikes will have the same external look, but it’s the wall thicknesses of the tubes that will vary per the size frame and rider.”
As for the frame details, all the carbon cable guides are made at KirkLee, and you can have them mounted wherever you desire. You can have a standard or BB30 bottom bracket (choose between titanium or the lighter aluminum). The only part of the frame that isn’t custom is the Easton EC90 monostay rear triangle.
THE PARTS
As you might expect from an Easton tube customer, our test bike was outfitted with the full Easton parts kits. Well, except for the stem and cranks, which were the Spanish-made Rotor units. Both Rotor parts were out of the ordinary—the stem with Torx hardware and opposing threaded pinch bolts and their tell-tale elliptical cranks. Both took some getting used to, and both will need their own review.
THE VERDICT
As common as it is to see carbon bikes with an array of wildly shaped tubes being used in the front triangle, the KirkLee surprised us for being on the tame side. When we brought that design feature up with Brad, he had a simple reply. “Since there’s already so much surface area on both ends of the downtube, you really don’t need the drastic shapes to fight the twisting forces.” Fighting those twisting forces are some well-endowed tubes. The top tube goes from a 35mm round shape to a 47mm oval (at the head tube), and the downtube is a 57mm oval at the bottom bracket and 47mm oval at the head tube.
When it came to riding the 14-pound KirkLee, we had to agree with Brad’s analysis. The ride quality was impressive and really not what you might expect from a bike with such plainly shaped tubes. But that is exactly what we preach—it’s not the material (carbon) or origami tube shapes that make for a great ride in and of themselves, but rather, it’s the design and manufacture of the frame that is key. Obviously, Brad and John know something about building carbon bikes because everyone who rode the bike (originally intended as a demo bike for Interbike) found it to be light, efficient and purpose-built for a performance ride. We could only imagine how much better it could be as a custom.
PRICE: $4200 (frame, fork, seatpost)
INFO: www.kirkleebicycles.com.
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