Kirk magnesium frames

[Mick F]

Were Kirk frames made from sea-water?

It seems there are at least two methods of making magnesium.

[Brucey]

IIRC the Kirk enterprise was in collaboration with Norsk Hydro. They would have made their Magnesium by a specific route; not sure which one.

cheers

[Jdsk]

The Norsk Hydro manufacturing processes in that era:
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-48099-2_23

Jonathan

[peetee]

You win.

Oh lord. Don’t tell me I’ve one one of those bikes!

[peetee]

Were Kirk frames made from sea-water?

Well they certainly waved around a lot!

[Sid Aluminium]

If you have a magnesium itch you need to scratch:

https://www.vaastbikes.com/

So: What year did a rider on a magnesium frame bike win the Tour de France?

[Brucey]

2006. Not that you would have noticed at the time.

cheers

[9494arnold]

As part of the Giro D'Italia Coverage (I think) on TV , Chris Bordman did a 'Gizmos' Piece on Kirk Frames.
There was some period footage ,an interview with a Pro Rider who rode one, his response was not too impressed ,and I think it was tempered by the fact he might be upsetting a sponsor. There was also footage of someone driving a Volvo Estate over a frame without damaging it.
I am told (and this might be urban myth territory) that if you are going to ride one regularly you need to make sure the paintwork is complete, and gaps will let the water onto the metal and dissolve it .
When life returns to normal we have 2 Kirks at the National Cycle Museum, one set up as a Road Bike, and one is a frame with suspension forks (I think) intended as a Mountain Bike . I believe the frames are identical.
And perhaps only ever available in a single size?
And if you want to see something really strange , take a virtual trip to
On Three Wheels, My fast Forum.
It's a dedicated Upright Trike Riders Forum.
There is a recent post there showing a Galibier with a Trike Conversion.

Which probably confirms the theory that Trike Riders have a sense of humour.

[neilob]

Thanks for the insight everyone. I guess I've had one of those itches to scratch since having a factory tour in the late 80s but didn't really take the opportunity to evaluate a Kirk against a conventional (back then) steel frame. I'm not an engineer so I have no answer to many of the criticisms of the frame in terms of durability, strength, and comfort. I just wonder where it fits in the spectrum of bike concepts.....is it a nearly there or a total waste of time? Presumably someone had to sign off a hefty investment case to set up the facility and promote the brand? So that someone must have been convinced by the business case as would whoever in Dawes decided to absorb Kirk. Anyway, an interesting study in how not to launch a new bike technology!

[Brucey]

the technology is potentially brilliant and is certainly very interesting. However the end result -as a bike frame- unfortunately misses the mark in several key respects. Arguably the main benefits of the technology are relevant to the manufacturers not the users.

Every material has plusses and minuses; in the right geometry Mg bike frames can work well enough to perform in a summertime stage race but that is a whole different thing from trying to use a frame of a different design (which feels as if it has a hinge in the middle when you ride it) in the long term in our glorious climate. As someone else commented, a good bike museum wall hanging....

cheers

[MikeDee]

I read somewhere that the vast majority of these frames (that were ridden at least) broke, and they were not light frames. Magnesium has a poor fatigue life.

[Sweep]

Not being a techie or materials scientist (mega understatement) after reading all these negatives of the material I can't understand why it was ever used.

Did it have no positives at all?

[Jdsk]

It's the major component in a wonderful family of lightweight alloys. It has been widely used in high performance cars with a lot of innovation especially from Porsche. This hasn't come to an end with the availability of carbon fibre composites.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnesium_alloy#Characteristics

Jonathan

[geomannie]

An interesting thread. I remember that New Scientist did a contemporaneous piece on the future of bike frames predicting that the Kirk magnesium frames would be the future. Alas for Kirk, no.

All the same, in looking for the New Scientist article I found this, the history of Kirk frames.

https://web.archive.org/web/20080823001 ... istory.htm

Cheers

[kylecycler]

GCN did a video on the Kirk magnesium frame.

[youtube]HJKCWKuQ2ac[/youtube]

Not a review as such, just a 'walkthrough', and they didn't even ride it, but it was interesting piece of engineering even though it didn't work.