Gorgeous in Green

Friday morning rolled around and it was time to witness the teenage dream’s re-birth. When I arrived Chris and Graham were busily loading the guns with zinc-chromate primer and it only took ten minutes for Graham to work his magic in a mist of gunmetal. Satisfied with an even coverage, my frameset was passed into the oven for curing at 150 degrees.
Taking a break, Trevor led me through to the back room playing host to all manner of projects awaiting refinishing. In amongst the motorcycle frames, mudguards, tanks and less engaging household items sat a Kirk Precision. It’s been a while since I saw one of these magnesium frames, although I was tempted when a local dealers offered them as a frameset including headset and bottom bracket for £99 back in 1990. Mercifully I resisted, ploughing my limited reserves into the teenage dream.

Interesting from a cult/curiosity perspective, Kirks suffered from terrible lateral stiffness-a 70 kilo rider could easily cajole the seat-stay into fouling the tyre when cornering hard. Casting, while improved when Dawes cycles bought the marque in the early 90s remained relatively poor and corrosion equally problematic. The owner is clearly smitten, asking Trevor and the boys to put it right irrespective of cost. Given magnesium is both brittle and extremely flammable, restoration is far from straightforward… Before work can begin the frame will be chemically stripped prior to blasting. Casting needs refinement with skillful applications of filler. Given the heat, powder coating isn’t viable, so epoxy two-Pack and a final lacquer are the order of the day. Keen to chart the Kirk's progress, I’d never have one other than as an ornament given their flaws but hopefully there'll be opportunity to follow the restoration of this one in the coming weeks.

With my frame freshly baked, it was the moment we'd all been waiting for. Trevor had generously ordered some 6010-there’s not much call for green amongst his clientele. A few pumps of the trigger and we were away, the frameset coming into bloom one tube at a time before entering the tunnel of love for a final curing. An acrylic clear coat was applied once sufficiently cooled to beautify and protect. Polyester lacquers are cheaper and tolerate being applied directly to hot surfaces but Graham explained these have greater tendency to craze and peel in the long term. Next on the agenda is to arrange some time to visit Justin Burls and ask him nicely to clean the offending seat-tube and install a new headset and bottom bracket.