Kirk Frameworks JKS

One of them skinny Nitto / fairweather stems would look good I reckon

I have TRP957 and they are really really good

Good to know, ta. How are the bolts holding up, saw a review and they'd started to rust up a bit during the test period.
Sorry for cluttering up your thread @JB

Looking good. +1 for sub compacts on road bikes.

Yeah. Nobody has stock anywhere of any sim works stems including sim works USA, sim works Japan, blue lug, circles etc. The Nitto UI12 (non sim works branded Rhonda) is available from Alex's Cycles but need to figure out fit first.

try a deda superlegerra - they're super slim and some good discounts around

looks fantastic btw

I know Dan has replied to this but I will let you know what I think too. IRL I think the VOs are horrendous. Chunky, inelegant and they have that gross laser etching on them that says 'Grand Cru'.

Yeah the RS would be on the list but it's black. I think if I get a new stem/bar for this I would go either Ti or silver.

Ah, it's laser etched, was hoping nail varnish remover would take care of that. Looks like TRPs are the front runners then (heads off to update wanted ad).
Cheers

I have TRP957 and they are really really good

Same.

Also same. A huge improvement on the cheaper Tektro ones they replaced.

This bike is fantastic. Given everything from the Seven is on here, I feel like I can make a relatively good comparison. The fit is so so close, which is good, but it has a slightly higher front end - no bad thing. Seat tube is steeper and I will probably need a set back post in the long run - I've just moved my saddle back on its rails for now.

All the classic steel tropes are here, springy, comfortable, bounces back when you're making an out of the saddle effort. Its bottom half feels very stiff indeed. Proper race bike stiff. Stiffer than my Seven, that's for sure. I mean, it's 953/853 Pro so that's no surprise.

1" headtube is no big deal. Literally couldn't discern it to my 1 1/8th other than it looking very elegant.

TRP brakes are indeed very good and the gearing is really nice. Spent more time in the middle of my cassette.

Have white bar tape to use once I've fully dialled in the bars/hoods. Probably will get absolutely filthy but I reckon it'll also look very good.

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Beautiful bike. 1” headtube is lighter and more Aero!

Wobbly stays are a gimmick . Stick with it.

The name “Kirk” has an interesting history in cycling

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Modern groupset old frame vibe, except not bodged. Very nice.

Thank you. I am very pleased. I just remembered I need to post your tool back! It'll be in the mail this week. Totally forgot. Sorry!

Quick shot with bartape. One thing I did fuck up was the front brake cable. It's just too short, aesthetically, so you can see it sits outside of the other three cables. Will need to unwrap the bars to the hoods and recable that this week.

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Oh keep it please, or donate it. I no longer have any praxis m30 bb.

Oh okay. Thanks pal!

Ti stem will finish this off nicely. And white saddle. Happy to hear it rides well.

Definitely won't be using a white saddle, mostly because this saddle doesn't come in white and it's been the most comfortable saddle I've ever used. But yes, Ti stem is on the list of stuff. Just need to figure out what length I want, but I suspect 100mm will do the trick.

Ti stems are bloody expensive, though.

mostly because this saddle doesn't come in white

There has to be an artisan in LA re-upholstering bicycle saddles.

Saddles should never be white, unless you're getting paid to ride a bicycle with one fitted.

1" headtube is no big deal. Literally couldn't discern it to my 1 1/8th other than it looking very elegant.

Can't tell the difference between 1" steel and 1 1/8" carbon but you could tell the difference between the 18 different forks you fitted to the seven? haha
Just pulling your leg though, it does look great, campag aside

I know you're playing, but I didn't mean the fork. I meant the headtube itself. When getting out of the saddle and stuff. People say bigger headtubes = a stiffer front end but obviously 1/8th of an inch is a nothing difference.

Speaking of forks, I think it's a testament to how well the Kirk AND the Pegoretti fork ride. They're trying to be the same thing - just a race fork that rides real nice, irrespective of standards, steerer diameter or material used.

You might be surprised at how differently the 3 forks on the Seven rode. Honestly there was a real discernible difference.

Campag isn't perfect and 11sp cranks were certainly prettier than these (and 10sp before them) but the shifters fit my hands a lot better than Shimano and that was the main criteria when switching. I also think it's more appropriate for a Kirk - just looks right IMO.

This bike is wonderful. When going over less than stellar road surfaces, the frame and fork on my Seven can feel quite disjointed and as though they're not really connected. That leads to quite a bumpy, chattery (but not uncomfortable) ride up front when on rough surfaces. This however feels so, so planted no matter what surfaces you're going over. The frame and fork almost feel like they've been brazed together. It doesn't kill road buzz like my Seven does and there's a lot more road feedback, but that's no bad thing.

Big shout out to these sub-compact cranks. Staying in the big ring while in the middle of the cassette basically the whole time on the flat was really nice. Was going down a 3% incline at ~50km/h at about 100rpm earlier. I can only think of one descent near me that I'd spin out on. Average is 5% and it normally takes about 20 minutes to get down. But that's literally one descent out of many.

Also... white bar tape.... definitely needs to be cleaned after every single ride!

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