Photo courtesy of KirkLee Bicycles 

Kirklee Bicycles, Challenges the others – an Interview

-by Michael Hopkins           

An absolutely gorgeous carbon fiber bicycle caught my eye at Interbike 08 as I was standing in the line at Rock Racing’s display waiting patiently to get the right photo of Tyler Hamilton smiling and signing autographs for his fans.

Well, the later never happened as Tyler was whisked off to another appointment. However I did have the opportunity to talk briefly with the Lee portion of the relatively unknown bicycle company called KirkLee Cycles. Formally founded in January 2007 KirkLee has wasted no time in making a splash when none other than the current US National Road Racing Champ himself decided to give the bikes from KirkLee a whirl.

We had the opportunity to ask the folks from KirkLee the following:

Michael Hopkins (MH): Okay, first of all congratulations on making one of the most beautiful bicycles to be found anywhere in Interbike 2008.

Lee: Thanks, it is great for the bikes we build to receive some recognition, especially at Interbike considering there are quite a few beautiful bikes in the expo area.
 

MH: What made you decide to challenge an already crowded field of frame manufacturers?

Lee: First, I love bicycles; this business will not last long if you don’t have the passion. Second I would walk the aisles of my local bike shops, look at the bikes and think to myself, “I can build that”.  The decision to start a bicycle company was not a rational one where we analyzed the market to find a niche; I was going to build bicycles from my heart for the pure enjoyment of seeing my bikes at speed.  I knew the competition would be tight but I owed it to my self to give it a go, after all you never know until you try.
 

MH: Why choose carbon to work with over steel or titanium?

Lee:  Titanium came very close to being the material I would start working with.  At the last minute I decided to go with carbon.  I chose carbon due to the endless possibilities it opens up.  Every bike KirkLee builds is a performance bike, the finish may be beautiful and artistic but under that paint is a bike built for speed.  For performance, carbon is tough to beat.
 

MH: What is your vision of the perfect road bike?

Lee: This may be the most difficult question you could ask, and here is where I get in trouble…The perfect road bike will have stays that mirror the curves of a pin-up girl on a WWII bomber.  Nice smooth curves that taper down to the dropouts, a 34.9 seat tube that goes into a full carbon BB shell.  The down tube will be ovalized/stiffened at the bottom bracket and will meet up with an oversized head tube.  The top tube will be the opposite image of the down tube.  The bike will be beautiful and classy with modern technology under the skin.  In automotive terms think of it as the beauty of a 289 Cobra with the technology of a Ferrari Enzo.
 

MH: So, KirkLee Cycles is comprised of Brad "Lee" Cason and John “Kirk” McGuire, tell us how the two of you decided to start your own bicycle company.

Lee:  In 2005 I took a job in Las Vegas, NV.  At that time I was already building my own carbon frames.  At the same time, my old college roommate, Sean Burke, the San Diego cycling coach (www.cyclingscience.org), told me an acquaintance of his is a pretty sharp carbon guy living in Vegas.  That acquaintance was John.  I met John on a MTB ride and we built a friendship pretty quickly.   That season we trained together for the local MTB races and on those training rides we talked bikes and the possibility of starting a bike company.  While I was working in Las Vegas my fiancé was in Austin, TX so my days in Las Vegas were numbered.  Christmas of 07 I left my job, moved back home (Austin, TX) and went full time for KirkLee.
 

MH: Tell our readers how KirkLee goes about building their customer’s perfect bike.

Lee: Most people who purchase a custom bike have an idea of what they want.  Our builds typically go one of three ways.

Modify the customers existing bike geometry

Combine traits from multiple bikes.  For instance one customer wanted to combine features of his Look 595, and Colnago C-40.

Design the bike from the ground up.  This process involves measuring the customer’s body and designing the bike around them.

Each method gives a great fit, it just depends on how happy the customer is with their existing equipment.   Lately we have been doing more of a combination of 1 and 2 where the customer gives both their existing bike and body dimensions.
 

MH: Do you recommend dimensions to each rider?

Lee: Absolutely, with each custom bike we work with the customer to determine all the angles and dimensions.  In addition to the hard dimensions and angles that affect an individuals contact points (seat, pedals, and handlebars) we tailor the soft dimensions that affect handling traits (head tube angle, bb drop, and chain stay length).  For instance if you ride a 52cm road bike and your femur’s are long for your body height we may recommend a 73.5* seat tube vs. a 74* seat tube.  Now if that rider likes to do TT’s on their road bike and is happy on their existing bike’s 74* we can design around that.
 

MH: Are carbon components in KirkLee’s future?

Lee: No, I am not a fan of “house brand” components and if KirkLee branded components essentially that is what it would be.  As good as the components may be market wise they are typically limited to the brand of bikes they are associated with.  If your brand is large enough, or the designs are innovative enough then this is not a problem.  KirkLee is not destined to be one of the companies “large enough” for a line of house brand components.

I would like to add that at KirkLee we have so many ideas concerning bicycle frames our time and resources are better spent building the chassis.  Our current direction is increasing our bicycle line.  As you may have noticed from above we spend a lot of time on the dirt, last night at Austin’s Dirt Derby I was asked “When is KirkLee going to build a Cyclocross bike?”  The triatheletes need some love from KirkLee, and we have some beautiful drawings for a TT bike.  Job one is establishing the road bikes and once that is done we can look into the viability of the other designs, speaking of which you may have seen a few KirkLee prototype 29ers at Interbike.
 

MH: Who makes the tubes for your frames and do they do the tubes to your specifications?

Lee: At KirkLee we designed all the tubes for our bikes and they are made to our specifications.  Small carbon parts such as cable stops are made in house.  At this years Interbike we had a bike with Edge Composites, they have a really good crew over there and make some high quality tubes.
 

MH: Tell our readers something about the vision for KirkLee Cycles.

Lee:  KirkLee’s vision is to offer the finest custom carbon frames while eventually making standard sizes available to those who don’t need full custom.  As cyclist we don’t ride just one genre, most of us ride road, mtb (hardtails and full suspension), and cyclocross.  There is no reason we can’t bring the technology KirkLee currently puts in our road bikes to each of the other genres.  We like bikes but underneath it all we really the like people we build the bikes for; if it is a weekend warrior or the US National Champion, it is all the same.  Speaking of which, it was a lot of fun to build Tyler’s bike, I can’t say enough good things about working with him.  His feedback on the bikes has been very valuable and it is has been a pleasure to work with him, a true class act.

In closing, at KirkLee the number one thing we strive for is quality and pride in workmanship.  Every bike that leaves the door with our name on it was built with the goal to be the best bike you can throw a leg over.  That is what has got us to where we are today and what will take us into tomorrow.

For more information on KirkLee Bicycles and to get more information on how you might ride a champions bike please visit KirkLee Bicycles.