Just received from Dave Kirk - will be building it next week. More photos then.

Nice treatment of the front fork! How's the Joe Bell paint?

Nice treatment of the front fork! How's the Joe Bell paint?

I don't have it yet, these are Dave's photos. I really struggled with what to do on the fork. Thanks for the affirmation, I too am happy with the way it looks. I'll let you know on the paint.

terry-another nice addition to your steele stable, unique look to the fork, i like it. you look like my size too, where did you say you lived? street address would be helpful also.

terry-another nice addition to your steele stable, unique look to the fork, i like it. you look like my size too, where did you say you lived? street address would be helpful also.

you already have my name, you could take over my life! of course that means you have to go to work for me too - :D

thanks for the comments - more pix when I finish it up.

Hi. Uh oh. Don't mean to crap on anyone's new paintjob here as I'm sure that Kirk's painter is one of the best painters in the business, but if you look closely at the photo, it looks to me like there are 2-3 drips of paint on the frame near the seat tube/top tobe junction. It would be a sin to wait that long and have an error like that and I hope that I am wrong, however. Do you have a close-up pic of just that area to be sure?

That is flat out the nicest fork I have ever seen. I'm jealous.

Joe Bell is Kirk's painter, and I think the day he sends a frame out with paint drips is the day the Sun is going to explode. ;)

Her's a couple of shots - just unpacked the bike 10 minutes ago. Man, I love it that Fedex delivers on Saturday. Threw in one of the BB cluster just to show the purdy fillet work.

That is flat out the nicest fork I have ever seen. I'm jealous.

Thanks for that - I was stressing about the design, I'm really happy with how it came out.
Amazing what a little expert masking work and green paint can do for an Ouzo Pro Light.

Thanks for that - I was stressing about the design, I'm really happy with how it came out.
Amazing what a little expert masking work and green paint can do for an Ouzo Pro Light.
Did you come up with the idea of the mask-off on the fork? How did it evolve?

Did you come up with the idea of the mask-off on the fork? How did it evolve?

It was an evolutionary process.

Have you seen my Vanilla shots? (one below) Sacha was adamant about not putting an unpainted carbon fork on his frame. Didn't matter one way or another to me so we talked about it and he came up with painting the crown and the insides of the legs. I would've been happy with just painting the entire fork, but I agreed that some contrast was a nice idea. So we did it via is recommendation.

After that, I spent some time prowling the net and saw some other ones I liked. Things like painting everything but the crown, outside of legs, insides, etc. When it came time to talk to Dave though, I couldn't find any of the ones that interested me, so I had to turn my brain back on and go looking around. This design is very similar to what Orbea does with the forks on their 2004 Starship frame. I found one I liked, modified one of their web images in Photoshop and came up with the idea of the little Kirk circle on my own. The rest was in Joe Bell's capable hands.

Joe Bell is Kirk's painter, and I think the day he sends a frame out with paint drips is the day the Sun is going to explode. ;)

Her's a couple of shots - just unpacked the bike 10 minutes ago. Man, I love it that Fedex delivers on Saturday. Threw in one of the BB cluster just to show the purdy fillet work.



Wow! Those close-up pics are awesome! I guess you guys are really happy that Joe Bell is now the official painter and not Cycle Fantasy. I mean look at that detail! Good work by the builder on the fillet brazing too!

Wow! Those close-up pics are awesome! I guess you guys are really happy that Joe Bell is now the official painter and not Cycle Fantasy. I mean look at that detail! Good work by the builder on the fillet brazing too!

Yea, I think we got lucky with the switch. I don't think there's any knock against Cycle Fantasy, but heck - Joe Bell is Joe Bell.

That has to be the classiest paint job that I've seen on a carbon fork! It really sets your bike apart from others, including mine. Absolutely great! (wish I thought of it)

Wow! Those close-up pics are awesome! I guess you guys are really happy that Joe Bell is now the official painter and not Cycle Fantasy. I mean look at that detail! Good work by the builder on the fillet brazing too!
There's no knock on Cycle Fantasy. Their paintwork on my Kirk was splendid. From what I understand, the Cycle Fantasy guys used participate in major Ferrari restorations, so their painting skills are very high. Of course, what else can you say about Joe Bell, he's the Bicycle Paint God.

That has to be the classiest paint job that I've seen on a carbon fork! It really sets your bike apart from others, including mine. Absolutely great! (wish I thought of it)


Yep Joe Bell is da man! That light green almost has this retro Bianchi-esque flair to it! Bravo!