Quirk Cycles is a colourful frame builder located in North London, which is miles away from Melbourne, the capital of Victoria. Robert Quirk created this road machine for Mac, who wanted it painted to reflect the label of his favorite beer: Melbourne Bitter.
Beer is a lovely liquid to quench one’s thirst after a hard day’s ride. And although the products of craft brewers are a dime a dozen these days, sometimes the most satisfying way to slate a thirst is a good old local lager like MB.
Mac is a native Aussie who wanted a bike that could withstand the devastating effects that salt air has on steel frames and one that was an easy climber and fast descender. Naturally, Robert opted for stainless tubing.
To make for a lighter frame, which would aid in climbing, Robert decided to incorporate some carbon tubes, a material he’d been recently playing around with. Bentley Components machined some stainless lugs for him, into which the carbon tubes were bonded.
The lugs had to be exactly the right internal diameter: the epoxy needed space to bond but too much space would weaken the join. The construction was perfect, and the rest of the frame was built out of Columbus XCR, with their new Futura Disc fork up front.
A mix of SRAM components rounds out the build: Force with a Red crankset, saving 200g on the total weight. A Hunt Carbon 30 wheelset keeps everything rolling, controlled by a Deda Superzero cockpit and topped with a Brooks C13 saddle.
The letters on the seat tube are the names of Mac and his two children, Sam and Ada which, curiously, forms a word square that can be read left-to-right and top-to-bottom. That’s inspiration to keep riding, more so than a frosty schooner of MB afterwards.
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Big thanks to Nikoo Hamzavi for the photos.
