Brad Cason, founder and builder of KirkLee Bicycles

Editor’s note: This article is the first in a series of articles we are doing to profile Texas handbuilt framebuilders.

Life is good right now at KirkLee. In just over 12 months, framebuilder Brad Cason has taken a  framebuilding business that was just an idea and generated a tremendous amount of buzz as an up and coming custom carbon brand to watch. KirkLee has been reviewed in the Nov/Dec 08 issue of Road, drew some notice at Interbike, was recommended by Velonews Tech writer (and framebuilder) Leonard Zinn, and is being found under the body of U.S. Road Champion Tyler Hamilton as his bike of choice when sponsors don’t force him to ride another bike. Yet, KirkLee founder Brad Cason is humble while exuding a quiet confidence in building a successful business that hopes to offer more styles of bikes in his lineup, not grow too big, and “be a pain in the asses of the big guys.”

The Genius of KirkLee

Brad Cason has a passion for cycling that is the prerquisite for any good framebuilder. He spoke lovingly of his first racing bike, a 1994 purple Schwinn Paramount mountain bike. “I got it for $500, which seemed like a lot back then, but it turns out that’s been the least I’ve spent on a bike,” Cason joked. He was hooked and started mountain bike racing while attending Texas A&M.

Tubes designed in partnership with Easton

An engineer by training, Cason continued to race after he moved to California where he was introduced to the joys of road bike riding. He was also exposed to custom bike building. “I was really impressed with a brand called Tsumani Cycles“, the lanky builder continued. “They made great bikes and had a cool name. I love building things, and I started getting inspired to try framebuilding myself.”

At the same time, Cason was roommates with cycling coach Sean Burk who introduced him to John McGuire, a engineer that was working with carbon for Easton at the time. Brad and John hit it off and began working together to design tubing for their prototype road bike with Easton providing the fabrication.

Brad Cason shows off this wife's bike, the one Tyler Hamilton wanted to trade his DeRosa for

By 2007, Cason helped build the floor bikes for Q Rotors at Interbike, and things went so well he decided to jump in with two feet and start his own brand shortly after moving back to Texas with his new wife. His bikes were well received, and much to his surprise, pro racer Tyler Hamilton offered to trade is personal DeRosa for the KirkLee he test rode at the Austin Rocks Crits. Cason had to demur as the bike in question was a wedding gift for his wife, but shortly thereafter, Hamilton had his own KirkLee for training.

So where does the name come from? Cason and McGuire tossed names around for weeks and finally settled on a hybrid of the middle names of both men.

Design Philosophy

I was eager to hear more about how Cason builds his bikes and his thought process on design. As a builder who uses and rides steel, I’ve always been a little leery of carbon. Sure it sees like a decent material for racers who change bikes each season, but does it hold up? Well, he explained the technology behind his design and the short coming of production carbon bikes which are likely the cause of any of carbon’s bad press.

All KirkLees are custom build starting with computer designs.

Cason likes to use as much carbon as possible in his bikes. Not only does the resin embedded carbon fiber he uses provide a weight savings over metal, he also feels it limits the potential for erosion which is the main cause of carbon frame failures. Cason has used titanium over aluminum in certain instances despite a slight weight penalty for this reason, and I spotted a new Chris King headset that allows KirkLee head tubes to be fabricated without reinforcing metal rings on the inside.

All of this yields light weight, custom frames that are built to take a beating and keep on riding. In fact, he told me a side story about a friend’s mountain bike who’s chain stay had broken and asked Cason to repair it with a carbon fiber wrap since the frame was out of warranty. Cason received a call after his friend raced a 24 hour mountain bike marathon to be told the frame broke again, however to his pleasant surprise it was the other chainstay, not the carbon wrapped one that broke. His friend was able to ride the 12 miles on the course back to the aid station on just the single carbon wrapped stay!

While the KirkLees are incredibly light bikes, Cason also does not want the stiffness of the frames to suffer in an attempt to make a the bike ever lighter. In fact, he has two tubesets to choose from but usually recommends the heavier (which still yields a sub 14 pound bike) for better performance. The tubes designed with Easton were ovalized providing additional strength with relatively little additional weight.

Having said that, KirkLees are not for everyone. Aside from their $4000 plus price tag for a frame, these are performance bikes built for people with performance bodies. “I’ve had to refuse a few builds to folks pushing 300 pounds,” Cason said. “I can definitely build bikes for people who are 225 or even 250, but at a certain point you have to realize carbon may not be the best material for you.” Also, while he is available to do fitting sessions for his customers, most KirkLee buyers are already tuned in on fit and just want the performance custom carbon can deliver.

The Future: Not Letting Success Ruin the Brand

Part of Brad Cason’s design philosophy is a desire to be involved in the building of all his bikes. In an age where mass produced, soulless carbon road bikes fill most bike shops, Cason is sensitive to keeping KirkLee home grown and handmade.

“Custom performance bikes are a response to the mass production of carbon bikes today,” he said with intensity. ”I want our brand to remain special for the customer.”

He wants the business to grow but realizes that at some point he’ll reach the limit of how many bikes he can produce. He wants to avoid what Santa Cruz and other popular custom builders have done by going off shore to build custom.

“Anyone can make a few phone calls and have a factory in China making carbon frames for them in a few weeks,” Cason stated. “Once you’ve done that, you’ve fundamentally changed the product you are selling.”

With only a single road bike model, we discussed the future of KirkLee. Cason would like to emulate Cervélo which has developed somewhat of a cult following among racers, especially triathletes. To that end, I saw some exciting designs of a time trial/triathlon KirkLee with a UCI legal double triangle design offering and possibly a second non-conventional frame for triathletes to pull in some seriously fast bike splits. He’d also like to see more Austin racers riding his bikes. His current client base is mostly West Coast, but Cason has partnered with Austin Bikes to give Austinites a chance to see and test ride these custom machines.

Cason sees the business growing where he may have additional staff helping him build, but he still wants an hand in every KirkLee that is built. “I want to be small enough to make quality, niche bikes but big enough to be a pain in the asses of the big guys.”

Contact Info

KirkLee Bicycles
www.kirkleebicycles.com
info@kirkleebicycles.com
(512) 371-9661
KirkLee Bicycles are available for test riding at:
Austin Bikes
1213 West 5th Street
Austin, TX 78703
(512) 468-9557

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