Kelvin Franks

[RED ALERT]

Hey all,
A friend in the US is trying to find some contact details for Kelvin Franks. Kelvin and her Father, Stu Peters,
were mates and he has heard Kelvin is Ill and wants to get in touch.
I will pass on any info you may have. He is in Adelaide they have heard.

Cheers

[LWC82PE]

he has a website. im trying to find it.

ok this is best i can do. its not up and running but i found it on the archive

http://web.archive.org/web/20040718030312/http://www.franksracing.com/

[RED ALERT]

Thanks guys,
Will pass on the web address and see if they have any luck.
Cheers Walter, will give you a call if needed

[Freakshow]

Im going to see Snowy ardel next week and he is in the next workshop bay if you want me to drop in see if kelvin is in there ? or has a sign up with contacts on it

[RED ALERT]

Thanks again,
That web address gave Sondra and her Dad all the details they needed, they were stoked.
In the VMX story on the Pro-fab Yamaha twin, it mentions that Kelvin was the victim of a hit and run driver. Sounds like he was knocked around pretty bad.

Cheers
Rod

[VMX247]

Is the news right of Kelvins passing.

[motomaniac]

Is the news right of Kelvins passing.

Yes ,I think so . R.I.P Kelvin

[Tony T]

There is a funeral for a Kelvin Franks in Adelaide on Wednesday.   

If it is the Kelvin Franks, RIP.
Can anyone confirm?

He did some fantastic work ofr me in the late 80's.

[Freakshow]

from Lynda Franks:
Just a short message to let you know that Kelvin Franks from Franks racing passed away this week. He worked manufacturing from an Adelaide work shop for local and over seas biker until recently, he was a passionate biker.

Many racers had franks triples I know I did on my road racers , his shop was prity out there with piles of Ali swarf all over the place but he could turn out all many of clamps and items from Ali well before multi axis
 and lasers come in and took out the skill

[firko]

That's so sad. I only spoke to him once and that phonecall turned into a full on history of California motocross. He was probably our most famous motocross export but was hardly heard of in his own country. I'll try and post a little history later on today.

[Tony T]

http://sa.newsclassifieds.com.au/Death-Notices-Funerals/adelaide/SA/Funerals/FRANKS-_/3147408V4?sr=true

[miniwheels]

Had the pleasure of talking to him a few years ago when he came back to live in OZ about some Roo Link frames he made for XR80's and RM80's back during the late 70's and early 80's, his memory was like it all happened yesterday with some great stories, next day he sent me in the mail all these photos, ads and how many frames etc that he had built and one prized autograph from him.
I was a nobody and he had the time to talk to me for hours about those great times back then in motocross history ,to me that just goes to show what a real gentleman of our great sport that he really was.
RIP Kelvin
Mark

[VMX247]

I'll try and post a little history later on today.

After talking with Blair Harley & VMX42 at CD9, I mentioned to VMX42 that it is imperative we get these older vmx talents in the VMX Magazine before they have all gone.
Good to see VMXmagaizne has a nice five pages on Kelvin Franks in issue #13  

RIP Kelvin  
Good engineering is just a matter of commonsense - so very true.

[firko]

After talking with Blair Harley & VMX42 at CD9, I mentioned to VMX42 that it is imperative we get these older vmx talents in the VMX Magazine before they have all gone.
Good to see VMXmagaizne has a nice five pages on Kelvin Franks in issue #13     

I couldn't agree more. I tried like buggery to get Roy East to sit down and record his life and times but the humble old guy always put it off with a "nobody wants to read about me" and we'd move on. Unfortunately he died without that great history being documented. I may be the bad omen on these guys as I was just starting to document Col Evans career when he died and was well into a drawn out history of Sprite and Frank Hipkin when he too died. Thankfully I've got more than enough material to finish his story. I'm glad I've documented Per Klitland and Frank Stanborough's careers but still feel sad that I/we missed out on hearing the great stories from Roy and Col. Ray Fisher has a wealth of stories and a shitload of photos and memorabilia, much of which he shared with us at CD3. Blair Harley is also a wealth of history. Their careers needs to be documented more sooner than later.

Here's a piece on the Kelvin Franks 3 wheelers https://sites.google.com/site/franks3wheeler/ , Kelvins website showing his amazing work...http://web.archive.org/web/20040718030312/http://www.franksracing.com/ . Along with Stu Peters, Kelvin created the CMC, to this day the main motocross organisation in California...http://www.socalmxnews.com/page2.php?recordID=139&VolIssueID=7 scan down the page until you get to the MXA BACK IN THE DAY: Mike Bell, A Yamaha Twin & The Kelvin Franks Era section http://motocrossactionmag.com/Main/News/MXA-MIDWEEK-REPORT-JLaw-His-New-Pals-New-Products-2231.aspx   
                                                             

[Rusty]

I first ran across Kel in SoCal back in the heyday of our sport - the 70's.   He was building all sorts of trick bikes that were weird, wacky and wild - Monoshock CR125 was one that worked very well from all accounts - there was a TA125 twin engined beastie that gave me the heebiejeebies just in the pits at Carlsbad - Another was a CR125 with the shocks under the frame that while it worked was a maintenance nightmare and many, many more that I have long forgotten.  The guy was a true genius and a very humble and sincere person.