1991 Klein Pinnacle (finished on page 25)

[Canuckbiker]

Had a great time at the Burnaby Swap meet yesterday. I spent a bit more than planned but picked up some great deals, thanks @BC for organizing!

I’ve always been a huge Klein fan. Kind of a bucket list bike for me to add to the stable one day. Well that day was yesterday ! While my dream Klein is more of a 92’ Adroit or Attitude I doubt I’d ever be able to justify the cost (permission from the better half another factor...).

At the swap meet I noticed a Klein frame/fork advertised as “early 90s Rascal $100”. Very temping…

Why not? Frame is my size.

Needs all new paint/decals but don’t see any issues except: pressed BB axle is strangely offset with longer side on the NDS and 130mm long! More on this later

As you can see it made it back to my couch

This build thread will take a while I expect, normally I just post my story when finished the build. I have a few parts to round up this time though. I donor bike would be ideal.

1st up: identify year/model:

Not a Rascal but a Pinnacle. Please let me know if I’m off but all the Rascals I’ve seen are rear entry drop outs while Pinnacles are vertical drop outs. 1989 Pinnacles had under chainstay U brakes so it’s a 1990 or newer. I believe it’s a 1990 as there are no pre-threaded holes in the frame for the newly introduced anti-chain suck thingy for the 1990 catalog.

Serial number: drive side dropout found: ROB3A and 30 on the NDS. Any Klein guru’s able to weigh in?

Sizing? “18, 20 or 22 inches”. Mine measures 16” to center of top tube and 19” to top of seat tube. Does anyone know if the frame is 18 or 20”?

One lucky break is that I already own a 1” MC1 currently on my Bianchi (my only 1” steerer bike until now in my stable). The swap meet allowed me to grab an even more suitable cockpit for the Bianchi for not much coin .

Here is a pic of it built up partially to get an idea of stance, seatpost length, etc. Note, the MC1 is the only part which will 100% stay.

I am not keen on the Tange Big Fork for this build. I’ll be hunting for a suitable curved/tapered-blades unicrown unit.


Build plan?

Thinking XT M730/M735. Black 27.2 seatpost, something nice, XT or Syncros would be great but maybe too spendy.

Color? Thinking catalog Elite Pinnacle tri-fade? Maybe I’m better off with the catalog green or pink (Flare) with black forks/black MC1? I really welcome input here. Original colour is the Flare one so I expect mine is the standard Pinnacle.

Curious if anyone knows if there are frame difference between Elite Pinnacle and standard Pinnacle, below are snaps from the 1990 catalog:


Here's a pic of one currently on FleeBay

The black fork/stem option works nicely I think

Thoughts colors options? Elite Tri-color (pink/red/yellow)? Bright (Seinfeld) green? Flare (fuchsia/pink)? Does anyone know how I would go about finding Klein Flare rattlecan? Possibly another name for this colour?

Okay, bottom bracket. I started by fitting a set of Suginos and ended up with much more clearance than I would ever want especially if narrow Q-factor is factored in. Also tried a DX drive side arm which seems better especially regarding the chainrings lining up better with the rear cogs (see below pictures). The NDS being out a few extra mm doesn’t bother me too much.

The pressed in bearings feel very smooth and solid with no play, part of me does not want to mess with the BB the way it is. Thoughts here? I really welcome input on what to do here. I figure M730 cranks are my best bet for fit.




If I did go down the bottom bracket swapping road. Can I just tap out one bearing side by tapping against the opposite side axle end? Will a shorter axle be difficult to source?

Other plans are: Flite saddle, thumbies, tan wall tires, possibly black rings on silver crank arms, definitely, as said before need a black seatpost. For paint most likely it will be a DIY rattle can respray.

I’m really looking forward to this build, plan to take my time and enjoy it

 

[JRGSXR]

Tuning in to see more of this, nice score. Looking forward to updates .

 

[HuskyDinoBomber]

You can have a look at my build here of my Rascal, love the bike. I went with RAL6018
Green with black fork and stem. I changed out the bottom bracket and it was a learning curve for sure. I don’t have any special tools and managed but honestly if you don’t have to mess with it I wouldn’t. Anxious to see the rebirth. You should also look up oldklein on the web. They have decals bearings cables and tubes a

 

[Canuckbiker]

Thanks @HuskyDinoBomber I followed that build closely, very nice result. Pretty sure mine will be Pink or Green with black forks and handlebar/stem, I like both colours. Pretty sure I'll leave the BB as is, think I have a line on Syncros black post and Flite saddle.

I love your Klein's fork. I hope it's not too difficult finding the right one for my build. I can always use the Big fork in the meantime, super nice fork, just not sure it suits the early Klein build lines

 

[Dr Dremel]

Nice score, especially for the money, Bonus you already had the MC1! It is indeed a Pinnacle (you already mentioned it: Rascals have the horizontal dropouts). IMO the Pinnacle is the nicer bike to ride, a bit more relaxed geometry due to the shorter TT. From the looks of it it should be a 20" (or shall we say "M").
Yours should have 130mm dropout spacing, as indicated by the "30" stamped in the NDS dropout. Pinnacle Elite presumably had "additional detailing", but I never managed to see what that was about. Or I never saw an Elite frame. Maybe Gary sprinkled it with Holy Water.
BTW yours does not look like "Flare" as that would be the middle colour on the Backfire frames, it´s a neon red (fading to orange after years in the sun). Yours looks more like neon magenta in the pic? Anyway, if you go the rattle can route, be sure to cover neon colours with UV potective clear as they otherwise fade in no time and even then they are not very UV stable.
The BB spindle is press fit, so you should be able adjust the the chainline either with an improvised tool (I used a piece of pipe and washers with the crank bolt) or a rubber mallet if you´re brave. 130mm spindle would fit a Cook crank for example, XT 730 would need 120-122mm if you want it by the book. Maybe find someone to swap, the 130mm axles are much harder to come by.
Sorry for the wall of text, as you may have guessed I´m eager to see where you take this blank (well grey) canvas.

 

[Canuckbiker]

Thanks @Dr Dremel I was hoping for a wall of text especially after posting my own wall

Good to have your input as you know your Klein's. I have some RSRs recently fitted to my Cannondale I could try for sizing

Are you saying there are no internal shoulders on the spindle inside the BB shell and that the chainline can be gently forced back and forth with the correct tool (or improvised tool)? It would seem odd to rely only on a tight fit between the inner cartridge bearing race and spindle's outer surface.

Question about 130mm spacing. I have a nice 135mm wheelset I was hoping to use. I can spread the drop outs out slightly and squeeze the 135mm wheel in but assume this is a bad idea with a 30 year old aluminum frame? The staging wheelset I'm using currently is 130mm, another idea I had was to shave 2.5mm off either side of the 135mm axle assembly

 

[Dr Dremel]

Glad if I can help, if only virtually and not hands on.
If it´s an original spindle there are no shoulders, the press fit is really tight. Come to think of, maybe they also used some bearing retainer? The spindle on mine began to wander after 25yrs, could be failing Loctite. In my experiece it is easier to draw the spindle with a pipe/washers/crank bolt.

I would advise against spreading an aluminum frame, regardless of age/make, but you are right, especially not a Klein. The Achilles heel is stress cracks on the seat cluster due to using a too small diameter and/or too short seatpost and then really cranking the seat QR tight. These frames were heat treated to stiffen up the material and release tension after welding so are fairly stiff and don´t like continued tension.

 

[Canuckbiker]

I'd heard about seatposts that were too short causing damage to Kleins. I'm thinking of using a Syncros post that is only 250mm long. When I measure the frame insertion depth after setting my maximum seat height the bottom of the seatpost would end up just below the seatstay/top tube junction as in the picture below. Would you say the post would be deep enough to not put unusual stress on the frame?

 

[Dr Dremel]

Sorry for the end of communication yesterday, but it was way past bedtime already

I have the seatpost on my Pinnacle round about the same length inserted and keep telling myself that this is enough. But ideally it really should extend a couple of cms further down. I even sourced a post which does just this, but it´s in the queue for anodising and I´m being lazy with the prep

 

[al-onestare]

Do you think the rattle-can paint is removeable? The flashes of pink underneath are tantalising!