'96 Klein Attitude Build

[sparkiegaz]

Looking great,,,love the colour,,mines green finally went the Klein route myself always on the wish list,,,can't wait see her complete feller....

 

[SF Klein]

also looks like the forks are a little too long, I need to take off a few mm from the top - any advice on how to do this ?

I wouldn't recommend taking anything off the top of the fork. Klein designed the MC2 setup so that you mount the stem flush with the top of the steerer and you install black, circular plastic spacers underneath the stem to "absorb" the visual space. The typical MC2 frame uses 3 black spacers but I've seen some bikes with 5. The spacers are also designed such they help seal the headtube from the elements, dust, water, etc.

 

[theboyg]

also looks like the forks are a little too long, I need to take off a few mm from the top - any advice on how to do this ?

I wouldn't recommend taking anything off the top of the fork. Klein designed the MC2 setup so that you mount the stem flush with the top of the steerer and you install black, circular plastic spacers underneath the stem to "absorb" the visual space. The typical MC2 frame uses 3 black spacers but I've seen some bikes with 5. The spacers are also designed such they help seal the headtube from the elements, dust, water, etc.

Thanks for the advice, this is a better and safer option, I got a few spare spacers when I bought the frame, so I'll add one of those. The only reason was that the cap that goes on top of the stem doesn't press fit, as the stem sits a little proud, so adding a spacer should fix this - thanks for the tip !

 

[SF Klein]

Re:

Yup - if the steerer is proud of the collet that you tighten, then the cap will not press onto the collet nut. I think there were 2 top caps made for the MC2 system - one for mountain bikes and one for road bikes. The MTB is slightly larger in diameter. If you find your top cap still won't fit after squaring up the steerer tube with the collet nut, you might have a top cap for a road bike but this is unlikely if the top cap came with the bike you're putting together.

 

[theboyg]

also looks like the forks are a little too long, I need to take off a few mm from the top - any advice on how to do this ?

I wouldn't recommend taking anything off the top of the fork. Klein designed the MC2 setup so that you mount the stem flush with the top of the steerer and you install black, circular plastic spacers underneath the stem to "absorb" the visual space. The typical MC2 frame uses 3 black spacers but I've seen some bikes with 5. The spacers are also designed such they help seal the headtube from the elements, dust, water, etc.

When I got the frame, I got a number of accessories, but having taken the stem off, and tried to fit a number of them, none really seemed to do the job. Being a bit of a novice any help is appreciated. Here's what I have :

The mostly likely candidates are those on the left of the photo (there are two the same), but these don't seem very strong, and aren't a natural fit around the steerer tube. Any suggestions as to what I'm doing wrong, or do I have the wrong spacers. These ones are not solid plastic ?

Thanks

 

[SF Klein]

Re:

You're correct. The 2 plastic O rings on the left are the spacers. The other items look to be the headset bearings and the rubber seal that goes on the bottom of the head tube.

After the bearings are pressed and glued in, and the fork is mounted, you then install the spacers. They mount hollow-side down; they're upside down in your picture = flip them over and that's how they need to be when you install them. They simply slice over the steerer tube and they will be a little snug as you slide them on. They are definitely flimsy. They're just for looks and perhaps some sealing benefit for the top of the head tube.

Once you put the spacers on you can then mount the MC2 stem/handlebar with the collet insert and then the collet nut on top to hold it all together. When the collet nut is tightened onto the steerer tube you should try to achieve a flush fit (top of steerer tube is flush with top edge of collet nut. That way the plastic Klein top cap can be pressed on to give it the finished look.

There's bound to be some visual space between the bottom of the MC2 and the top of the head tube (this is where the spacers are). Arrange the spacers so that they "absorb" any space that's there and conceal any exposed steerer tube. If you don't have a lot of visible steerer tube in that area you can mash the spacers together (think of how a stack of styrofoam cups stack inside one another except the cups would be upside down for the Klein spacer metaphor).

Hope this helps.

 

[theboyg]

Re: Re:

You're correct. The 2 plastic O rings on the left are the spacers. The other items look to be the headset bearings and the rubber seal that goes on the bottom of the head tube.

After the bearings are pressed and glued in, and the fork is mounted, you then install the spacers. They mount hollow-side down; they're upside down in your picture = flip them over and that's how they need to be when you install them. They simply slice over the steerer tube and they will be a little snug as you slide them on. They are definitely flimsy. They're just for looks and perhaps some sealing benefit for the top of the head tube.

Once you put the spacers on you can then mount the MC2 stem/handlebar with the collet insert and then the collet nut on top to hold it all together. When the collet nut is tightened onto the steerer tube you should try to achieve a flush fit (top of steerer tube is flush with top edge of collet nut. That way the plastic Klein top cap can be pressed on to give it the finished look.

There's bound to be some visual space between the bottom of the MC2 and the top of the head tube (this is where the spacers are). Arrange the spacers so that they "absorb" any space that's there and conceal any exposed steerer tube. If you don't have a lot of visible steerer tube in that area you can mash the spacers together (think of how a stack of styrofoam cups stack inside one another except the cups would be upside down for the Klein spacer metaphor).

Hope this helps.

really helpful, thanks very much for your detailed explanation. I'm off to my friends tomorrow to get the final part of the build completed;

Fit bottom bracket cable guide
Fit gear cables and adjust
fit spacer and top cap
go for a ride (finally)

can't wait...!

 

[wadsy]

Re:

Looking good

 

[theboyg]

Finally it's done (although looking at this forum, I'm not sure a bike is ever done!), here's the photos of it finished...

I'm really pleased how it turned out, and thanks to my mate Mark for screwing it together so nicely. I'll do a spec sheet in a couple of days, but just enjoying having it completed !!

 

[k-rod]

Re:

and ... howz it ride?