dancingjack":23q6h1bx said:
Well… I do understand that the paint job looks like an after market job and that was the exact sentiment I had on the fork when I first saw it as well. I have gotten some confirmations till date that this is an original paint job for the fork.
Where / from whom have you gotten the confirmation about its originality?
The Nightstorm Mantra is much newer one and that is a one-off, made for Klein employee like the Storm Mantra too. Ordinary customers couldn't get forks and stems painted to match.
http://www.oldklein.com/kleinit/MantraNightstorm.htm
I remember someone on this forum or MTBR.com saying that when he was ordering his Klein back in the day and wanted to get his suspension fork painted, Klein had informed him that "we don't do it anymore".
Now, I'm not saying that it would be impossible, it could be originally made for Klein employee who could have gotten it painted by his colleague but then again one could wonder why the crown wasn't painted at the same time.
It's just that I have NEVER seen a Klein with factory painted suspension fork made after 1993. And trust me, I know a lot about Kleins.
There are some late 1993 Kleins with Storm paintjob that have RS Mag forks and in those forks the crown is painted with storm clouds but the lowers are black and do not include lightning bolts. Also those Storm/Nightstorm bikes with rigid forks do not have lightning bolts on forks, only clouds and KLEIN logos.
Yours have lightning bolts and no Klein logos thus making it somewhat questionable to be original factory spec.
All in all, your bike is awesome and it doesn't change even though the fork might have been painted afterwards or not.
My own '96 Adroit's Strata fork and MC2 have been painted to match by a professional painter here in Finland and I think it's very nice. Might nothave as good resales value as the original but it doesn't matter since I'm not planning to to rid of it...