Antwack
Senior Retro Guru
Hello everyone
I thought I'd start a thread on this build to document my progress and hopefully get some information, feedback, pointers etc.
Although I've been around MTB's since the early nineties (every penny I got was handed over the counter at the LBS (Thatto Cycles in St.Helens if anyone knows it?), there was a gap in my education from around the millennium until lockdown (20 years!) where I needed something to keep me occupied so I bought an M-Trax frame which I built up into a bike. During the gap of 20 years I was more focused on restoring cars but pushbikes are cheaper and easier to store and work on. As I enjoyed it so much I thought I'd do another. I've also bought and sold a few retro bikes during the last few years and been reminiscing on this forum so all's good!
So, I'm keen with a spanner but no expert!
I'm aware this is a more modern, bottom end Klein but I remember BITD lusting over this brand with their special looking frames and paint jobs.
So, when I spotted this for sale, it made sense to buy it. I bought it off a forum member and it arrived quickly (last Monday) and well packaged. It's sat here in my office and I intend to take it home with me when I leave work today as it looks like the weather will be nice at the weekend so I can tinker. It's been resprayed but it needs a bit of lacquer (any recommendations for this?) on the down tube as the decals were removed and re-applied. The other thing I need to look at is cleaning up the threads in the BB shell.
I'm not aiming for catalogue spec or a wall queen... this will be built and used. I'll probably source most of the parts off this forum.
As it stands I have the frame (obviously!), Rock Shox, headset, stem, handlebar, derailleurs, cantis, seat, chainset and spokie dokies (joking). I'll keep checking the For Sale section to see if any of the missing items crop up.
I thought I'd start a thread on this build to document my progress and hopefully get some information, feedback, pointers etc.
Although I've been around MTB's since the early nineties (every penny I got was handed over the counter at the LBS (Thatto Cycles in St.Helens if anyone knows it?), there was a gap in my education from around the millennium until lockdown (20 years!) where I needed something to keep me occupied so I bought an M-Trax frame which I built up into a bike. During the gap of 20 years I was more focused on restoring cars but pushbikes are cheaper and easier to store and work on. As I enjoyed it so much I thought I'd do another. I've also bought and sold a few retro bikes during the last few years and been reminiscing on this forum so all's good!
So, I'm keen with a spanner but no expert!
I'm aware this is a more modern, bottom end Klein but I remember BITD lusting over this brand with their special looking frames and paint jobs.
So, when I spotted this for sale, it made sense to buy it. I bought it off a forum member and it arrived quickly (last Monday) and well packaged. It's sat here in my office and I intend to take it home with me when I leave work today as it looks like the weather will be nice at the weekend so I can tinker. It's been resprayed but it needs a bit of lacquer (any recommendations for this?) on the down tube as the decals were removed and re-applied. The other thing I need to look at is cleaning up the threads in the BB shell.
I'm not aiming for catalogue spec or a wall queen... this will be built and used. I'll probably source most of the parts off this forum.
As it stands I have the frame (obviously!), Rock Shox, headset, stem, handlebar, derailleurs, cantis, seat, chainset and spokie dokies (joking). I'll keep checking the For Sale section to see if any of the missing items crop up.
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