introduction Remko and '96 Klein Adroit

[Remko]

Hello, my name is Remko and I thought it would be nice to register on retrobike.

Since some 7 years I'm riding a Klein Adroit. Before that I had a Koga Miyata Sky Carbolite with titanium rear triangle. And before that I rode a lot of other mountainbikes, mostly Giant and Cadex.

For your information, the Klein Adroit is built in '95 or '96. I bought it secondhand in 2004. It has the original Strata forks. The Koga Miyata Sky Carbolite is a '95 model. It is the last Sky Carbolite model with the "Greg Herbold" geometry. It has the Rond WP forks, which is OEM. This bike was a fantastic ride! I bought it new in '96 and sold it to a friend in 2005. He wrecked it in 2009 and bought a Salsa Moto Rapido instead. He returned the Miyata frameset to me again, so it's in the shed somewhere, eating dust.

The idea is to stick with the Klein and make it a bit lighter the coming autumn and winter.



Some pictures:

 

[yo-Nate-y]

So nice to see a Klein on this site that is actually muddy

(I kid I kid)


Cool bikes!

 

[tintin40]

So nice to see a Klein on this site that is actually muddy

(I kid I kid)


Cool bikes!

So true.

 

[Jamis Diablo]

Welcome fellow Dutchie, and nice bike.
Be prepared for a new addiction.

 

[Tomahawk kid]

Remko welcome to the forum . This is a long shot but, does Bobby beige & Moma Gravy mean anything to you ?

PS nice ride BTW

 

[Elev12k]

Nice bikes

A SkyCarbolite was the 1st really good mountainbike I purchased. I ordered it in late 1994 (MY95). I ordered a SkyCarbolite that was a softail, but somewhat later they let me know the softail setup wouldn't come available and asked me whether I were still interested. Of course I were. The softail issue only appeared in the early brochures, but never made it to the market. The setup could also be seen on Greg Herbold's bikes for the DS events. I don't know why they discontinued the idea of converting the frame to a softail. Possibly they feared warranty issues in the long run, as Koga gave lifetime warranty on all their frames.

I do still have the frame, but it sits retired at the attic atm. Of MY95 I do also have the SkyExpension and I am working on the resurrection of an Explosion. 1995 was the last year for the Made in Japan Miyata frames. Really sophisticated and expensive frames.

Interesting build your SkyCarbolite has btw: what front hub is that?

 

[Remko]

@Tomahawk kid
Bobby Beige doesn't ring a bell. Google says he's residing in Amsterdam, surrounded by 700.000 fans.

@Elev12k
The front hub is a Machine Tech Hollow Core, 32 spoke. It weighs about 155 grams and resembles the Ringlé Superbubba hubs. The crank is a Cook Bros E with Syncros blades.

With softtail, do you mean the full suspension Koga made until '95? I could have bought it back then since the seller offered both the hardtail and full suspension. Only one each in stock. As said I bought the hardtail, to crash it on the 3rd day into a 10 feet deep canal. Cause of the crash was my usual speed in combination with unusual bad Tektro brakes - the biggest shame ever found on a pre '96 Koga Miyata. I replaced them with XTR cantilevers and red Kool Stop pads.

 

[Elev12k]

@Elev12k
The front hub is a Machine Tech Hollow Core, 32 spoke. It weighs about 155 grams and resembles the Ringlé Superbubba hubs. The crank is a Cook Bros E with Syncros blades.

I have the same hub. Bought with Zero skewer, also in blue. Excess stock that Koga dumped.

With softtail, do you mean the full suspension Koga made until '95?

No, the full suspension bike is the SkyExpension >>

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/wiki/index.php/SkyExpension

Softail bike >>

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/wiki/index.p ... e_Monostay

I know I have the catalogue pic of the SkyCarbolite ST somewhere. I'll get it.

I could have bought it back then since the seller offered both the hardtail and full suspension. Only one each in stock.

Interesting. Both bikes are VERY rare. The SkyExpension even more than the SkyCarbolite.

As said I bought the hardtail, to crash it on the 3rd day into a 10 feet deep canal. Cause of the crash was my usual speed in combination with unusual bad Tektro brakes - the biggest shame ever found on a pre '96 Koga Miyata. I replaced them with XTR cantilevers and red Kool Stop pads.

You're right. The Koga branded Tektro cantis were MY95 only. With more brands you saw that generic parts with own name replaced Shimano around 95/96. It is a bit a contrast: initially Koga was very generous with expensive Syncros parts on their bikes, a couple years later they spec Tektro, even on the 5K SkyCarbolite and 7K SkyExpension :roll: Fortunately a one year mistake. The Koga branded Sugino cranks stayed for a couple more years on some models, but they were okay.

 

[Elev12k]

The SkyCarbolite softail from the early MY95 catalogue >>

 

[Stylus]

Hoi Remko, welkom to de forum

My favourite colour Adroit, and my size too, lovely.