The whole Klein painting debate has been interesting.
I have been using airbrushes since I was a kid, initially my father's helping to create model railway layouts.
Later I began painting surfboards, skateboards, BMX, etc.
I understand the work being done, but I am not awed by the technique.
In my twenties I worked as a dispatcher whilst studying, I got my first Klein soon after. I was buying and selling them through Loot in the early 90s.
There were plenty yuppies selling off mountain bikes they had bought only to find they clogged up their corridors after they had got over the fascination. Usually a few months at most.
There have always been people who buy the most expensive of any commodity because they can, and assume it is a good policy for acquiring quality.
They were hip.
However, they were also great bicycles.
It had nothing to do with the paint.
It is still nothing to do with the paint.
The ones I used personally were polished.
I could not stand the day glow finishes.
I wanted bikes to ride, not to have crowds of spotty faced geeks admiring.
I sold my last 'classic' Attitude in 97 to a wee Glaswegian guy who wanted it for road time trialling.
If I still have the guy's name I would try to find out where that bike went, as I put a lot if work into it and have a stupid sentimental connection to it, as does my wife having taken backies on it all the way up the Thames and such.
What I am not interested in is buying old Kleins and tarting them up.
I like to see them as they stand, it is called patina.
Refinishing bikes that are so rare ought to be as required, not de rigour.
I respect other people view things differently.
For me, though, the situation with Kleins has got ridiculous.
They seem to attract a particular breed of owner now, (along with the others who still appreciate them as bicycles).
These people don't seem to be interested in them as art, nor as machines.
They seem the type who aspire to exclusivity, and perfection.
The fact is, at the end of the day, they are just bikes.
Works of art, yes.
Brilliantly designed machines, yes.
But that does not single them out in the world of bikes.
The thing that singles Kleins out is their owners.
I went to a lot of Steve Vai gigs back in the day.
If you looked around, you could barely see a female.
I bet a lot of those spotty faced guitar geeks would ride Kleins.
I think we all ought to get out and find £10 BSOs and bodge them up with a Kleintastic 'Tribute' paint job. You would at least triple their value.
