Klein .... am I missing something?

[Wold Ranger]

Kleins

An awful lot of Kleins got bought as executive posing toys and as such only ended up with a few light road/canal tow path miles and as they were expensive were coveted, kept and mothballed, not skipped like many lower end bikes. some were virtually unridden. I could never see the point in a custom airbrushed finish on a frame that was going to get buried in Mud and Stone chips?

 

[missmyfat]

I can see why people like the look of them, they did look pretty way out back then with their fat tubes compared to steel and their frankly lovely paint. However all that came crashing down when I rode one- it was horrible! Not my cup of tea at all way too stiff. If people like them and choose to spend a rather lot of money on them fair play, good luck to them. The world would be a boring place if we all had the same bikes!

 

[24pouces]

You are asking about old klein (before 95) or "Treklein" (made after 95).
Now, all aluminium bikes use technology created by klein and Cannondale (Cunningham…… ). So, actually, a klein or a Cannondale seems so ordinary. :roll:

If you see the prices on ebay, it's not modern Attitude who are going around 2000$, but all the mythics models : for exemple a 1990 or 1991, Team america Attitude (the neon green-white-pink model).
Take a time machine and go to the end of the 80ies and to the beginning of the 90ies : no suspension, titanium was very very rare, and a lot of heavy steel bikes every where… and… the first aluminum oversized : whaouh ! It was something new, original, fantastic. They were pioneers and all things had to be created for mountain biking. Cannondale, Klein, Merlin… were more "craftsmen" than the actual big plant who are welding they frame in Asia…
Buying an old Attitude is buying a piece of history. Riding an Attitude is discover feelings forgotten since a very long time.

I still ride my Attitude, and my Singlespeed Pinnacle. I love them because, it's "no compromise" bike : It's only "on/off". They give what you give, and for working the riding technic, they are a very good school.
I love titanium (and steel) bike too. But it's really a too different philosophy. If I want more confort and if I need to go far and for longtime, I prefer my Merlin

But, I admit that 2000$ is really too expensive for an old Klein. Ebay is a stupidity, and don't give a good idea of the prices.
My Attitude cost to me around 1000 euros, and my Pinnacle fuselage (steel fork and MC1 combo) cost me 300 euros, and I have bought them on Retrobike, in a lucky time I could pay them. But when I see actual bike price, I think it's not so crazy for bikes who haunt my nights since the begining of 90ies. When I look them in my garage or when I ride them, sure I don't regret.

 

[Carsten]

Re: Klein

BITD this was their nickname, (Not bein abusive my friend) as they had a habit of literally folding up like a Coke can, Quite a few of us had them back then and they were serious money, Adroits and Attitudes were £1000 a frame off memory? Not much fun when your frame cracks after three months and they won't honour the Warranty!!
There was just too many of them doing this for it to be abuse or coincidence.
The Adroit Race I had, was in Medium and the frame just weighed shy of 2.7 pounds. even decent quality modern race HT frames weigh a pound more than this, I think they were just pushing the butting too far to save weight and create a name, they had to use big tube diameters just to support the ultra thin tubes, in the centre, they were literally as thin as a Coke Can. I cut my down tube in half after mine expired and Mic'd it against a Coke can as sold at the time, they Mic'd pretty much the same! No wonder they were so light and rode so compliantly! Or why they cracked/bent so readily.
A good race bike for a few races, but not a Trail bike with any ability to stand abuse!.

Adroit Race? where did it break?

Carsten

 

[IbocProSX]

Nice thread, I reckognise most of the arguments pro and con the Klein breed of oversized aliminium high $$ hardtails, lot's of thruth in them too. One not yet listed is that Klein was also using very different geometry to the California/West Coast early mountain bikes, plus his own way of "fitting" bikes.

Watch out serious oversimplification next, but IIRC the Marin County "Repack" type bike is about control on fast descents with gears to climb up to the trailhead, mostly in the dry. I remeber Klein was on about threading your bike through twisty rooty Washington forest singletracks, and it's usually wet under the trees.

Enjoy!!

 

[dyna-ti]

I like their rigid frames and their colour schemes are great,the early full susser they did,the box thing with miss-matching rear ,has to rank as one of the most ugly pieces of design to hit the twentieth century.
It's what put me off them, went for a Cannondale instead

 

[Dr S]

I had fancied one on and off for the last five years and bought a Attitude this summer. The paint was very nice and it was a good weight but that's it. It didn't ride particularly well, the BB and headset were a pain in the ass, the paint chips easily and is almost impossible to touch up and when put alongside a late 80's Cannondale they looked pretty poor. That big headtube and the fat forks looks cool but from there on back it loses out to the Dale- fiddly internal cabling for starters and the rear triangle on a dale is far more sculptural and probably stronger too.
It was sold within 2 weeks and I won't be bothered again unless a mint Team USA turns up at the right money.
Si

 

[wooly pluto]

Well, I may drop something to that - I bought my first Klein this summer - it is a 1992 HLF Attitude still with original XTR components. Wheels need replacement as they are rubbish and not original. In comparison with my titanium wooly pluto it is very fast and stiff, still not most comfy thing on earth.
But I love it - most because it is a real piece of MTB history.
Secondly, I suppose this is just one of few units in Poland so there is virtually just a little chance to meet another the same day.
And lastly it is a dream bike for me bringing me the memory of back days.
In fact the frame needs restoration due to corossion marks on the top tube - so surly will also need new paint which will be quite difficult to reproduce. :?

 

[pinguwin]

> cannondales with non-standard fittings

Actually I would argue that a Cannondale is actually a Klein with standard fittings.

I have been riding Kleins since 1990 when I had the green/white/pink model. They aren't wallhangers that mere mortals can't ride. I bought my first one in grad school and spent 25-30% of my annual income to afford one. I raced it hard in expert class, it wasn't a pretty plaything. I know many others who raced on Kleins. The people that I knew with them weren't rich and rode them seriously.

I'm not aware of them crumbling like coke cans due to poor engineering. I have broken one frame which was a result of a faulty weld and not design.

Kleins are hard to touch up but no more so than any bike with brilliant colored fades. If you want easy touchup, get a solid, flat colored paint.

Kleins are not a bike to be ridden on the odd sunny day. My current 1996 Attitude has been my primary bike for the last thirteen years, raced more times than I can count and ridden hard constantly. It has tens of thousands (and no, it doesn't mean 20k either) on it. It's likely to have as much riding as any bike on this group.

If you don't like them for reasons of fit, ride, appearance, or non-standard parts, these reasons all make sense, but they aren't toys. I have enough spare cash to be able to afford any bike out there, be it vintage or current, but I'll stick with my 96 Klein as my daily bike.

 

[Wold Ranger]

Klein Breakage

Driveside chainstay behind BB and rear drop out and seat/top/stay intersection cracked.
To a degree, I can understand a collector paying up for a nice Attitude/Adroit/Rascal as a display item , but why not the same for a Cannondale? They were just as innovative and did the fat tubed thng before Klein.
The prices though are just not justified, for what is, at the end of the day an out dated technology, folks buy them as if they will outperform a modern bike ,where over the same terrain they would very quickly self destruct, as the originator of this thread correctly asked, he couldn't see why they fetched so much money, as the old saying goes, a fool and his money are swiftly parted!
If frame/fork were valued at around £100 then it would all make so much more sense.