Mountain Klein - Remember this one?

[pinguwin]

American did make smooth welds for their road bikes. The road bikes are a rare bird indeed. I am only aware of three of them that I've seen posted. I don't know how many were produced but it wasn't many at all.

The smooth welds were for the road bikes only as far as I know. Note the picture of the smooth welds does have a shifter attachment on the downtube. I checked with someone who knows the Schilplin family (who owned the company) and to the best of his knowledge also, only road bikes were smooth welds. There might be an oddball smooth MTB out there somewhere, who knows?

A guy wanted to sell me a road bike a few years back and I regret not picking it up, so it goes. I've attached a few decent quality pics of it.

As for they beryllium bike, it wasn't a production item. Only three were made. Two were sold and the other one went MIA at a bike show and hasn't been seen since.

Here is a few other things you can look up for Americans:

google "softride bike" (they made a few of these, had a chance to pick one up, no regrets)
rodriguez tandem (they made tandems for another company)
american breezer (made bike for Joe Breeze)

I've also attached a picture of an NOS M16 some dude has.

 

[pinguwin]

Here is the M16

 

[yo-Nate-y]

What is done is done, and more stems exist. I think you did a really nice job rehabbing it. If I were offered your 'before' or your 'after' stem, I'd take the 'after'.

Now that it has been un-Americaned, though, you should try to source one of the rare Klein backwards flag stickers

 

[Prometheus]

Well hydorah....never a dull moment with this build thread eh Personally I am feeling the love for what you have achieved and for creating such an entertaining thread too .

The reference to cars just reminds me of the same sh*te that people come out with at the classic car shows when people dare to alter a vehicle from its original factory specification. Like you said it's not their opinion which is the problem, that's fine. It's the misplaced sense of some kind of superiority which apparently gives them the right to be derogatory and offensive. It's the difference between

a.) Well, I don't like it, it's not in my taste and I wouldn't have done it that way

and

b) Your an idiot, look what you've done, you've ruined it, how could you do something like that etc etc yadda yadda.

if it's (a) then fair enough, but (b) just immediately inspires nothing but animosity and argument and makes me want to respond with a f**k you.

Anyway keep up the good work both with the bike and the thread

I'm off the find myself a Cunningham or an American at a pinch so I can smooth off the welds, spray it black with white shimano decals then build it up with a full campy group and top it off with a pair of spins and some bar ends on a set of risers and a big ol' shopper gel saddle MMMmmmmm :twisted:

 

[hydorah]

For me it not massively relevant that American did smooth stuff as well as chunky welds

Cos in my opinion I'm free to modify stuff, certainly I haven't ended up with a hideous item, whether it's an action that's compatible with the maker's original output or not

Equally, of course people are free to have any opinion they want about it but I don't want to be dictated to about my decision to go ahead and do what I wanted

I just love the fact that ultimately at the end of the journey it ain't un-American at all!

As it turns out they were at it themselves! Definitely for road so they had the tooling and the people with the skills to use it and that being the case how likely is it they didn't kick out ANY smoothed MTBs, at all, not even PT or special order? As you say there's bound to be the odd-ball or two

I saw the Breezers and Tandems (!) when I was meandering around Mombat

That Beryllium bike is also remarkable in having a BITD price of $26k!

So anyway I think that's case closed all aspects of the stem (but taste of course), liberty prevails, so to speak

But I have certainly learned some stuff, as you may have noticed I never pretend to know what I don't! The smoothed American gear was a twist I didn't expect

Thanks for posting back and thanks for the additional info

 

[hydorah]

Well said indeed Prometheus and Yo-Nate-y

You guys have got straight to the point of the whole thing

But the awesome twist that American did smooth stuff as really knitted this little episode together beautifully for me

Of course I don't expect everyone to like it!

I do care what people think but I don't want be bound by it

Happily plenty of people like it, too. It's fine either way but I'd prefer my build wasn't disgusting!

My paint is an ordeal however, and a battle I may not win, at present I'm high on enamel fumes

 

[Coleman]

A guy wanted to sell me a road bike a few years back and I regret not picking it up, so it goes. I've attached a few decent quality pics of it.

'He wo hesitates is lost' (that's what my Grampa always said) guess it applies here - I feel you pain, that bike in the pic is stunning.

I've also attached a picture of an NOS M16 some dude has.

Having that must make up for it a bit though?

@ Hydorah - hurry up and finish bugg3ring around with the paint and get some pics/info up about your tests

This stem sh1t is getting boring

 

[hydorah]

Rubbed it back to primer,

when I rubbed down four (brush applied) colour coats which looked fine prior to being flatted back, the pigment was uneven

I'd be fine for a spot touch up here or there, but it's a fairly large prominent area I'm trying to deal with, so it's got to look well matched and even in hue

This enamel is bloody tricky stuff it's kind of translucent so the colour slowly builds up with each successive coat, so with brush application getting those coats of even thickness might not be possible!

Even if I sprayed it I'd need to consider how to blend/feather it in to the sound paint around the patch - I'll persevere a bit longer

 

[pinguwin]

I'm going to say this once, and only once, lest anyone think I'm going all gooey and saccharine but I like that you are doing your best to restore the frame.

However...MUST....NOT....SAY....ok, got over that, never mind.

 

[Coleman]

Have you tried one of those modelling spray guns?
They are designed for applying very thin even costs of enamel.