Mountain Klein - Remember this one?

[utahdog2003]

I just lament that it happened to a reasonably rare and valuable piece in its own right. Nothing wrong with modifying stuff for a build, most of us do it. Just a little more selectivity before reaching for the file might be better?

No denying the quality of work, just "Fettle" this thing instead.

 

[hydorah]

No that's no good, it has to be 1"

But seriously, yes I get your point

I did it 'cos for me it made aesthetic sense, but to be honest I don't like it when I see stuff customised that I really like the designed aesthetics of

I think I'll quietly carry on with this build and see if I can redeem myself with the complete picture

 

[utahdog2003]

I did it 'cos for me it made aesthetic sense.

Now THAT I'll agree with. How a stem known for beauty welds would land on a frame known for NO welds is a chin scratcher.

 

[GT-Steve]

Looking like it's taking shape nicely.

so you modified a (rare) stem, hey-ho, I seem to remember people butchering stuff BITD, in the name of modifying and weight saving.

Yes, it's now the modern day we live in, and these parts are more sought after, but the point is you've been sympathetic and aesthetic to your planned build, and the component in question has been bastardised but not in an offensive way, surely? :?

Thank god you haven't put white tyres on it.... I made that mistake once.

 

[hydorah]

I looked at getting an MC1, but that means flat bars and I want to use a riser bar, it also would have looked and felt a tinge too modern

Then I looked at how over engineered and over welded that stem was and thought I could smooth all those welds to be just like the frame with out taking anything off any tube anywhere and get that smooth MC look, with ability to use risers or flats or even drops, best of both/all worlds, woohoo get the tools out!

I'll admit what was on the sticker on the stem was irrelevant to me, ordinarily I've got nothing against manly welds - it's evidently very high quality and ridiculously robust the right bit of kit for what I wanted to see so I got to it

To be honest I don't know what else I could have used to that end... Those damned beauty welds enabled it! Irony: defined

 

[hydorah]

Looking like it's taking shape nicely.

so you modified a (rare) stem, hey-ho, I seem to remember people butchering stuff BITD, in the name of modifying and weight saving.

Yes, it's now the modern day we live in, and these parts are more sought after, but the point is you've been sympathetic and aesthetic to your planned build, and the component in question has been bastardised but not in an offensive way, surely? :?

Thank god you haven't put white tyres on it.... I made that mistake once.

Haha! No one cardinal sin per build is hopefully my limit!

 

[RichieB]

No I meant something like this, not the St Henri bike:

Hey, that's my bike!

Sweet! For the record, a forged alloy stem would have been a wiser direction to go if you were looking for smooth alloy. Certain materials and designs were engineered to require the actual wled material - why would you want to risk the danger of your stem breaking just to make the welds pretty? I understand wnating to match the smooth welds of the frame, but you likely should have got a stem with smoother lines - oh, and good luck stretching the bar clamp over a riser without completely wrecking the stem.

 

[hydorah]

yeah I thought about that and tested getting a riser in there, I'll upload a pic in a sec

The clamp is quite wide on the American stem, but my X-Lite riser slid in there with no forcing open

 

[hydorah]

Here we go:

I though about the engineering side of things

Forged stems are pretty solid but conversely look spindly this thing is big diameter tube perfect compliment to the frame

This is probably gonna sound even worse but if risers were a pain to get in there I might have taken a little off the sides... Made the clamp a little narrower... I'm going to hell

 

[sinnerman]

No I meant something like this, not the St Henri bike:

Hey, that's my bike!

Sweet! For the record, a forged alloy stem would have been a wiser direction to go if you were looking for smooth alloy. Certain materials and designs were engineered to require the actual wled material - why would you want to risk the danger of your stem breaking just to make the welds pretty? I understand wnating to match the smooth welds of the frame, but you likely should have got a stem with smoother lines - oh, and good luck stretching the bar clamp over a riser without completely wrecking the stem.

Cool bike brother........., a great build too... all credit to you, but i just gotta ask, WHY.....would you put that decal on the bike...., wasnt a klein good enough...??? :? ......or have i completey missed the joke....????