Oh dear - head above parapet - my view of Kleins…...

[2manyoranges]

Over on the Attitude advert post - where the price has gone to well over 3,000gbp (gulp) I said this:


'....I have had Kleins. They performed less well off road than some contemporary steel and Ti bikes of the same or less cost. I don’t get the crazy prices - although I acknowledge that finish and quixotic design features are attractive and have cache. Bontrager steel. Marin top end steel and ti far better. Let’s face it, the Murray Konas were stunning in performance. Kleins were (are) fragile (my down tube had an excellent crease in the downtube from a flint strike on ride two), too slack (horrible climbers in my view) and beat you up (although had lightning acceleration) on hard ground. By contrast, Marin steels of the time were long, could be steepened with in line posts, and with lovely Tange Prestige twangy ride. Far far better. Bontrager ... Race OR, Racelite ... lovely jubbly….'


I don't mean to pull the rug from the market or stop people buying such purdy things to put in the living room/study/hallway but.....

 

[Tootyred]

Im with you. Rode a couple bitd. Didn't see the big whoop.....just a big price tag. Guess things don't change.

 

[captaincowelly]

Probably is a bit of style over substance I guess.Never ridden one and can't say I saw many locally but always thought they had the 'designer' edge to them (when that kind of thing took my interest!).Expensive,head turning,awesome paint,out of my reach.Or maybe I just associated them with Calvin somehow!
Wouldn't have looked out of place in Benetton.For me,very much of the era,too loud for my tastes nowadays but back then a different story.Anyone remember those fat tubed ally 'BOSS' mtb's?

 

[greencat]

The paint fades look lovely, but I'm not bothered about them otherwise. A few of my friends had these and other similar exotica back in the day. They were always the lads who couldn't ride particularly well and their bikes were prone to breaking/being in the shop getting repaired even after a quick play in the woods. Agree the Konas and Marins have aged well.

My guess is that most Kleins were not ridden very often back then, and mostly looked at and admired - and that's still true today. There's room for that end of the market even now and no shame in it, but not for me.

 

[2manyoranges]

Yes, for sure I am not attacking the interest or indeed the process of saving cycling arcana; I just think that it's a bit misplaced in the case of Kleins. If they were A BIT more expensive I would get it. I had a 1990 Ti Marin frame which went to Annecy this year; that will build up into a bike which will dance all over a Klein if ridden in anger. Really. Streets ahead and contemporary with the Kleins. Yet a fraction of the cost. Thinking about analogies, I love Goodwood, where the true mettle of old equipment comes alive in historic racing - the best drivers put into old equipment which is then thrashed within an inch of its life, and the real differences emerge, often with real surprises. The thing with retrobikes is that a CinderCone had the same geometry as the Explosiv, and boy those bikes could perform. And were accessible to different people, at different price points. Back to the analogy with historic racing, it's like a well-sorted E type crawling all over the back of a GT250 at Goodwood.

 

[al]

I agree, never seen the appeal of them.

Then again, I'm not a massive tart!

al.

 

[Once A Hero]

Well I wouldn’t mind owning one even if for a short while.
I’ve never owned a Klein, like I hadn’t owned several of the bikes in my current collection until now, so I’d like to have the ownership experience first hand.
That said, I wouldn’t want to start that experience by buying a complete VVGC example for ££££’s.
I’d be much happier to buy a frameset with correct forks, MC1, and any other model specific components that I could them build to my liking.
There was a frameset on here recently that very nearly ticked the boxes, but due to its condition it’s price was a full £1k more than I would value it at (or could risk if I want to move it on after my ownership period).

 

[2manyoranges]

Ah OaH I was very much thinking of your wonderfully wide collection - not a Klein in sight and very interesting and comprehensive. I would get a ride and see what you think. And contemplate the coke-can thinness of that fat downtube. I like the finger-flick 'PING' of an 853 or Prestige downtube - thin and strong. And I remember the finger-flick test on the Klein...'a coke-can dead 'plink'.. 'blimey...that's thin...and not very strong...' and so it transpired...up came a flint...clunk...dent.

 

[Tootyred]

Very pretty.....in a pink and green styleee.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

"Jerry, are you ever going to ride this thing, or is it just to hang on the wall, looking pretty?"
George, probably