You must unlearn everything that you have leaned young skywalker – ride report on a unsuspended Klein Attitude 1995
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=301491
After a lot of years I finally got myself my very first Klein montainbike... After changing a few bits (saddle and rubber). You need a little bit of background; I started mountainbiking in the early 90ties. It was all XC and I was on a budget as a student. So I got my fair share of Marins and no name Easton alu frames. When Racing started to get its grip in me I got on Trek 9900 team issues (3 in a row as the cracked..). Around 98 I got to ride my friends Adroit on a day trip on some rocky singletrails - and was very impressed. But it was about the same time as I myself moved into freerideing and DH. So I never got myself to test it out more… Now my moden ride is a Niner Jet 9 RDO fully with all the bells and whistles. But now it got this little beauty of an Attitude.
I hit my first shakedown ride on a local trail with some very fast but twisty sections as well as a lot of roots. First think that stroked me how this machine flies uphill. I actually managed to beat some of my own records on some of the strava segments I set on on my Niner. But on this ride I was shocked how much I had to slow down on the downhills if I was not loose control… or my teeth’s! But it was just short a shakedown ride. On my next ride I had to take a different approach by trying to skip the riding styled that I have adapted to on my niner fully. “Unlean what you have learned…” .
Second ride I was out with the some of the old fast guys (One of them used to ride the same year/color Klin back in the days). So I had to do good
Well, we hit the trails pretty hard an headed for a 2-3 hours pure singletrack eldorado. Chain went up in larger gears than I was used to and I left the saddle for a lot of the time. Actually the chain strayed in the 44 ring most of the time. I did need a lot more power than I was used to… giving it some watt was hard. But it did give a lot of speed in the mostly flat/small hills twisty dry single track…. Handlingwise: With the low front position and relatively long stem turn-in was excellent… But most of the weight stays on the front wheel which is pretty far from a modern ride. So again keeping that ass just a mm above the Flite and all the time as low as possible was crucial. I was tempted to run a bit low pressure on the front wheel (Panerracer Dart). But my advice would be to keep the pressure a bit up to gain stability in the corners. On the rooty downhills my way to stick up with the guys on the modern fullys was to stay relatively loose (very bended albows + soft grip) and low. And as the miles rolled in I learned to take advantage of the razor sharp strearing. Riding on the sides of the brakebumbs and high on the root sections. Kind of ride smart more than staightlining… Still the very heavy stuff gave some hard hits to the wrists. I had to make use of all those old tricks in the book: Bunnyhops, wheelies and anything I could do to keep the front wheel from tracking down square edge stuff!
This ride was actually one of the most fun I have had for a long time. It was hard as this bike had to be ridden aggressively. When you slack down just a bit… sitting down, downshifting and letting down power is a no go. If you don’t go on top of the stuff it just gets to unconfy… As such, I dont think this is gonna be a offseason bike for me. It’s the one for those days where you feel you can hit it. Its fast, fun and inspiring.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=301491
After a lot of years I finally got myself my very first Klein montainbike... After changing a few bits (saddle and rubber). You need a little bit of background; I started mountainbiking in the early 90ties. It was all XC and I was on a budget as a student. So I got my fair share of Marins and no name Easton alu frames. When Racing started to get its grip in me I got on Trek 9900 team issues (3 in a row as the cracked..). Around 98 I got to ride my friends Adroit on a day trip on some rocky singletrails - and was very impressed. But it was about the same time as I myself moved into freerideing and DH. So I never got myself to test it out more… Now my moden ride is a Niner Jet 9 RDO fully with all the bells and whistles. But now it got this little beauty of an Attitude.
I hit my first shakedown ride on a local trail with some very fast but twisty sections as well as a lot of roots. First think that stroked me how this machine flies uphill. I actually managed to beat some of my own records on some of the strava segments I set on on my Niner. But on this ride I was shocked how much I had to slow down on the downhills if I was not loose control… or my teeth’s! But it was just short a shakedown ride. On my next ride I had to take a different approach by trying to skip the riding styled that I have adapted to on my niner fully. “Unlean what you have learned…” .
Second ride I was out with the some of the old fast guys (One of them used to ride the same year/color Klin back in the days). So I had to do good
Well, we hit the trails pretty hard an headed for a 2-3 hours pure singletrack eldorado. Chain went up in larger gears than I was used to and I left the saddle for a lot of the time. Actually the chain strayed in the 44 ring most of the time. I did need a lot more power than I was used to… giving it some watt was hard. But it did give a lot of speed in the mostly flat/small hills twisty dry single track…. Handlingwise: With the low front position and relatively long stem turn-in was excellent… But most of the weight stays on the front wheel which is pretty far from a modern ride. So again keeping that ass just a mm above the Flite and all the time as low as possible was crucial. I was tempted to run a bit low pressure on the front wheel (Panerracer Dart). But my advice would be to keep the pressure a bit up to gain stability in the corners. On the rooty downhills my way to stick up with the guys on the modern fullys was to stay relatively loose (very bended albows + soft grip) and low. And as the miles rolled in I learned to take advantage of the razor sharp strearing. Riding on the sides of the brakebumbs and high on the root sections. Kind of ride smart more than staightlining… Still the very heavy stuff gave some hard hits to the wrists. I had to make use of all those old tricks in the book: Bunnyhops, wheelies and anything I could do to keep the front wheel from tracking down square edge stuff! This ride was actually one of the most fun I have had for a long time. It was hard as this bike had to be ridden aggressively. When you slack down just a bit… sitting down, downshifting and letting down power is a no go. If you don’t go on top of the stuff it just gets to unconfy… As such, I dont think this is gonna be a offseason bike for me. It’s the one for those days where you feel you can hit it. Its fast, fun and inspiring.
