Klein Attitude in HLF in Romania - what to do?

I recently spotted this Klein Attitude on a Gumtree style site from here, from Romania.

http://mercador.ro/oferta/bicicleta-kle ... f43eb;r:;s











I am no Klein expert, but it is definitely pre-Trek, has the Horizon Linear Fade paint, MC-1, matched RockShox Mag 21, older Mavic rims, Ringle QR's and a newer '97-'98 XT/LX groupset.

The first thing that popped into my mind was "Is it stolen?" and "Does anyone on Retrobike miss it?" so this is why I opened this thread.

I won't hide the fact that a lot of my fellow Romanians have a rather bad reputation outside the country for stealing, begging and sort of other things, nor that on our used bike market we have a shitload of bikes that are stolen from Western Europe. As a moderator on the largest Romanian forum and website I've had my share of fights with thieves or people who had their ads deleted for obviously selling stolen bikes. It's something you can't control, pretty much, and most of the buyers sport this attitude: "Somebody's going to buy it anyway, so if I don't get it, somebody else will.", which isn't actually too far away from the truth.

If it's not stolen, I'd try to get it and "save it", even though I really don't need another project bike. This must be worth "saving".

I would appreciate your input on this.

Thanks a lot, fellow retrobikers!
Mx

Worth saving, good price, very very faded, top tube has been opened up by the looks of it to allow the the rear V brake cable through it which is not so good. Mix of good and not so good parts, XS size, are there any dents or cracks?

Hope that helps abit, Ash.

Thanks for the reply! What do you mean by "top tube opened up"?

I didn't see this bike in person, since it's a few hundred km away.

Mx

Maxipedia":3uervhc5 said:

Thanks for the reply! What do you mean by "top tube opened up"?

Mx

Click to expand...

Hole in the top tube made larger to allow the outer cable to run through the frame for the V Brakes.

Most of the early kleins ran certian cables through the frame but they were Klein specific in sizing. To run most other types of manufacturers cables through the frame, some drilled the hole wider to fit those cables. Some people don't worry about this if it has happened and some like it as it should be so pay a specialist to fix it.

The normal outer usually terminates and the normal cable goes through a liner in the frame, (exactly as if the outer was terminating at external stops for a section but with better protection and obviously a neater appearance). What some people/fools subsequently did was enlarge the holes and run the outer complete through the frame. I would expect this compromises the frame if done carelessly. I never had any issue with running the cable through the liner, I find it hard to believe when I read people justifying this butchery.

That said, I am sure it is a bargain at that price!

tiny frame.