Klein Attitude 1992 restoration questions

I'm in the process of doing a light restoration for a 1992 Klein Attitude XT. Its in great condition and has an all original groupset. I have been riding it for a year now and it works great.

I have few questions:

1)The paint job is the original backfire (no resprays), its in a great condition, very few scratches etc. It has however sun fade on the other side, the pink has turned into white at places. So what would be the preferred way to fix that? Slight sanding and a respray for that side and colour?

2)It doesn't have the original wheels, the catalogue states that the original rims are Sun C-16 but I didn't find much with that. Do they have some alternative names?

3)The tyres and grips are not original and are somewhat worn, I'm not interested in the expensive NOS parts or reproduction items, after all those are parts you have to replace periodically when riding the bike. So I'm looking for good modern day alternatives in the spirit and style of the original parts.

Any tips are much appreciated!

1) Uhh, the fade. Either you keep it original and live with that fade (I think I would). The original paint is (apart from that fading) very durable an scratch resistant. They don't make it like that any more. The reason being environmental and healthcare issues with the original enamel paint. One more reason to stick with the old paint: You can use and ride that bike without being too worried about the paint
Partially repainting is impossible, that I was told by a very competent painter that did quite a few Klein frames.

2) I don't understand the question. If you want sun C16 Rims, search for them. Those are not available everyday thou... Maybe set up a search notification an ebay. Or post a wanted thread here on the forum wanted section. Until you find a pair, those Mavic or whatever will do the job just fine, no?

3) Try to find a set of Panaracer Smoke and Dart reissue. They pop up from time to time and are even sold new in some shops. Best value, looks and sound (hummmm!) for the money.

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I vote for leaving it as is. I bought one off here a while back for the other half, with the plan to polish it as it was badly faded.

Having lived with it for a while on the workshop wall I decided to leave it as is and build it up. She loves it just like it is, though it is back on the wall again until I source all the M900 for its long term build.

The refinishes I have seen just don't do it for me. In many ways, it would be better to come up with a whole new design or paint scheme.

In refinishing, all the patina is removed from the bike, so unless you are going to fit NOS kit and call it factory fresh or whatever, you have a little bit of a mongrel.

Would be cool to see some of these given a new lease of life with something radical.

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Thank you for your replies.

A total repaint is out of question. The original paint is so lush and in such a nice condition besides the fading. The other side is perfect, only the other has fading. (apparently stored in a garage with a one side window for the past 20+ years.)
I was afraid that a partial respray is not feasible but I'm still going to ask around if it would be possible to add little red and pink on to the other side.

Considering the rims I just meant are there any alternative names for them since it was surprisingly difficult to find any info about them. Current rims work great and I bought this bike for riding so that's the most important thing. The rear rim is red (Sun Rims Rhyno Lite) and that just doesn't look right to me. The front rim might even be the original, I have to dig deeper. Only sticker it has says something in german so I just assumed Sun Rims wouldn't have that.

The bike currently has some tyres that have a red hue in them. They feel little hard to a touch but I thought I might aswell wear them out before replacing. The Panaracer Smoke tyres look really good and many places seem to have them in stock. With grips there seem to be many good options.

Few more questions, is the original seat post clamp Deore XT (in the model that has XT groupset)? And I thought it might be a good idea to replace the old worn out plastic cable housings, any idea where I could get those (or similar plastic piping)?

Glad you aren't just redoing the whole thing. There will be very few originals left at the rate they are getting redone.

It should in theory be possible to do one side. Why not?

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Just a thought. There were some really cool paint jobs back then that had different colours either side of the frame. Whilst I appreciate you want to retain the stock look, why not leave the good side as it is, and do the other side in a different but complimentary colour scheme, perhaps the same backfire colours just in a different order. Might look quite cool, might not.

Fairly sure I saw a thread on here listing somewhere selling smoke and dart reissues for £25 each. I've got a nice set of amber wall wtb velocirapter tyres without a home.

Sun c16 rims are often available, I've had a few NOS sets over time.

You.could try for the cr18 rim: https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/rims-tape/4 ... im-silver/

That is a great idea! Easy enough to mask off the good side.

Thanks for the suggestion but I would like to keep it original since its a classic bike - bought for riding - but a classic nevertheless.
Velociraptors are great tyres, I already have a set on my other bike. Since I'm based in Finland I think I would get a better deal for the Smokes from some German online shop since they offer a free shipping if you spend enough.

And just to add there is a fair bit of emotions at play aswell. Early 90s Klein Attitude was my childhood's dream bike. And since I finally got one last year for reasonable price I'm very protective of it

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winniez":1rt9pvyp said:

I was afraid that a partial respray is not feasible but I'm still going to ask around if it would be possible to add little red and pink on to the other side.

Click to expand...

Just going off what you are saying.