Klein .... am I missing something?

nic

Senior Retro Guru
What is it about Kleins that make people reach for their wallets and pay a lot of money for them?

This is not a piss-take, it's a genuine question as I don't understand why some models go for $2,000 on evilbay, and they don't even have replaceable mech hangers!
 
cannondales with non-standard fittings, and ugly paintjobs. never got them myself.
 
The super nice paintjobs make the most of the cost. More flashier and rare paintjob, more it costs (case: Storm & Nightstorm).

Of course those propietary pain-in-the-a$$-when-service-is-needed parts add to the desirability as well, as proven by Adroit & Attitude prices compared to Rascal prices.

They have always had a high-end bike image so that affects it too. BITD they cost so much that the mere mortals could only dream of them.
Klein's advertisement slogan says much: "Klein - not your first bike"
 
Guess you guys have never had one,they ride really well and have some really neat innovations such as press fit BBs and headsets,I maybe slightly biased though as I won my first road race on a Quantum a few years ago and am currently building up an old Attitude.Lack of a replacable mech hanger is hardly a Klein one off,my Yeti ARC didn't have one or my Trek Madone SSL for that matter.Each to their own I suppose.
 
4 me it was always a dream to have a "proper" Klein, i suppose it has something to do with when i got into mtbs's which was 1990 when i was 12. Obviously i could never afford one, i knew someone who had a Rascal but i never saw Attitudes and Adroits, they were the Lamborghini's of the bike world. Flash paintjobs, oversized tubes, i mean the early nineties examples still look crazy today, maybe i'm abit sad but i still stare at my 2 with amazment.

Its people like me who remember them back in the day, that now are older and have proper jobs (not just a paperround!) so they can afford to buy them, hence thats 1 reason why they keep their value.
 
Not for me either, never could see the attraction.

Friend who I rode with sometimes, had one (maybe two people had them I forget, certainly two different bikes, lol) Never liked them myself.

I guess it's a Marmite/Bovril thing.
You either like them and pay through your nose or couldn't care less for them.
 
Kleins

Had several, crumpled like a coke cans, (don't think they were properly forged??) no warranties were upheld, standard dealer response- "rider abuse or You've been jumping with it." They would offer you a new frame at "cost". was the standard practice BITD, average frames, that sold well due to an expensive paint job was their sales gimick.
US built Gt's were far better frames, for a lot less Shekel, I have some that have been totally abused with no problems(Look what Hans Rey does with em!!!) Klein are just a rich mans(or foolish ones) a status symbol really. Handled nice, not a ride every day bike. Very light retail frames, but the race team frames were heavier :? wonder why?
The press fit BB's were a backward step and real pain to change and get set up correctly, just another sales gimick.
I never understand the attraction in buying a short lived frame, when you could have a Titanium or top quality hand built Crmo one for less?
 
The Attitude in magenta/white/green is totally iconic and looked like nothing else in the early 90s. They were also very light, very stiff and had beautiful almost organic finish at the joins.

I think their appeal might relate to your age/when you started off road cycling as by the mid 90s they had perhaps lost a little of their lustre (I of course stand to be corrected on this last point).
 
Age

I'm past my half century, so lived through all the disasters with them! Clever marketing, novel and very good designs, different for differents sake, would have been very good but for majorly flawed engineering which resulted in a lot of nasty breakages.
 
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