It's another Klein debate...!

mrkawasaki

mrkawasaki

Retrobike Rider
I have long maintained that the biggest single impact Klein has made on the history of mountain biking has not been in the pioneering use of fat tubing but by the talent within their marketing department.

Although philosophically I struggle with such elitist have/have not promotions, one cannot deny the unique positioning and effectiveness of their campaigns BiTD, reaching out to those with greater financial resources (or access to parent loans!), supported of course by 'want me' candy paint and a rather suspect 'ride quality'.

One could argue that the real fat tubing contribution to the early success of the business was that it allowed for greater visual difference over 'poorer' skinny and malnourished brethren.

Seems the retro market place recognises that those breakthrough ads are worth something too...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0420270590

Mr K
 
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Is it Stella Artois that is 'Reassuringly Expensive'? Reads better than wife-beater I suppose.

Your point reminds me of the Linn hi-fi ads of the 80s which celebrated just how expensive their kit was. This went down well in areas of society motivated by possessions and became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Great marketing.
 
Good topic Mr K, Klein were very smart with advertising i still remember the first time i saw an advert, a friend of mine at school was really excited about an advert in Mountain bike action, (he was the only kid in school with a Muddy fox, so i knew it had to be good.) it was in a art lesson i got my first look, i was gobsmacked it was a frontal pic of a attitude in team tri-colour fade (1990?) , i even bought the same mag just for the advert :oops: .
For me, it was the use of oversized tubing, the forks looked like nothing else i'd seen, and the colours. Later on i realised how exclusive and expensive Kleins were, but by then it was to late i was hooked from day 1.
I was lucky in the fact of i'd been saving for months (paper round in the morning and shelf stacking after school) when just before the summer hol's my bike was stolen, so i worked for the six weeks, finally in the autumn of 91 i could afford a SECONDHAND Attitude in Tri-colour, :cool: :cool: .

AndyB.
 
If only Kleins were actually that strong :LOL:

They were probably too thin to the point where lightweight had gone too far.....same as Cannondale did and also Pace before they started making stuff a little stronger.

Cool addy though....just don't believe the hype :cool:
 
I found the later Kleins to live up to the ads. My 91 did crack up. But my 93 was a strong ultra light frame set.

Klein ads were top notch :cool: like the bikes
 
what would an attitude have retailed for back then?

it is a difficult concept, marketing high cost as an advantage. i run a shop and am always consious of price points but there are a lot of people out there who feel by spending lots they are getting a far better product
 
CrabadonAB":kxt9kgs7 said:
Good topic Mr K, Klein were very smart with advertising i still remember the first time i saw an advert, a friend of mine at school was really excited about an advert in Mountain bike action, (he was the only kid in school with a Muddy fox, so i knew it had to be good.) it was in a art lesson i got my first look, i was gobsmacked it was a frontal pic of a attitude in team tri-colour fade (1990?) , i even bought the same mag just for the advert :oops: .
For me, it was the use of oversized tubing, the forks looked like nothing else i'd seen, and the colours. Later on i realised how exclusive and expensive Kleins were, but by then it was to late i was hooked from day 1.
I was lucky in the fact of i'd been saving for months (paper round in the morning and shelf stacking after school) when just before the summer hol's my bike was stolen, so i worked for the six weeks, finally in the autumn of 91 i could afford a SECONDHAND Attitude in Tri-colour, :cool: :cool: .

AndyB.
Click to expand...

I remember that exact ad, bike looked completely different at the time to anything else...think I was also riding a Muddy fox at the time when I saw that ad.

Oversized tubes, internal headset and cable routing and flowing joins all made the Klein a bike I used to drool over BITD
 
I think this Gator Adroit advertisement was really something:
http://www.wundel.com/pic/jpg/adroit_heaven_gross.jpg

"Klein - Not Your First Bike" :LOL:

The appeal on the ads were good to catch the eye of the well paid yuppies who bought the bikes 'cause they were the most expensive they could find. And therefore, lucky for us, some of those bikes never left the pavement and now we can buy them in great condition.

This ad also tells the name of the game very well:
adroit_96_ad.jpg
 
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