96 Klein Attidroit

Just need my Flite Ti saddle, XTR crank stickers, and pedals to come in and this one will be done.

96 Klein Adroit (it's an Attitude frame labeled as an Adroit from Klein, with a Strata fork) with (almost) NOS m900. Original paint and Dave Wilkins painted the stock black MC2 (almost all 96 MC2's came black and without a canti noodle) the Burgundy/Blue fade and I tossed some NOS clear Yeti Hardcores to show that off. Wasn't sure about the Butterscotch Tioga's but I think they really work well on this bike.

Was never a huge fan of B/B until I had one...it's spectacular out in the sun and natural daylight.

Hope everyone is well and healthy.

V nice

How do you know it’s an Attitude frame, how do you tell?

That looks tasty

Re:

Very sharp looking

Hotwheels.":22gj26tl said:

How do you know it’s an Attitude frame, how do you tell?

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Hey Hotwheels,

The first indicator is the serial number. Mine is stamped with a "T" which was the designation for the Attitudes whereas an "X" was for the Adroits. On top of that, the diameter of the downtube on the Adroits is slightly larger and is around 2" in diameter. The Attitude's downtube diameter was 1 7/8". Thirdly, since the tubing on the Adroit was so thin, small washers were used where the h2o bolts are inserted for reinforcement. Lastly, the Adroit's internal cable inserts on the downtube were significantly larger that the Attitudes.

Hope this helps!

So if everything about it is Attitude why is it not badged so, was it a mistake at the factory do you think?

Hotwheels.":21sswvzm said:

So if everything about it is Attitude why is it not badged so, was it a mistake at the factory do you think?

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It certainly wasn't a mistake. This was after the sale to Trek but prior to them taking over manufacturing/operations of the Klein brand. One theory is that in the later stages of production for the 96's, the tubing for the Adroits ran dry and it was cost prohibitive to procure more since Trek was likely going to take over with their own tubing the following year. Instead, they badged Attitude frames as Adroits and put the signature Strata fork on it (as an option...I believe stock they came with a Rock Shox) hoping (I guess) that no one would notice. Attitudes for the 96 model year only came with suspension and did not have an option to be fully rigid (my guess is the same thing happened with the Uni-Klein forks, they ran out).

Again, just a popular theory. Someone who worked for Klein or at a LBS during the time would likely be the only definitive source.

Re:

For most of ‘96 production, the 2” downtube frames were paired with Rock Shox Judy forks and the Attitude downtube frames were paired with Strata forks. I guess in Klein’s mind, each version got a piece of what the previous Adroits had so they kept calling them Adroits and using Adroit serial numbers.

Ocky":gfi1jvcy said:

I believe stock they came with a Rock Shox) hoping (I guess) that no one would notice. Attitudes for the 96 model year only came with suspension and did not have an option to be fully rigid (my guess is the same thing happened with the Uni-Klein forks, they ran out).

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This is not correct - the "base" option was with rigid fork and you had to pay more for the suspension.
But basically, if you bought yourself an Adroit with a Judy (or other fork), after say, September/October 1995, it was likely that you got an Attitude with a different logo on the top tube but ended up paying lots more. Talk about scamming the customer!

I had a 09/95 stamped real Adroit in Burgundy that had a Judy SL originally.
Too bad I had to slim down the bike collection and ended up selling it before Kleins started to cost crazy money a few years ago...
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... mp;t=55151