Mud from the Tyne on Mee Klein

Well a little bit of mud anyway from the bedding in 6 mile ride to the LBS with my son down by the river.

Bought this at the back end of last year, as the Retro MTB bug bit hard, from the States as a frame, fork and brake. Thought I must take my time building it up right (maybe a year to get the parts together) ignored my own remit and so here we are ready for spring.

Tried to keep it to the spec I found on Mombat for a 1988 bike with mainly XT M730 6 speed groupset and then improvise around that.

It was fun trying to get the gear parts together as NOS 6 speed uniglide mountain bike cassettes seem to be really expensive but I found a 6 speed HG road cassette for £10 and then a 7 speed uniglide mountain bike unit and with a little swapping of spacers a workable unit appeared.

The rims are Alesa 36h which I must have had in the garage for 15 years but never had a use for. So with some well priced NOS M730 hubs off UK eBay they have made a great set of wheels which were very easy to build compared to old Arayas.

Went for 4 finger levers on the brakes but nearly regretted that decision this afternoon when me and the littl'un were having a wheelie comp and I picked up with all fingers covering the lever, they are going to be an acquired taste.

Had to shim the top half of the seatpost tube with a coke can as it wanted a 27.4 dia post but below the toptube it wanted a 27.2 and since they seem to have a problem with cracking in seatpost clamp area I didn't want to stress it by clamping down hard.

The headset was also fun as I bought a cheap Tange unit but when I put it on the stack height was way too small and would have needed about 4 washers to space it out. My OS BMX spares collection came to the rescue with an old Hutch headlock which filled out the gap nicely and will keep the headset tight.

Got some black chainrings and a correct straddle wire still to fit but overall I'm really please with the result. Going to leave the paint and top tube ding as they are for that lived in look. Still looking for a 175 M730m LH crank arm in good condition then I can take the MT60 cranks off and some nice bars in black.

Hope you like it

Andy

You've done a great job Andy

Perfect spec for that beauty.

I do seem to remember that from the bay.It looks in great nick,i bet its even better in the flesh!!!

retina rippin' fabulous resto job!

Nice to see an older one and not given the predictable "blank cheque" treatment

You know I have just gone back to this for another look and was gonna say the exactly the same thing.

It's just so nice to see one with scratches and dirt on and I only like the backfire paint job anyway.

Love it mate

Thanks very much for the comments. The original idea was to get a bike with a rear U-Brake, wasn't bothered about make. When I was looking for as bike to build I kept going back to a memory of riding a Pink Attitude in the mid 90's that was owned by Frank of Haltwhistle cycles (RIP mate) and the two seemed to come together in this F&F. Didn't think I would get it but stuck a bid in at the end of auction and it came in at less than £200 with impost duty (well happy with that). Don't build show bikes (been there done that with BMX) so it was always going to be a rider and I'm well happy with it . I'll not be going daft on it (got my FRS Marins for that) but it is going to see lots of trail action out riding with my 8 year old this year and hopefully for loads to come.

Very nice. It is a very iconic Klein for sure.

Nice work

Got to love a BF, especially with colour co-ordinated forks, nice real build.

Quite a gem for £200 bargain. Although we can definitely appreciate a pristine concours classic, it's nice to see a loved classic that's not afraid to live. I was torn over stripping my battered frayed steed – it's like losing part of the soul or some heritage, but to get another 20 years serviceable use, it just had to be done.
The fluoro fade Klien takes me back to my early days in Cardiff – hot pint and latex seemed to be the rage in Team Steamin' Log and the shreddin' scene around Reg Braddicks.