Klein .... am I missing something?

Shamus":17xheyag said:

Utahdog & GearlessinSeattle you are my heroes!
Nothing more to say!

Only I cant wait any longer...big box is on the way to me... :twisted:
My dream Klein is coming...

Click to expand...

GearlessinSeattle":iknreo4q said:

I have read this thread since it started and I feel that now I must put my 2 cents in.
In 1989 my friend and I moved to Sun Valley, Idaho or Ketchum as the locals like to call it. We moved in with a friend that had an 89 Rascal. What a bike! It put my 87 DB Ascent to shame. I could not believe the beauty of this thing they called a Klein. It was then that my love of Klein’s started as well as my love of all things MTB.
By 1990 I was working in a shop called Backwoods Mtn Sports in Ketchum that sold Kleins, Trimbles, Cannondales and Bridgestones. I still could not afford a Klein so I settled with a 1990 M800 XT. My friend that had the 89 Rascal left his bike out in front of our house 1 night and to his surprise the next morning it was gone never to be seen again.(stoner mistake #67) He got the insurance for it and bought a 90 Attitude Team. WOW! Even better then the Rascal.
During the summer of 1990 and 1991 I was riding the trails around Sun Valley and Ketchum at least 4 times a week with my friend that had the Attitude. Did his Klein ride better then my “Beast of the East”? Did it climb better? Descend faster? I was able to ride his Attitude a couple of times on the same trails that I would ride my M800 and even though his bike cost 3 times as much I did not think the ride was much different but that did not stop me from wanting one.
It was 6 years later that I finally was able to afford a Klein. I found a 1994 Adroit in the paper for $1400. It was my size and it was Gator. The fellow that I bought it from was a team rider for a local bike shop and was selling it for the cost of his new ride. He was going to full suspension.
I brought that bike home, sat it in the living room and just looked at it until my girlfriend, now my wife, made me take it downstairs. I loved the feel of the Adroit and it handled like a dream. Sure, it beat the heck out of me and I ached after each ride but it was a good kind of pain. I owned that bike till 98 when, shipping it to Georgia, UPS lost it. I was crushed. By then the full suspension craze was at full force so with the insurance money I bought a Specialized Stumpjumper FS. Since then I have owned about every type of bike you can imagine. I flip-flopped between hardtails and FS bikes, geared and SS and all types of tubing. But for some reason I still missed that Klein.
Now 10 years later I can find Attitudes and Adroits but it is hard to justify buying them. A friend of mine once said “when you’re young you have all the time to do what you want but not the money and when you’re older you have the money but not the time”.
I think the reason that Kleins command the price they do is not because they are the best riding bike of their day but because they are a legend, a mystical creature that only a few owned new and something we all have wanted at 1 time or another. I have owned 4 since my first Klein and I am now an owner of a 1992 Attitude XTR. Now every time that I ride it, it brings me back to a time when things were simpler. I still get comments about how cool it is even now. There is just something about a Klein that makes your heart beat a little faster and your smile to get a little bigger.
Thanks for reading.
BTW-I am in Chehalis about every 2 weeks and I can still feel the ghost of Gary riding around.

Click to expand...

Copey":21j4l9bh said:

Shamus":21j4l9bh said:

Utahdog & GearlessinSeattle you are my heroes!
Nothing more to say!

Only I cant wait any longer...big box is on the way to me... :twisted:
My dream Klein is coming...

Click to expand...

Me too

UPS says it'll be here in the morning.. YEAH!!!

Click to expand...

Archangel":3fda5qf5 said:

Copey":3fda5qf5 said:

Shamus":3fda5qf5 said:

Utahdog & GearlessinSeattle you are my heroes!
Nothing more to say!

Only I cant wait any longer...big box is on the way to me... :twisted:
My dream Klein is coming...

Click to expand...

Me too

UPS says it'll be here in the morning.. YEAH!!!

Click to expand...

Likewise!
DHL brought me today an Adroit (95/96)

Click to expand...

GearlessinSeattle":2oovms5a said:

I have read this thread since it started and I feel that now I must put my 2 cents in.
In 1989 my friend and I moved to Sun Valley, Idaho ...
Thanks for reading.
BTW-I am in Chehalis about every 2 weeks and I can still feel the ghost of Gary riding around.

Click to expand...

MJN":s7pok9j5 said:

I've cracked the forks on my 92 Attitude :cry:

Click to expand...

utahdog2003":2f5pxmoi said:

GearlessinSeattle":2f5pxmoi said:

I have read this thread since it started and I feel that now I must put my 2 cents in.
In 1989 my friend and I moved to Sun Valley, Idaho ...
Thanks for reading.
BTW-I am in Chehalis about every 2 weeks and I can still feel the ghost of Gary riding around.

Click to expand...

I'm not so sure about the 'mystical creature' part Gearless, but the rest of that post is spot on.

to my count there are three guys on this thread who owe us pictures of their new Kleins...


*tap*
*tap*
*tap*

Click to expand...

utahdog2003":2udf60vt said:

MJN":2udf60vt said:

I've cracked the forks on my 92 Attitude :cry:

Click to expand...

I'll buy the parts and make a lamp.

Click to expand...