96 Klein Attidroit

[Ocky]

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).

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

I stand corrected, thank you! I could have sworn I saw that on an old forum some time ago but looking at the catalog you are absolutely correct. Would have been tough for me to let it go!

 

[Chute55uk]

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

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.

We sold kleins back when trek took them over, we had a customer wait 3 months for an adroit with trek pushing hard for the guy to take a carbon trek instead. Eventually a ‘adroit’ turned up and the customer was happy but we had our suspicions.
We dropped them shortly after.