1991 Klein Attitude

[Preco00]

Another bucket list acquisition checked off the list. When I snagged a ratty 91’ Pinnacle frame from the swap meet for cheap over two years ago I was stoked (for good reason), I’ve always loved Klein bicycles. That frame was recently replaced with an exact same frame but with near perfect green paint. While I’ve always loved my Pinnacle (as a Klein lover), I’ve also been on the lookout for and Attitude or an Adroit with an early one preferred as are many Klein fans I figure.

A Couple weeks ago one of my collecting buddies advised me a certain Attitude would be coming up for sale, located on Vancouver Island. It took some back and forth but as of two days ago after a selling price was agreed upon I got my hands on it. I only needed the fuselage so that was agreed upon.

Thanks @Jim26 !

Here’s photos of it in Jim’s garage:

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Many collectors value having the original bike shop sticker on their frames, in this case it had to go (for my build preference), I did save the sticker to stick on my work bench though, the frame was sold from a Seattle bike shop originally and Jim purchased it from Kelowna apparently.



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Paint condition is really good, minimal fading, the bike has been well used though and it bares a few battle scars. There are a few bad paint scratches which go down to bare metal, the worst on the top of the drive side chainstay. Typically I tend to want my builds to be as close to new as possible, that will be the case here but I won’t be considering a repaint or new decals this time. The original paint & decals are in such good shape, I’ll do touch ups the best I can and enjoy the patina

It must have been used as a commuter as unfortunately someone wrapped HI VIS tape around the bottom of each fork blade and on the seatstays just below the canty mounts, as mentioned fading is minimal but some fading has occurred and the spots where the tape was are slightly darker, no biggie, at least the tape was put on fairly uniform.

Pictures after purchase and first cleanup:

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I have been doing a lot of research in the last few days and have determined this frame/fork is a 91’. The matching frame/fork serial numbers are A3D8 & AO3D8 (3D8, hex = 984). I found a great thread on another forum regarding Klein serial numbers which advised that the earliest Attitudes had an ATXXX serial number followed later by BATXXX in 1990 and also that box crown forks where replaced with the next gen Uni-Klein during 1991.

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Amazing bike

 

[Preco00]

Amazing bike

 

[Canuckbiker]

Made a couple changes since my last post, since I plan to roll the dice and enter my Attitude in the October BOTM competition thought I'd add some new photos

Swapped wheel skewers to some sweet Cook Bros units, since I’m unaware of Cooks producing a seatpost skewer without an integrated collar I went with a 1st gen Ringle unit for the seatpost.





Swapped the flat pedals to a very interesting M735 version, I never knew it existed, it uses the same cartridge type axle as the original SPD (M737), very cool, I took the opportunity to swap the axles with an NOS set of Exus titanium units which produces a very light 237g pair of pedals.



Also changed the grips to some Klein Instinct units. As with most ones that pop up on eBay they were previously cut to accommodate bar ends. I managed to source some black rubber handlebar plugs with a similar shape to the original grip ends. The ends of the bar plugs were looking a bit too plain though so I made up and cut some yellow Klein ‘K’s in crack’n’peel vinyl to finished them off




Sure do love my Attitude

 

[baron von greenback]

No it dog shit

 

[JCS]

No it dog shit

??

 

[27motorhead]

??

+1!

 

[27motorhead]

@Canuckbiker love the attention to detail on your builds. I think you know this already! Just like all bike builds, they are finished until one day you spot/see something that inspires a change. Looking forward to seeing what gets tweaked next!

 

[baron von greenback]

It was a joke he put so do you love my attitude of cause its not its stunning especialy with the touch ups top job never mind