Back to 1990...this bike to me was the stuff of dreams. I blame that picture in Richards Ultimate bicycle book....Aesthetically perfect, instantly recognised, you couldn't mistake the 'Dolomite' or 'Team USA' colourway for anything else.
If you could afford to build one of these with a dream spec, you had it sorted.
In 1990, I was ready to trade up my Bickerton Mean Green to something special. By 1991, the Orange Aluminium 'O' was firmly in my sights. There was no chance of affording a custom specced Klein Attitude....and even if I did have that sort of money, it would have been spent on a pastel coloured Cal - Look beetle with Empi rims.
I'd never actually seen one in the metal until Mountain Mayhem 2006....and although it looked amazing, financially it was still well out of reach. My renewed enthusiasm for retro had got me thinking about recreating my Aluminium 'O' anyhow, but the impression of that Klein never left.
Fast forward to December 2019.
I've been following ads for Klein Attitude dolomites for several years but it's the same story....they either sell quickly, are the wrong size, or I don't have the money at the time.
Then Retrorider_IT posts a FS ad that grabs my attention. Right bike, Right size, Right time.....and after a fantastic transaction with my mate Marco, I was now the owner of a personal unicorn.
Usually, I buy projects that require research and complete restoration to bring them back to catalogue spec, but this time, the Klein was a bit of a departure.
The paint was perfect, the Klein specific parts complete. All I had to do was to plan a build and put it together. It still took 2 months to decide what I wanted to do though.
There several Dolomite builds out there already that are exemplary, so I wanted to do something period but different.
I've already done XC pro, campagnolo, XT and DX builds....but I've always liked the Aesthetic of the Mavic groupset, that full page yellow advert in MBUK/MBi etched in the memory. Combine elements of the Richards Ultimate bicycle book such as the Syncros Pro Post and the Cook Bros cranks...a plan was decided.
I'd kept the wheelset from my long gone Aluminium Elite build and promised myself that if I was ever in the fortunate position to own a Dolomite, these would be the wheels. I quickly decided however, the hubs should be better suited to the other components, so opted for black bullseye hubs and Ringle skewers.
I also have a Mavic Dakar wheelset at hand should I want complete the groupset.
Big thanks to
- Retrorider_IT for the initial sale as well as all of the Mavic parts for this build. Cheers mate!
- Synlos for the seatpost and whatjamacallit's needed to run the brakes
- kokies for the bullseye hubs
- thesneaker for the speed controllers.
None of my threads would be complete without a few magazine scans....
So here's some inspiration from back in the day and the review of the Klein Attitude in MBi November 1990.
Pics coming.....
If you could afford to build one of these with a dream spec, you had it sorted.
In 1990, I was ready to trade up my Bickerton Mean Green to something special. By 1991, the Orange Aluminium 'O' was firmly in my sights. There was no chance of affording a custom specced Klein Attitude....and even if I did have that sort of money, it would have been spent on a pastel coloured Cal - Look beetle with Empi rims.
I'd never actually seen one in the metal until Mountain Mayhem 2006....and although it looked amazing, financially it was still well out of reach. My renewed enthusiasm for retro had got me thinking about recreating my Aluminium 'O' anyhow, but the impression of that Klein never left.
Fast forward to December 2019.
I've been following ads for Klein Attitude dolomites for several years but it's the same story....they either sell quickly, are the wrong size, or I don't have the money at the time.
Then Retrorider_IT posts a FS ad that grabs my attention. Right bike, Right size, Right time.....and after a fantastic transaction with my mate Marco, I was now the owner of a personal unicorn.
Usually, I buy projects that require research and complete restoration to bring them back to catalogue spec, but this time, the Klein was a bit of a departure.
The paint was perfect, the Klein specific parts complete. All I had to do was to plan a build and put it together. It still took 2 months to decide what I wanted to do though.
There several Dolomite builds out there already that are exemplary, so I wanted to do something period but different.
I've already done XC pro, campagnolo, XT and DX builds....but I've always liked the Aesthetic of the Mavic groupset, that full page yellow advert in MBUK/MBi etched in the memory. Combine elements of the Richards Ultimate bicycle book such as the Syncros Pro Post and the Cook Bros cranks...a plan was decided.
I'd kept the wheelset from my long gone Aluminium Elite build and promised myself that if I was ever in the fortunate position to own a Dolomite, these would be the wheels. I quickly decided however, the hubs should be better suited to the other components, so opted for black bullseye hubs and Ringle skewers.
I also have a Mavic Dakar wheelset at hand should I want complete the groupset.
Big thanks to
- Retrorider_IT for the initial sale as well as all of the Mavic parts for this build. Cheers mate!
- Synlos for the seatpost and whatjamacallit's needed to run the brakes
- kokies for the bullseye hubs
- thesneaker for the speed controllers.
None of my threads would be complete without a few magazine scans....
So here's some inspiration from back in the day and the review of the Klein Attitude in MBi November 1990.
Pics coming.....
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