"Vintage Klein Adroit frame and fork"

[SF Klein]

I wonder what the story is behind this one.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 500wt_1129

 

[elite504]

"repainted by Klein in 2009"
Are they still going??

 

[SF Klein]

Believe it or not, they do still sell bikes, mostly in Japan (www.kleinjapan.com), but there are a couple of US dealers. There's a very strong Klein fan base in Japan so Trek continues to support the brand over there.

As I understand it, back in 2006 or so, Trek told its U.S. Klein dealers that to remain a Klein dealer they had to invest around $80K in Klein inventory. This is obviously a lot of money to invest on bikes that sit on the showroom floor and in the back room. When confronted with these terms, most of the dealers chose to drop the Klein brand. I assume that Trek was prepared for this type of reaction from its dealers because if it didn't want to lose its Klein presence at these dealers, they could have simply changed the dealer terms.

Who knows what Trek has planned for Klein in the future but given what they did with the Le Mond and Bontrager brands..... It seems Trek doesn't have room in their portfolio for another high end brand that competes with "Trek" although they do support "Gary Fisher" for the 29er crowd.

 

[The Vicar]

trek ownership of klein a sorry story

has anyone ever thought of buying back the brand and turning it into a high end small custom brand-in uk these are nearly always steel manufacturers-there seem to be a lot of them in usa also-is aluminium less easy to make in this way?

it would be back to the very very high prices pre trek especially for the required unique paint options but there would surely be people who would pay for that sort of klein again ?

 

[SF Klein]

I think Trek gets paid royalties on the Klein patents it owns (internal cable routing, oversized aluminum tubing, etc.) from the other bike brands that use that feature on their bikes. So even though Trek isn't selling a lot of Klein bikes, they still make money off them this way. Maybe when the patents expire, Trek will consider building Kleins again or selling off the brand to someone who can do something with it. Even if someone were to get the Klein brand, success is not 100% guaranteed.

 

[errol]

Even if someone were to get the Klein brand, success is not 100% guaranteed.

Best the name fade away to history ... all the 'real' Kleins have already been built.

 

[delboy009]

True true

 

[Radoslaw]

I agree. The bottom line is no matter how fancy paint job and how nice and well frames will be it is just a aluminium, which was high-end in early 90's what made Kleins posh and special but todays - not.

 

[SF Klein]

For me, among today's manufacturers, if Storck were to offer more radical finishes on their MTB range (I like the Rebelion 1.0), I'd consider them to be closest to what Klein would have become had Trek not bought them out. To your point, Klein was at the cutting edge and for a while, aluminum was THE high tech material, but they were also experimenting with carbon fiber (bonded to the Adroit frames & forks for example). I think it's reasonable to imagine that fast forwarding 15 years, Klein could have transformed itself as a leading edge, carbon fiber specialist frame manufacturer.

Storck builds really nice frames with features that separate them from other makes, new frame building technology that's unique to them, and an amazing attention to detail. The 3" downtube on their Rebelion 1.0 is really I'm just not a fan of the exposed carbon fiber finish.