What happened to Klein Bikes?

[SF Klein]

I wonder how Gary Fisher survived the corporate machine?

He survived better than LeMond did - another one of Trek's acquisitions. I think LeMond actually sued Trek and may have recently won his case.

 

[marky2484]

Greg did indeed sue Trek, for not promoting, indeed ( alledgedly ) actively surpressing his range of bikes ( which,were, I think, designed by him, but made, and distributed by Trek).

Probably not a brilliant idea to follow Lance wherever he went, insinuating that he was a junkie. Was it Greg. Why would Lance be important to Trek??? I wonder.

 

[Stevo69]

Klein

Bad memories-I was managing a bike shop when my Klein Attitude cracked. They sent me a new frame under warranty and my Saturday Boy clamped the top tube in the repair frame instead of the seat pin and crushed it, a brand new £600 frame in the dusty bin...

 

[tintin40]

The best mtb's are no more since 1994 :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: Turned a silk purse in to a pigs ear (pigs shit in fact) :twisted:

 

[The Vicar]

japan is the place they were still marketing bikes till i think about 2008 tho hadnt developed or changed them for a couple of years

i still like to think mine is nearly a real klein as it has internal routing etc tho it is a post klein to the purist

 

[utahdog2003]

swallowed up in the Trek empire.. as were Bontrager.
I wonder how Gary Fisher survived the corporate machine?
Cheers,
Chaser.

Fisher was a joke when Trek picked that brand off the trash heap. GF had nowhere to go but up. When Trek entered the picture with Fisher, I don't even think Fisher was involved in Fisher.

Plus, as I recall, Fisher never actually was a bike manufacturer, whereas Klein and Buttranger were actual shops burning tubes and painting frames. :cry:

Lemond is a wad of lint wedged between Lance's butt cheeks.

 

[Anthony]

It doesn't look like a very wise move for Trek to have bought Klein, but why did Klein need to be bought? Put it another way, what would have happened to Klein if Trek hadn't bought the business?

I suspect it would have just gone out of business. The fact is that the business model that sustained the jewel frame builders was toast once suspension came along. Once the fork became more important (and more expensive) than the frame, and factory-built aluminium became more and more competent, not many would pay that much for a Klein frame.

 

[SF Klein]

It doesn't look like a very wise move for Trek to have bought Klein, but why did Klein need to be bought? Put it another way, what would have happened to Klein if Trek hadn't bought the business?

I suspect it would have just gone out of business. The fact is that the business model that sustained the jewel frame builders was toast once suspension came along. Once the fork became more important (and more expensive) than the frame, and factory-built aluminium became more and more competent, not many would pay that much for a Klein frame.

Reason for Trek to buy them? Intellectual Property. Trek bought Klein and gained access to all their patents as well. Even today, Trek earns a license fee from any mfg that seeks to use one of the patents that Trek got from Klein (for example, internal cable routing). Similarly, I forget who it was that originally owned the patent for the rear shock mounting point that you see on the high end Specialized, but Specialized bought that company out and earns a license fee for every full suspension bike that uses it's patented design (and there are a lot of bikes today that use it's design).

Given how Trek has suppressed the Klein, LeMond and Bontrager brands, it's easy to argue that perhaps this was Trek's motive all along - remove a competitor from selling its bikes alongside Trek's models at the local LBS and charge other mfg's fees for the design patents that Trek got when it acquired each of those brands. It's one theory anyway....

 

[jimihendrix]

Similarly, I forget who it was that originally owned the patent for the rear shock mounting point that you see on the high end Specialized, but Specialized bought that company out and earns a license fee for every full suspension bike that uses it's patented design (and there are a lot of bikes today that use it's design).

.

Would that be the Horst link ?, i'm sure i read somewhere Specialized crucified GT for using (stealing) the design for the LTS back in the 90's.

 

[errol]

I think the fact Lance started winning on Trek's kind of eliminated the need to market Klein at least from a road bike perspective ... also carbon became much more common as well so aluminium suffered from that shift and Gary probably saw that coming so was a good time to get out when he did. As has been said Trek still get some benefit out of the patents.

The best thing Trek can do is leave Klein dead and buried, Gary is gone, the innovation is gone and all the 'real' Klein's have already been built ...