Another KLEIN Moment
 

Ohhh about 20 years ago I bought a then hot ticket Mountain Bike by Klein...you know the same make MB that was hanging in the background on the Seinfeld Show!

Anyway I rode that bike all of 8 miles before I gave up riding and it has languished in the garage ever since in prisitne condition. Anyway I know about Kleins and what they represented back in da day.


So a week ago Friday I went out to the local and biweekly Public Auction to check out what kind of Goodies that might be found. The first week out their I saw a William Keith CA oil that went for $2800 out da door...that is an easy 8K to 16K picture...So while out there I found this standing out in the yard with 3 other mid 70's JAP road bikes.

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It is a KLEIN by TREK 2002 Attitude Comp model in PLUM CRAZY that is in near perfect condition. It has been ridden some and then put away for quite awhile. Anyway I want to ride it around the block at least once and then for the right price sell it.

A friend made a Klein purchase. A small purchase at the time. Probably about 15 years ago or something. It hasn't got suspention forks or anything like that and the bike guys are going nuts over it offering all sorts of money. Good luck Tabs.

Tabs... Don't take this the wrong way but you need to drop a little bit of weight before doing any seriouse riding on that bike.

7 years ago I weighed over 100 kgs. I'm 5 foot 6 so way over weight according to the height to weight charts... I bought a Trek pavement cycle to get fit but I had to swap the seat for a big padded gell one. I rode it that way for about 2 years with no real results. So I started walking. Gently at first and now I walk for at least an hour most days and my weight has dropped to less than 72 kgs (30 kg = 63ish pounds). I watch what I eat but on special occasions I enjoy cake or sweets. My blood sugar is normal. That may not sound like a big deal but type 2 diabetes runs in my family and my father died young (57) because of it. My older brother is on insuline tablets daily. He's struggling with his weight but he can't get motivated to do any walking.

The biggest difference I feel came from loosing my gut. I feel alert in the mornings and get up with no problem. I avoid breads or pasta. I enjoy potatoes occasionally but stay away from bagged chips or other junky food. Maccas, KFC etc is OK in moderation. The only booze I drink is good scotch.

After almost 5 years of walking it's now is part of my day. I have found that doing something every day is much better than working out 2 or 3 times a week.

I'm 47.... My blood pressure is 120 over 80! My doctor told me that's better than his and he's 33.

Give it a go. I promise you if you stick at it for at least 6 weeks you'll get good results and you'll enjoy riding that bike so much more. (6 weeks is nothing, anyone can do 6 weeks)

Tabs, sell one of your bikes and use the money to buy a road bike. Where I live alot of people have both. Right now I only have a road bike and ride twice a week.

Anyway, nice bike and good luck.

Nice bike but I don't know my bicycles very well. What is the significance of Klein? Also, what are these public auctions? At storage places? Very interesting if you know what you're looking at, as you seem to.

What they used to call 2nd hand stores are now getting into the auction game. I see it at a couple of the antique malls. Then there's just the surplus guy. They run one of those every Sunday somewhere near Gardena.

Unfortunately, that particular Klein isn't going to command top dollar, and really isn't worth that much at all IMO. The ones worth anything remotely substantial are the early-mid 90's (pre-Trek) Chehalis-frame bikes. Specifically Adroit and Attitude models with the internal cable routing, and one-piece "Mission Control" (MC1 / MC2) neck/bars. YMMV, yadda yadda yadda. :cool:

Kleins were cool back in the day but were teeth-rattlers. Agreed that it isn't worth much. Bike value drops like a rock except for a small number of collectibles. They did have some cool paint jobs though. I still remember the green/white/red fade Adroit that a buddy used to race. They were also very prone to dents.

get on that bike!! my coworker is (was) very heavy..he credits his old beater TREK for saving his life. he just started riding.

now he upgraded to a FUJI cyclocross bike and is virtually unstoppable. just start.

get rid of the toe baskets..go clipless or regular pedals. those baskets will hook on things and slam you to the earth..and laugh at you..

i know this how?

I have a Klein Mantra from '99 that I love but the suspension takes a bit to get used to.
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I still have my orange pulse comp. I sold my Santa Cruz blur, but kept the Klein.

Klein was just a competitor of Cannondale who also builds aluminum frame bicycles, beyond that, not much. Left plenty of guys on Kleins in the dust when I used to compete. Never saw the fuss.

I got passed by a guy on a Huffy wearing jeans once. He was trying to make a point. Point being. It ain't the bike.

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My first Klein that I bought back in 1991 or 2?

This is not a Storage Auction, nor a Surplus Auction, nor one held at an Antique mall. It is a Consignor or Estate Auction here in LV that is held once every two weeks. They have lots of tools, and house hold items.. I would say mostly junk. For me it is something to do, that I like and I may just find something to flip?


In LA there is ABLES in Commerce...Off Garfield just S of Washington...Ables holds an Auction every Wednesday and then every three months a Sunday Sale...One Sunday I saw a guy drop $250,000 on a pair of Paul Storr Sterling Silver Wine Buckets..I asked him if he was going to flip them, he said, "No they are for my Dining Room." Back in the day I bought A LOT of Art for cheap at Ables...

There are other Auction houses in LA like Butterfields, Morans, Little Johns in Orange, Chiat specializing in Oriental artifacts and 3 or 4 lessor houses that generally auction off lessor stuff.

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Araya 821 Aero with Shimano AX Gruppo and Araya Anodized Aero Rims circa 1982. All Frame Tubing is Ovaled for Aero dynamics..This was my Road Bike that always said faster TABS...

I have an old Klein Stratum 90 (as in 90 gram weight) carbon fiber handlebar on my mountain bike. It took Easton another 15 years to come out with a comparable weight bar. Klein was pretty cool.

I got this Bike for a decent price which I wouldn't categorize as being Dirt cheap, but based upon prices listed on E-bay for Klein's of any vintage I should be able to do well on this one. Apparently Trek continued making the Frames in Chehalis as that is where this one was made. The external routing of the Brake Cable is due to the fact that 2002 was the first year that Klein offered Disk Brakes as an option on this model.

I never intended to ride off road nor even on unpaved roads with either of them, but as an elegant street cruiser that could support my weight and girth.