Classic and Vintage Bicycles: What's it Worth? Appraisals and Inquiries - Klein team super. Backfire paint fade. Value? Any interest?

I have a klein team super thats a 56cm. ive had it for some years and i have been trying to figure this frame out. its got the oversized bb shell with bb. it has a shimano 600 hs. the rear spacing is a narrow 120mm. here lies the head scratching. everything indicates that it is from the early to mid 80's, but the paint scheme was never done on a road frame and only klein mountain bikes from the early nineties on had this paint. and where the serial number should be on the drop out, the name DAVE is stamped into it. its a custom frame with custom paint for sure. i talked to diablo scott about a year ago. and another gent very knowledgeable as well as a collector from germany. i got good little bits of info, but all were baffled by the paint, no one i talked to has ever seen a klein road bike with this paint fade. sheesh. my guess is that either this was an experimental paint job that klein ended up using later on, or it was custom painted later on. diabloscott commented that the frame is pre 1985. another klein guy said it was somewhere between 81-83'. any klein geeks out there who have anything to say? Its too bad trek seemingly mothballed the history of klein leaving only the fans to provide info and pics.

Is it possible that DAVE was an employee and either made or had it made ? If so, he could have asked for and gotten any paint job as on 'offline' build.


I know I had a close association with a major ski manufacturer some years ago, and they made me a set of skis that had my name in the graphics !


Just a thought.....



Joe

Post some pictures and we'll be able to help.

klein talk with no pics...brutha...you are cruel

I must have really been out of the bike loop at one time. I was not sure if Klein (is it pronounced Klane? or Kline? I before e except for weigh?) was still in business and just discovered they are owned by trek too!


The OP might try this site I just stumbled on....http://www.oldklein.com/

I recall back in the early '90s when trek was buying Bontrager, fisher, lemond and the others that there was a joke about one company, it may have been Mountain Goat, that trek did not want it because it was not named after the founder.

I must have really been out of the bike loop at one time. I was not sure if Klein (is it pronounced Klane? or Kline? I before e except for weigh?) was still in business and just discovered they are owned by trek too!


The OP might try this site I just stumbled on....http://www.oldklein.com/

I recall back in the early '90s when trek was buying Bontrager, fisher, lemond and the others that there was a joke about one company, it may have been Mountain Goat, that trek did not want it because it was not named after the founder.

Yep, they bought Klein too. The Vintage Trek has Klein catalogs from 1989-2008 on their site, although I'm not sure when they actually bought Klein.

http://vintage-trek.com/trek-fisher-klein-lemond.htm

this is a terrible pic, sorry. you cant see the pink at all. but this is it.
http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/ab86/onepieceofwork/kleinteamsuper1-1.jpg
http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/ab86/onepieceofwork/kleinteamsuper2.jpg

ok - first - i'm digging it -
second - it looks more like a 60cm? (i measure center BB to TOP of seat tube)
thirdly - what yer plans for her/