Originally Posted by
Six jours
Well, some of us will remember the Klein advertisement with the Porsche. Others will remember the Bicycle Guide (Bicycling was never a good magazine) article with the 16 pound Klein...
I developed a strong lust for Kleins after that Bicycling article back then, and rode a 1992 Performance model quite happily for a decade and many thousands of sorta fast group and long ride miles (11 centuries+ in one notable year), including 3-week tours in France and Italy. My son is still riding it these days, although we both wish I'd purchased a 62cm version instead of this 60cm.
And I spent way too much framing a poster of that red Klein carrying a red Porsche ("The Aluminum Klein Could Change Your Priorities"), which still proudly hangs in our room with the bikes.
Those Chehalis-built Kleins were beautiful, IMHO, for their fantastically smooth welds - almost like a good fillet braze, and the paint still looks like it was sprayed yesterday. Photo below was shot when the bike was 11 years old. I saw a later version Klein not long ago that didn't have that same weld quality, although the paint was very good.