Klein Quantum - manufacture date?
 

Rescued this rather battered , almost fluro green Klein the other day for a few dollars .
Had a quick wander through various places on the internet looking for date info on it .
Appears to be a fairly early frame .

Serial number is under the NDS dropout 30467

the PO has made a mess of the seat post clamping area (trying to use a too small post ) 27.4 appears correct . They used a 27.2

Worst damage was drilling a hole through frame and screwing a self tapper into the seat post
Luckily this came out with very little struggle

Also used a nut and bolt and a bunch of washers in the clamp area
Is there anyone reading this that has a frame with the same seat cluster .
Would like to see some pics so I can figure out what the dingaling PO has done .
Is it just a socket head cap screw into a threaded ear on the NDS side ?

Lastly anybody want to have a stab at the age of the frame ?


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...02e3e922aa.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...86c5bc95b6.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ca9b0c2707.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c1f188434b.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a7335a60f9.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e42ff33869.jpg

Almost certainly one of the many many hundreds imported into NZ by the company I worked for back in the day. NZ was quite probably the highest Klein export market per capita, given its small population, anywhere at the time. Much of the market was for triathletes motivated by the Kiwi glory days of Rick Wells and Erin Baker, world and Ironman champions respectively.

Many reds and blacks, and a few metallics in the late 1980s, followed by neon colours such as this a year or two later. I’d put this one as quite probably 1991, maybe a year earlier or later. Memory fades, but pretty sure the earlier imports had chromed steel Taiwanese forks, with later frames having bonded aluminium such as this. SR Prism perhaps.

Hiya , Thanks for that info . Yes I thought the forks looked like the ones I had on a Sakae Litage some time back .

Appears to me to be late 80’s or early 90’s, hence the downtube shifter mounts. My ‘84 has the “aero” mount.

Lots of Kleins needing a 27.4 seat pin had 27.2’s shoved in and clamped too tight, should be OK. Just be easy with the ears.

So long as you’re not overly concerned with resale value, this could be a great rider. Build it up and see.

Ah ok - so the aero mount was before the shifter mounts on my frame .
Will order a 27.4mm post for it .
Unfortunately it is way too small for me to ride comfortably .
Will have to be a catch and release . Not sure who to yet . :)

I stab 1984. Telling are the font, the non-internal brake cable, the non-micro dropouts, the side of the tube shifter boss, and the steel fork. The serial number is not like one I've seen before - in that location they usually start with a letter - like P for Performance. Your fork is also not a design I've seen before.

This is a Team Super 1984 with mostly the same features:
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...39d8a15038.jpg

You can find the Klein catalogs here:

https://www.vintage-trek.com/trek-fi...ein-lemond.htm

OK, made me look!
The number on mine is (logo)-20229
I bought it from the buddy of the original owner (the bike was originally raced on the Helotes bike shop team) and he said it was a '89.
Maybe the last number represents the year, but who knows.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2543c68988.jpg
On the seat clamping bolt, mine is a normal stainless Allen socket screw and threads into the far side.
The far side is flush, while yours maybe has something sticking farther out? A heli-coil should work if it's stripped.

I think later than 1990. I had an '87 Quantum, it had the special mounts on the top of the downtube for shifters to mount with internal cable routing. That had changed by the time I had a '95, they had moved to standard side of the downtube mounts for shifters or cable stops as used by STI, cable routing was also external .

That's a Q. (K)-2Q229.
Somebody in New Zealand send me a photo of their 1986 Quantum with (K)-2Q233... almost twins.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1eda881736.jpg
This photo got corrupted in a data loss a few years ago.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...31f4bbaa1a.jpg

I waited too long for this to finish loading :lol:

It might also be useful to check the brake mounts to see if they are recessed or nutted. Earlier models like this had nutted brakes.

thanks for that .
I will faff about and see if I can clean the thread up enough to work properly

Hiya
pretty sure my fork is alloy . Will check with a magnet next time I am in the cave

The fork looks like an SR Prism: alloy blades/ crown, steel steerer.
That would put you 1986-87-ish

It's a nice piece; stiff but well -damped, a good match to those crit-style 80s race bikes.
I have one on my 3.0 Cannondale

I thought I remembered seeing the SR Prism listed among those analyzed in the fork deflection test hosted on the Sheldon Brown website.

As shown below, the lateral flexibility of Prism was average among the aluminum, carbon, and steel forks tested, but its forward/backward (longitudinal) flexibility was higher than that of all four steel forks tested.

The Colnago, Merckx, and Paramount steel forks were the stiffest forks tested, both longitudinally and laterally.

Wonder where and how the belief that aluminum forks are inherently uncomfortably stiff arose.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/rinard/images/forkdef.gif

Wow! I was all ready to re-date mine to '86, but the ad I found from '86 has them all with the top of the tube aero shifter mount.
I guess I'll hang with the second owner's remembery.
At least I know that the last number isn't the fab date.

I wouldn’t call it uncomfortable but it’s a distinctly different feel than a steel fork.

I have the Prism on my 89 Cannondale 3.0 and an 88 Klein with a steel Spinner unicrown.
Both are similar bikes, though the Cannondale has a modern 10-sp build and wheelset.

There’s more bounce or spring in the Spinner than the SR; impacts and road noise on the alloy fork feel more damped than the steel one.
I guess that’s the “lively” ride people attribute to steel.

The Cannondale feels more confident when pushed to “Maximum Attack” on typical city street surfaces, but that may be due to the slightly smaller frame size and modern cockpit layout.