Klein? Dead?
 

I understand aluminum bikes are not marketable but i am sad that Trek has apparently ended the Klein brand. It at lease seems they have. Is it official? :(

The guide on the Trek factory tour told me that Trek Killed Klein last Thursday. So I guess it's confirmed.

Most of the bikes sold at the LBS here are aluminum followed by carbonfiber.

Still sad news about Klein though, I've always wanted one someday like a pre-Trek one, or the one on Seinfeld's wall in some of the TV episodes (I think one bike on the set's wall was a Klein).

Bummer. I'll have to look around the shop this week and see if they have any in stock.

Too bad, but they'd gutted the sole of that brand years ago. They're just Trek's with Klein stickers these days.

That sounds fishy. :)

I guess if Keds took over New Balance, they really might gut their sole while gutting their soul.

My klein is a 2003 model & i love it. In todays market you can get a full carbon bike in the $1300 range? Who is going to pay $2k+ for a flashy aluminium bike? I think Kleins time has passed. For their sake maybe thats a good thing.

My Klein was a combo carbon/aluminum. I was happy with what it sold for.....

Kind of a neat old poster for Klein
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5...ing-1989.0.jpg

Edit to add:
actually this blogger page has a pretty good history line of the Kleins:
http://diabloscott.blogspot.com/2000_05_01_archive.html

The real tragedy is they made full carbon fiber Kleins in a poor attempt to revitalize the brand.

History of Klein road bikes on my blog: LINK

There are a lot of anti plastic bike people out there... unfortunately not enough of them are buying new frames I guess.

I read about Klein a long time ago in a Bicycling! mag. at the library, I thought, neat ideas, but the patent stuff threw me as I had seen oversize tubed aluminum bikes elsewhere prior in that questionable racing Rag, Competitive Cycling.

A few years later (1975) got to ride one after a race, I think it was Jack Mauck's (sp) or he was given it on loan, as soon as I rode it, I knew for criteriums, steel's days were numbered. It was SO STIFF. One could tell that everything you put into the pedals was going to the ground. But it was harsh, not a road race bike, at least back then.

The Bell curve has run its course, probably just too much energy to market a minor brand at this point.

I own a few Kleins. Pretty much a new one every few years since the late 1980's. I have three now, an old rigid mtb, a newer trek-era full suspension, and a road. It seems as though the whole bike industry became over marketed and companies like Klein only had quality to sell. Most people don't care about that, they just want to go fast and look cool.

I saw the original Klein at a race sometime in the '70s. IIRC, he built it as a student project at MIT, and I think all 5 of the bikes were very similar designs. At the time, I was riding a Teledyne, which had oversize tubes, so I never understood the basis for his patents, seemed like prior art and/or obvious to me.

Hello All,

I got my Klien back in the summer of '84
a super machine, I still have it but
these days I'm a balloon rider.


Cheers.

Weren't the Teledyne bikes titanium?

yes, does this really make a difference? They used oversize tubes, and pre-date Klein, I'm thinking this makes oversize tubes obvious to a practitioner of the art, no matter if they were using bamboo, bubble gum, or other exotic tubing materials.

That's essentially what the patent court decided. Even though Klein had the patent on thin wall large diameter tubing, the patent was never really valid in the first place. The lawsuit though was Klein v. Cannondale.

Teledyne frames were oversized as compared to steel but not near the size of C;daile or Klein. The Teledyne frames had a down tube that stepped down in size at the shifter location so that a standard clamp on shifter could be used. I always thought that was strange. After all the space age tech that was the best way to accommodate the shifters?