Got another mumble mumble
 

Now, let me preface this with saying that I needed* another bike. I spend about 4 months a year in KS (a couple weeks here and there, sometimes a couple months), and I wanted a bike that I could leave down there from Sept. to May, and up at the cabin (near extensive bike trails) in the summer. I also wanted a bike I could ride as an urban bike and be able to leave chained to a movie theater or in the city without worrying about it all the time. I also wanted to learn something about mechanics, since my long term goals include touring, and I wanted it to be nice enough to sink time and money into, but not too nice that I would wreck a collectible.

My Bridgestone 200 would be perfect, but I'm afraid of wrecking her. I need a couple practice bikes. I wasn't looking real hard... I was looking harder for "real" panniers for the atlantis. I did a search on Craigs List for "saddle bags" and up came a 1997 Klein Stage Comp for $300 with "saddlebags". I thought I'd go take a look, mostly for the saddle-bags.

It's a really nicely made bike, people.

It's all aluminum, and may have a carbon fork. Shimano 105 components, aero-bar, triple wheel deraileur, compass(!) weird shifters built into the brakes (brifters?), pretty paint, and fancy schmancy pedals. Also came with a chain degreaser, pump, the manual, and a really extensive multi-tool.

The owner bought it a week after heart surgery, rode it, then stopped because he wasn't comfortable riding in traffic.

No* saddlebags! I had figured if the saddlebags were high-end, I could keep the saddlebags and sell the bike if it was too "racing" for me. But When I saw how nice it was, and it fit me well, I thought I'd give it a try for the beater bike. I can try clipless on it and not be afraid of hurting the bike when I fall, and I'm dying to try out these aero bars. Today it gets a bath, because it's dusty! The bike wasn't the $100 or less bike I wanted, but on the other hand the only thing this bike needs is tubes.

I'm a little nervous about the aluminum, but the tires have 32 spokes, and it seems well made. I looked for cracks and couldn't find or feel any.

Maybe Tom Bombadil wants it for his next road bike!

Edit: the "saddlebags" was an under saddle bag. Of course, this makes sense, since who would put saddle bags on this* bike?

Oh, and I'm not especially in love with it. I much* prefer my Atlantis. But it rides just fine. It has a quill stem, and the first thing I have to do is get an extension or a longer one. It feels a little too "dainty" for me, and actually a little too reactive. But maybe I'll get used to it. It's very* light.

!! no responses!! Was this not a good bike to get and you're all too polite to tell me?

Yep, that's it. ;) It sounds like you lucked into a great solution for your needs.

Pics! WE NEED PICS!!!

That aside, it sounds like a great idea. I think you did the right thing!

You have hit on one of the Few select bikes to have in the world of cycling--Up there with the Pinarrellos and any other top end bike. Itt may be oldish but it is pre Trek and for $300 it is a steal.


I should think that you will enjoy riding this bike but it will be a harsh ride. But boy will it Fly.

A good buy at a cost of about 1/10 of the original.

OK, here are pics...

http://homepage.mac.com/sbacig/Atlan...toAlbum68.html

I'm mainly interested in things you may notice about the bike itself... or things you know about Klein. I can't find much on this model, only that it's not one of the top models, and that it was only made 1 year. So I'm not too worried if it gets stolen. But if you notice anything weird about it, let me know.. I know it's not as nice as my other bike, but that's why I want it. I can just see the atlantis fall off the back of my car.... I travel a lot*, and it would be nice to have a bike with me as I go to different states.

Uh Oh, it's still OK to have it as an urban/travel bike, right? I don't want to mess with anything too good. But it sure seemed a good idea to get this when I saw it. the ride is way different than I've experienced before, but it will get me where I want to go on city streets, and the aero bars might come in handy in windy KS.

A '97 Klein Stage Comp is a very nice bike. I believe the original list was $1400, and those are 1997 dollars.

If it has hardly been ridden, then you got a great deal.

The weight of the 1998 model was 21.8 pounds, I suspect it was the same for the '97.

Tom has come to the decision that he does not want a road bike. The big sale on the Trek Pilots this past weekend jarred me to this realization. A brand new Pilot 2.1 in my size for $850 and I walked away & never gave it a second thought.

Although if I ran across one that I liked for say $150-$200 off of Craigslist, I could see me picking it up on a whim.

Something like this Klein would have been tempting, if it fit me and wasn't painful to ride (read that 'so stretched out that my back would be screaming within 15 seconds')

A Klein CANNOT be a beater bike. At least, not one that looks so nice.

It looks like a nice bike for club rides, charity rides, and such. With those fat aluminum tubes and narrower tires, it will never be as plush a ride as your Atlantis. But it will be good for more athletic riding. The quicker handling can be fun at times too. This is not a bike Tom would like, but if you are a little more limber, it could work well for you on smooth roads.
The 105 triple components are good ones. The bike I built for my son has the exact same crank, derailleurs and brakes and they all work very nicely.

In picture IMG_0556, besides seeing the triple chainrings, we can
see that there is room between the seat tube and tire that will
admit more than the thickness of a sheet of paper. Long wheel
base?? Maybe it'll make a good tourer. OTOH, that rear sprocket
looks pretty small. (Obviously could be changed.) Perhaps that
doesn't matter in KS. I may be reading way too much into the
pictures.

Just checked my road bike: distance from my seat tube to
the tire is about the same as in the picture.

Well, it looks they're selling for between $500 and $800, so I may not be leaving it chained up at the mall. Or if I do, I'll double lock it. Maybe I'll hate riding it and I'm sure there's a roadie somewhere who would love to get it at that price.

I* get to keep the really* cool toolset.

Alright, where is the first ride report?

Let's get with it solveg! We haven't got all day around here.
:D

I haven't ridden it yet! I meant to go get a new quill stem for it, but got stuck in a traffic jam of antique cars on parade. Most* enjoyable traffic jam I've been in, but those old cars all smell really bad, like they're running hot.

The feel* of the bike isn't too extreme, geometry-wise. It kind of feels about the same as my bridgestone felt, but a lot more skittish and bouncy. And hard. I had to move the seat way back to get the reach I was comfortable with. It's not fine-tuned yet, for sure.

I also need to figure out if I'm going to get new pedals or buy some bike shoes. I'm leaning towards the bike shoes, but if I hate the bike, it's a waste of money. I can get into a pair for about $60, or I can wait for a used pair to show up on Craig's list in my size... but that sounds a bit gross.

PS: I am totally in love with my Atlantis. I sure made the perfect choice there... it suits my putzy riding style great, and it almost steers itself. I don't have great riding skills, but the Atlantis covers my back.

Wow ... a self-steering bike! And I thought auto-shifting was a breakthrough.

Your Atlantis is the bomb. You should love it! :)

OK, here's the report:

I took it into the LBS this morning, a small place but not the place I got my Rivendell. Got it fitted, and I had already done a good job of it by myself! The bike is a good size for me, the seat does indeed need to be pushed back like I did, and the quill stem is extended as much as it can. I won't sink any money into until I see what I want to change, or if I like it. Nothing was wrong with it except he tightened up a couple things and lubed it. He said it looked like it had been sitting a long time.

The young kid didn't seem concerned AT ALL about me using it as an uban/travelling bike (from now on referred to as my Urvelling Bike). The young kid was very nice to me, but in a kind of "Yes, ma'am" way. I hate that... makes me feel old and doddering. But then an older staff walked by and said, "Wow! You don't see many of those any more!" and smiled broadly. So what I think I'll do is use the Riv for all my pleasure riding and errands, the Klein to travel with and keep at other locations, and I'll still ride my cruiser to places like the mall. It makes sense with its big basket, anyway, and the distance to shopping/movies seems real small now that I'm riding more.

I took it out on my normal loop, and it was just fine. I went up THE HILL, and forgot how the shifters worked halfway up, so I was "hammering" it, but it was just fine. The gear range is really nice! I mean, there are a lot of gears on it, and it goes really low. I really get a kick out of the brifters(?) and don't quite have the hang of them.

No twinges of discomfort. I wasn't riding too low, my neck didn't hurt. The seat was stickier than my brooks, so I didn't slide around so much. As I'm sitting in my chair writing this, I can feel muscles in my center back, so there might be a problem on longer rides. I'm going to take it up north this weekend and see what happens.

I had to watch the pavemet for vertical cracks and unevenness like a hawk, though, because the bike literally kind of jumps around if you hit unevenness. It's really fun to take tight little corners with it. It tracks well in general. It's well made. The components on it seem really solid. It feels very safe. I hate to say this, but as far as racing style bikes go, this one is probably more fun than my Bridgestone 200, which I thought was an awful lot of fun.

The aero bars aren't really aero bars, and you lose a lot of control with them, but I like them because I have to be light on my hands with them or they'll move. It's helping me keep my "3-point balance".

I swapped out the pedals and put on clips. They make them integrated now! It felt really* nice to have clips on again. On the Riv, my feet never feel secure. I tend to pedal on lower gears so I'm gentle on my knees, so I'm always pedaling kind of fast. It can get out of hand easily on gentle slopes when you don't realize you're downhill until you have to shift. I like* clips.

I kept the pedals in case I want to try clipless. Next shoe sale on Sierra Trading Post, I'll cash in my $25off coupon and should be able to get into a pair of shoes for about $40.

If you think about water animals, my atlantis is like a dolphin, my klein is like a minnow, and my cruiser is like a carp. They're all good.

I'll know more in a few weeks, but I think the Klein is going to be just fine.

Oh, and might I add that I got my hair cut yesterday. I told my stylist I needed a cut that would look good being washed a lot*, and that I was going to be wearing a helmet for at least an hour a day. She gave me a really modern* cut, and when I took my helmet off today, it looked cuter than it did before I put it on! Bravo!

Looks like a terrific 'find.' Those aero bars scare me a bit, but other than that, I'd consider myself fortunate to have found such a bike in as good a condition.

That's a nice bike, we saw quite a few Klein bikes around here as they were made nearby in Chehalis for many years until the buyout by Trek. More recently, the manufacturing has moved to Wisconsin.

It's a nice bike. One of my cycling buds has one as a backup to his Sevin and he rode it a lot over the winter. He even loaned it to me a year or so ago and I put several hundred miles on it while mine was in the shop. It has a pretty nice ride to it as well....very sturdy.