Well it took a while (18 years give or take), but I finally own the Attitude I fell in love with at my LBS way back when.







Long story if you're bored:

I remember asking the guy at the shop if I could touch it (sign said "don't"). I still remember being amazed by how light it was compared to my 830 Trek. The olny thing "heavy" on it was the price tag ($1500) and being the days of Raman noodles and $4 12-packs of Olympia...there was no way I could swing a bike that cost 6 months rent.

Fast foward a decade and a half and I can finally (almost) afford a used Attitude, but the few I see for sale manage to stay just out of reach.

Last week I see a post on CL for a 90's Klein (no pics) for $500. I shoot the seller an e-mail and when I open the pics and see a green/white/pink Attitude I know it's FINALLY going to happen.

Of course work gets busy and it takes me almost a week to arrange a meeting with the seller (1 1/2 hours away). That night as I hit the bed, I'm sure somebody local will scoop it before I get there...

After an 80 mph drive to Jersey, I'm standing at the seller's front door. We go in to look at the bike and I can see it's in the wrong hands. He was a nice enough guy, but he was on the verge of destroying the bike (worked on it with his power drill to remove the seat and bar ends, leaving it outside to rust, and generally using it as a "beater" to get back and forth to work (it had a HUFFY COMFORT seat on it for God's sake).

Anyway after looking it over and finding a bunch of issues: cut down bars, cheap replacement rear wheel, cracked seat post, very small cracks in the seat post tube, and a lot of dings and scratches, I made him an offer. We went back and forth and struck a deal.

Rolling the bike through his yard I stepped right in a pile of dog crap...Seller says "that's supposed mean it's your lucky day" and as I loaded the Klein into my car, I thought "yeah, I guess it is.


Now the real fun starts. Looking for the "correct" parts to make it right while giving it a complete overhaul/refurb. The nice thing is it will never be clean enough to become a garage queen, so it will get ridden like it was meant to.


Steve

That's a great bike.
I had one back in the day.
In fact, I owned about 4 or 5 different Klein bikes back in the late '80s - mid 90s.
Awesome handling bikes!

Enjoy!

Just a little update...

Down to frameset/bars and ready for a clean and rebuild. It's got a million dings/scratches/blemishes, but it all adds up to character from where I stand. Going to go the single speed route and keep it as light as my meager buget will allow.








Can't wait to put this one on the trails.


Steve

I absolutely love those!!!!! Killer scoot for sure!

I still have both of my Kleins from the '90's.
My first is 1990 (I think) Rascal, that i bought as a frame/fork/Mission Control bar set for something outrageous like $850 in 1991.
The second is a 1994 true first generation Pulse, the frame has the collet-style seat post clamp.
This bike also has Hershey Racing components, billet cranks, Ti-spindle, and Ti-hubs, and the wheels were built by Greg himself.
You guys all know Greg as helixbmx.
I'll get some pics up later.

Nice score. I've still got my '93 Fervor waiting for a rebuild as a singlespeed. I picked it up at a liquidation store in '94 and rode the heck out of it. It's also destined for a rebirth as a singlespeed, unless I decide to build it up with m900 XTR. It's not my most pressing MTB project right now, though.

Finally finished it. Here are a few pics I took tonight cause I'm feeling like a little kid on Christmas Eve:



















Gettin' it dirty tomorrow.



Steve

Looks Great!

Nice work.

Totally agree. I love the build. Great call on the SS with those horizontal drops. I bet it weighs around 21 lb, all in? Have fun with it!

The old bathroom scale says 19lbs, and after today's first ride I beleive it. The bike felt absolutely weightless. I was cold, wet, muddy, and grinning like an idiot the whole ride. Only a few other things in life have pegged my fun-meter the way this old mountain bike did today.










Steve

SWEET

Priceless, amigo. 19 lb is sick, sick, sick - but totally believable with that bike. Glad you're having fun on it!

Quick question, did you change out the BB to fit the cranks or did you use the one that came with the bike originally. Also, how is your rear wheel set up (hub / wheel / cog).

Reason I ask is I have a Cannondale Beast of the East I am thinking of turning into a single speed.

Thanks again for any info.

Nice scoot! Kleins have the sweetest paint jobs. There is a shop in Miami that has a bunch of cool os MTBS, at least two Kleins nos. Email me and Ill give more info

jesse D

Kendal,

Stock BB up front, just removed the big and granny gear and used the shorter bolts to remount the middle ring as my keeper.








For the rear, just removed the cassette and used a single-speed spacer kit and a single 18t gear to get the chainline dialed in.





The conversion worked out really well and dropped a lot of weight off the bike. The nice thing is nothing is permenant and if I ever want to go back to "gears" it's just a matter of bolting stuff back on.



Jesboogie,

NOS Kleins??? Don't tease me...shoot me some details.






Steve

I had that exact bike. Very cutting edge for the time and I love that bike and wish I never sold it. Nice bike indeed.