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Submitted by
Ray Kleiner
a Weekend Warrior
from Milano, Italy
Date Reviewed: November 18, 2007 | | Favorite Trail: | Parco Ticino | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$4000.00 | | Purchased At: | Girovagando, Milan (Klein dealer) | | Strengths: | Lightweight, geometry, paint finish and ride.
This bike is very fast.
Quality, finish and attention to detail. | | Weaknesses: | Can be very twitchy. Not for beginners. | | Similar Products Used: | Cannondale, Marin and Klein | | Bike Setup: | Custom Paint finish. Loaded with 2008 XTR. Maviv 717 rims on DT Swiss black spokes, Ritchey carbon, bars, stem and seat post, Chris King headset. Weighs 9.7kgs | | Bottom Line: | The best bike I have ever owned, period. You grow into it very quickly even if it can be a bit quirky. The ride is amazing and is the MTB to aspire to if you are a hardtail aficionado.
It is the fastest bike I've ever ridden and the most stunning to look at. Yes it can be a harsh ride but that is because ALL the power is being transfered to the back wheel.
I have owned 2 Pulse II's up to now but this ride is in another class. Of the 10 or so bikes I have bought so far, including a Scalpel, this one takes the biscuit BY A MILE.
Note: You can now get this frame for ¢399 from www.leucadiabikes.com check it out!
Bottom line: The creme della creme of hardtails. A fantastic bike that even has its own personality. GET ONE!!! | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Laurens
a Cross Country Rider
from Utrecht, Netherlands
Date Reviewed: April 16, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | Belgian Ardennes | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$1000.00 | | Purchased At: | second hand | | Strengths: | Almost Everything: Uniqueness, Looks, build and finish quality, Awesome handling, Light weight frame, Perfect geometry(for me), Stiffness, outstanding climbing performance etc. | | Weaknesses: | no rear Disc mount
Rear v-brake mount tubes have a little flex
very stiff(little comfort)
you'll get very pissed off when you scratch the paint. | | Similar Products Used: | Giant, Trek, Principia.
But the Klein is my favorite | | Bike Setup: | KLEIN Attitude Race 2002 frame M
XT/XTR
Rock shox sid sl(lock-out)
FSA OrbitX ahead set
Bontrager Race Light rims, spokes and hubs
Avid 2.0 v-brakes
Roox seatpost
SDG seat
| | Bottom Line: | You will feel immediately at home on this bike. This frame offers great performance and exclusivity! Thanks to the superb geometry and response, you get awesome riding qualities! Every time you ride it you are amazed by its handling, time after time!
This bike will improve you're climbing skills seriously! Climbs like nothing else, so easy! Best climbing frame ever ridden.
Also one of the best looking bikes on the market i think.
Looking for a new (quality)bike? Try a Klein, its worth every Dollar/Euro! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Alan
a Cross Country Rider
from Toronto, Canada
Date Reviewed: July 5, 2004 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Strengths: | Everything. The handling is great even the size is a bit big for me. Strong & awesome frame design. | | Weaknesses: | Price*, a bit heavy due to the material they used but it gives a strong frame. Hard to get internal cable routing setup. | | Similar Products Used: | I have tried Trek, Kona, GT, KHS, and Norco but I'll take Klein over it except when it comes to $$$$.$$ | | Bike Setup: | Klein Attitude Race 2002 frame 17.5
RockShox Pyslo SL w/ lockout
Magura HS33 (hydro rim)/Avid Mech. Disc
Profile Design Stem
XT Der./Shifters
Raceface Crank/BB
Specialized riser bar
Sram/Magura levers
"the" fender
Thomson seatpost
XTR Cassette/Chain/Cable + housing
Mavic D521 with GT - Rear
Mavic 317 Disc with Chris King - Front
DT Spokes | | Bottom Line: | Klein have awesome geometry design on all their frames and gives them better handling no matter on or off road. Their paint job is one of the best out there. *If you check out the Klein website, you can pick the paint you want but it can cost you up to $750USD just to paint it. Also, their internal cable routing is a great design accept you will have a hard time getting the cable through it. I spend a hour to get my rear der. cable through it. But overall, its a great frame but if you by this bike with stock parts, I'll say the parts don't match the frame. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
todd
a
from Bellevue, NE USA
Date Reviewed: May 16, 2003 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Strengths: | Awesome geometry, top notch paint, Cool color, Internal cable routing. Disc mounts | | Weaknesses: | The frames are no longer made separate from the trek bikes. They are diffferent now. Why change a good thing? | | Similar Products Used: | Homegrown | | Bike Setup: | Large frame, lx rear der, xt front, sram cassette, shimano chain , Chris king headset and hubs, rynolite rims, Bontrager stem and bar, tomac bar ends, deore shifters, tektro brakes, salsa seatpost, cannondale seat, fsa isis bb, bontrager racelight isis cranks, hutchinson mosquito frnt, python rear, salsa ultralight tubes.. | | Bottom Line: | This bike rocks........... | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
friedrich
a Cross Country Rider
from innsbruck, austria, europe
Date Reviewed: August 6, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$2700.00 | | Strengths: | good stiffness of frame, perfect geometry for me | | Weaknesses: | very bad parts (suspension fork, pedals, ahead set, hubs...), | | Similar Products Used: | simplon mythos | | Bike Setup: | now with rock shox sid sl, and soon with chris king ahead set, spd 959 pedals | | Bottom Line: | It's a shame for KLEIN to use theese poor parts on a bike with this prize! The manitou fork worked around 1 month, after this, I was at my dealer nearly monthly until I have invested into a SID SL. Now, after one year, the front hub is gone, one of the Bontrager pedals were broken after 2 months (look also the Bontrager review of this pedals), the other has now a bad bearing. The headset is thigthed very poor, so it gets rusty and must be replaced.
| Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Steve Meunier
a Cross Country Rider
from Essex Jct., Vermont
Date Reviewed: June 14, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | Wht. Mountains of New Hampshire | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$1800.00 | | Purchased At: | Earls Cyclery | | Strengths: | You know when yuour looking for a car and some are nice looking but just don't feel right and then BAM, you sit in one, and it feels like home. Thats the Klien! This bile is soooooooooooo sweet. It handle like a Ferrari and climbs like a HumVee. Without changing myself, this bike has improved my biking by 25%. No kidding! I beat this bike like you wouldn't beleive. Year after year it continues to perform like new. | | Weaknesses: | The shock has a lockout, which has failed a number of times. I got sick of taking it in, but do miss it. Talk about night and day. I really miss the lock-out. Seems like the paint chips easy, or is it that I take some hard falls? Either way it's a beautiful paint job to muck up! | | Similar Products Used: | Specialized, Kona, GT, Trek | | Bike Setup: | Stock | | Bottom Line: | Do it, spend the money and just do it! You'll be glad. This is a great bike for racing, or overall "true" Mt. Biking. This is a high end bike. If you can't appreciate it, don't buy it. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
chris "the belge"
a Weekend Warrior
from Pangbourne, UK
Date Reviewed: June 6, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$3000.00 | | Purchased At: | mountain high | | Strengths: | the ride, the finish, race componentry | | Weaknesses: | tyres are rubbish in the wet/mud, Time pedals are a pain for tricky stuff when you suddenly need to release your feet for balance, paint job is so nice it hurts when you finally scratch it. | | Similar Products Used: | looked at Specialized Stumpjumper Pro and Cove Stiffee | | Bike Setup: | XT/XTR, Bontrager Race wheelsets and stems | | Bottom Line: | This bike is a special ride. The geometry/frame gives a very responsive ride whilst remaining incredibly smooth and light, despite sitting in a forward position. It accelerates without effort and is easy to place through technical sections. The Duke Race forks are the best compromise between strength and weight, though the travel is best suited to XC. The finish is the best I've seen on any bike which makes it feel special, though you'll get bloody pissed off when you scratch that paint...I did. If you like a fast racing-biased ride and something unique, you'll love this. It is a cut above the rest. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Garrett Albright
a Weekend Warrior
from Ann Arbor
Date Reviewed: May 22, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$1800.00 | | Purchased At: | Chelsea Bike and Sport | | Strengths: | This is the nicest bike I have ever seen or ridden. The finish and features set make it worth every penny. The cables are fed through the fat tube frame in a unique way to keep them clean, dry and free of wear and tear. The components are all first rate or near top-of-the-line quality.
The frame is stiff and responsive without being too hard or jarring. The Duke Race Rockshox smooth the bumps while improving handling over lesser quality forks. The Shimano XT drivetrain is as smooth as it gets.
Another factor in our decision was the expertise and pleasant personality of our dealer made a big difference too. You won't find Kleins at every corner bike shop.
We were offered a 10% discount because we bought 2 at the same time.
| | Weaknesses: | This is not for someone looking for a "beater" bike. Although the frame's finish is plenty tough, it's so beautiful you'll want to keep it looking new as long as you can. Run your fingers over the painted (not decals) lettering for tactile evidence of the sensual quality of the fine, fine finish. A scratch will break your heart... | | Similar Products Used: | We test drove Raleigh, Trek, Specialized, Fisher and Cannondale fitness, hybrid, or adventure bikes. Cannondale was the next closest competitor but the Klein beats them all. Once you get to near the $2k threshold, look carefully at the gruppo.
We bought "generic" Liberia-branded road bikes almost 30 years ago because they were the state of the art frames at the time and had all the top components. Buy the best and make it last... | | Bike Setup: | Stock except adding a Shimano Flight Deck computer when it arrives. | | Bottom Line: | Look at all the alternatives but don't buy until you look at a Klein! You will be spoiled once you ride one! If you want a special bike with a sweet ride, check out Klein.
Their website is www.kleinbikes.com. Check out their cool "baseball" caps too!
(If you are a fan of Seinfeld, look carefully at the bike he has hanging on the back wall of his apartment!) | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
jeremy apfel
a Weekend Warrior
from brussels
Date Reviewed: April 22, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$3000.00 | | Purchased At: | brussels | | Strengths: | Looks, build and finish quality
Ride
Uniqueness | | Weaknesses: | expensive | | Similar Products Used: | Gary Fisher with genesis geo
specialized stumpjumper pro | | Bike Setup: | stock with xt xtr setup and duke race shocks | | Bottom Line: | exceptional ride
fast start sprint
great shocks
If you are looking for something a little different with great performance and exclusivity, the klein is for you.
Feels and looks like no other bike on the market!
Will give you great riding pleasure.
| Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
The Klein Kid
a Weekend Warrior
from Cleveland, TX
Date Reviewed: January 19, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | Double Lake | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$2000.00 | | Purchased At: | Bike Barn (Houston, TX) | | Strengths: | 1. Light weight (24.5 lbs)
2. All components (Derailers, Brakes, Shifters, Crankset, etc...)
3. Cool Color (Aztec Gold)
4. Internal Cableing | | Weaknesses: | I have come across only two weaknesses with my bike:
1. hard seat
2. The hand grips try to slide off, but that's a problem that can be easily fixed. | | Similar Products Used: | 2001 Gary Fisher Paragon | | Bike Setup: | 2001 Klein Attitude Race: everything is stock | | Bottom Line: | In my opinion, unless your a racer, most bikes that cost over $1,000 are going to be sufficient. You might have to upgrade a few things such as the rear and front derailer, which to me are the most important aspects of the bike. But other than that the bike is going to do its intended purpose. I think the bottom line to buying a bike is to find one that you'll be happy with. I bought my Klein bike for a couple of reasons. 1. It looked cool. I love the color gold. It stands out and plus I've never seen anyone else riding a gold bike. 2. It came with high-quality components. I haven't had any problems switching gears, and to me that's a huge plus. XTR is the way to go. 3. The bike is light weight. Sometimes I have to carry it over a log and the lighter the bike is the easier it is to carry 4. I love the internal cabeling. The break and gear cables don't get in my way.
I knew before I even bought this bike that I was going to love it. My advice to those searching for a bike is to get exactly what you want. Don't settle for second best. I bought a Gary Fisher 2001 Paragon and I wasn't satisfied with it. I knew the moment I bought it that I wasn't getting exactly what I wanted. My initial dislike about the bike was its colors. Red, white, and black are not my ideal of cool colors. But, more importantly than that, the thing I disliked most about the bike was the cheap LX front derailer. The thing always screwed up. It sucked. Plus, I even had my rear derailer start skipping gears. I took it to the dealer to have him adjust the derailers and when I got my bike back the front derailer was still messing up. I just wasn't happy with the bike, therefore I started looking for a new one and fell in love with the Klein Attitude Race.
If your looking for a bike to really enjoy then start with Klein. They have a good range of selections and they look really cool. Especially the new 2002 models. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
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