Small history lesson about the now-defunct American bicycle brand Klein

Despite all its innovation and paint jobs, Klein found it hard to compete against bigger players. So in 1995, they got bought by Trek, a behemoth then and a behemoth now.

BHPian amol4184 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Let's talk about the now-defunct (circa 2007) American bicycle brand called Klein. While everyone knows Cannondale and their legendary CAD/CAAD alloy bikes, Klein back in the day was actually one-upping Cannondale.

In 1975, Gary Klein an MIT graduate designed a frame that would later change the way alloy frames would be perceived and performed. Most of the frames back then were steel or alloy but heavy and often considered flexy. Klein frames on the other hand were lighter and incredibly stiff. So much so that today, decades later, Klein frames are still considered as way too stiff compared to any other bike on the market. Those frames were also considerably lighter too by around 15% than CADs of the same era.

But stiffness wasn't the only parameter that Klein improved. His frames were groundbreaking in many other ways.

Oversized tubing? Check. Ultra smooth welds? Check. Internal cable routing? (!) Check. Press fit bottom bracket? Check.

My 2014 Cannondale CAAD doesn't have internal cable routing. It was only in the 2016-17 period that Cannondale offered ICR in their alloy frames so you can imagine how far ahead Klein went for his time.

So yes while Cannondale gets the blame for bringing press-fit bottom brackets on masses, it was actually Klein that had them way before C'dale. Fortunately for Klein, they ceased to exist before press fit bbs started receiving almost global hate.

Now we come to an even more interesting bit of Klein. The color schemes. Kleins are known to have some of the best paint jobs ever and even today those paint jobs are considered benchmark. While not all Kleins came with insane color-shifting paint jobs, even the standard single-color jobs were incredibly deep and supremely well-finished. The paint jobs became an ace card for Klein as no one else had those types of colors.

Here are a few remarkable paint jobs that Klein offered back in the day and are unmatched today:

A sample of 1992 colorways. I wish today's bike makers had such colors available.

Incredible green to blue to yellow

One tone deep purple

Two-tone red-orange

Beautiful ice cap blue

Jade fade

My favorite of the lot, purple haze - changes from purple to brown to pink to green etc

Teal fade

Another of my favorites, orange to red to yellow and whatnot

As you can imagine, the color is what makes Klein a Klein. Today, good condition Klein frames command a premium in general but if it also has one of those beautiful shifting color jobs, the price goes up considerably.

Fixing or replicating the paint is not easy either. A good paint shop will charge you upwards of $1500 all the way up to $3000 for moonrise or purple haze colorways and even then it's not guaranteed to match the factory color 100%.

Gary Klein was also known to listen and entertain custom paint jobs for customers who were not satisfied with the standard colors offered. So you could get a custom painted frames directly from the factory. There are instances where, Klein not just painted a frame in one off color but also matched bottle cages, air pumps and other accessories - those frames/bikes are super expensive and rare especially if you have the paperwork.

Klein, despite all its innovation and paint jobs, found it hard to compete against bigger players. It was a small operation, to begin with in a small sleepy town. So in 1995, they got bought by Trek, a behemoth then and a behemoth now. Trek kept the brand alive but moved the production from Klein's home to another state - this is the pivotal point in Klein's history as many people consider Kleins made in their original factory in Chehalis, WA were better.

If you go to eBay and search for Kleins, Chehalis-made frames demand a premium.

After kicking for another 10 or so years under Trek's ownership, it was curtains down for the brand and the name was retired as Trek absorbed much of its tech into their bikes.

The reason for this history lesson? I finally found a Klein bike in my size, in the color I wanted and at the price I could afford! At first glance, the bike looks to be in fairly good condition but it's not pristine. However, after searching for almost a year I gave up and bit the bullet. There are still a few things in the pipeline but for now, it is fairly complete. Did a complete overhaul with 11-speed groupset and new wheelset.

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