Klein - Value vs Perception

There are many consumer items in modern American society which get branded with the sometime not so complimentary reputation of 'Poseur'. Typically these are brands and products have a specialized niche market, something which calls for engineering and product development up and above the ordinary, something which has a specific purpose or focus, and of course all of these somethings add up to the thing being bloody expensive in the first place.
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We also know that rich people buy the stuff that costs a bunch, and in many cases just because they can, or feel that they have to, or they're supposed to, or that they are just plain entitled. We see it every day. Hell, MTV Cribs is a perfect example...new-money stars that bought a house with a fancy kitchen and high dollar cars because that's what they are supposed to do. Some MTV performers buy bling watches when I doubt they can tell time! It's a cultural checklist...make a million, check...buy a Ferrari, check...Breitling watch, check. Yet they know that they'll never develop the skills to properly enjoy the car, and that they'll never become a pilot to utilize the watch, and that their Sub Zero fridge and Viking stove will sit, unused, while the "Wang's House of Chinese" delivery guy gets a daily workout.
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In the bike world, there are many such brands, and in the retro bike world, there are two which fit the bill more than any other... Klein and Fat Chance. Unfortunately, what gets lost in translation from well engineered, specific purpose product into Glam Bling, is that the bikes are pretty darn good in the first place...
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This Klein Adroit for example, from about 1994 I'd guess, is even by today's standards, some 15 years after rolling out of Klein's factory in Chehalis Washington, quite comparable to a modern bike, and could very easily be sent out to do battle on a cross country trail today. It always was a very capable bike, but now, it's capable and Poseur...because, clearly, it was originally owned by some fat cat that rode it around the block a few times and then hung it in the garage over his BMW. It's the Klein that suffers in reputation from the rich dude having more dough than brains... and that's not quite fair. It's the Ferrari, the Rolex...that suffer the stigma, rather than the fat-cat balding lawyer. So, in my view, the 'Poseur' title lands on him...NOT on the bike. (pic ganked from Retrobike)
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Here's a typical modern hard tail mountain bike, from a European manufacturer, (again a pic ganked from RB.) Cotic is a quality frame supplier, good stuff, but not much being done to change the world. They don't need to do too much though...because despite their reputations as Seinfeld decor, companies like Klein and Fat Chance, (and component makers like Shimano, starting with the XTR M900 line) have already done an amazing job of defining the cross country mountain bike. Today's bling bikes, like this Cotic, are tomorrow's garage queens, not because the Cotic can't cut the mustard, but because the owner, more often than not, doesn't really care for mustard in the first place, and therefore is unlikely to ever open the jar.

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Geometry, frame proportion, drive train technology, materials...in many cases bikes today survive from and quite frankly parasite off of, advancements made nearly 20 years ago..Today's bikes are not making the strides that we will be talking about as defining characteristics in another 15 years. Yet, Cotic benefits today as being 'modern' while Klein takes it on the chin as being 'poseur'. In 20 years the loop will close, full circle, and the untapped engineering goodness of bikes like the Cotic Soul, will be disregarded wholesale and what will remain is some vague misguided ethos that "Cotic is Poseur"
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Klein and Fat, much like brands Seven and IF today, get a bad rap because they are expensive, and therefore those folks with loads of cash tend to buy them as their first 'real' bike...surely an expensive experiment and ultimately a mistake when they realize that they don't much like cycling after all! This happened a lot (and still does...) and the result is that these expensive machines can be found hanging dusty and essentially unused in the garages of Doctors and Lawyers across the US, and all over the world it seems.

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It's not Klein's fault.

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It's not Fat's fault.

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It wont be Seven's or IF's fault either. For some odd reason, rich fools buy expensive kit even when they know they'll never use it. Sub Zero refridgerators, Viking ranges, Porsches, Rolex Subs, etc. Same thing...

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It's not Porsche's fault.

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It's not Rolex's fault.

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This is not a question about whether anyone NEEDS a $5k watch, or an $80K, 180 mph car, or a $4k bicycle. This is a debate about whether or not somebody who would never want to know the time in two time zones while 200 feet under water should buy a Rolex. It's a question about the driver who would never commute on the Autobahn at 150mph buying a Porsche. It's a question about the handmade NORBA style bicycle that would never do more than put a fat man around in his gated community. Ultimately it's a statement, about how that under utilized Rolex is no less a quality timepiece, about how that Porsche is no less an exemplary sports car, and about how that Klein is no less a fine example of bicycle engineering.

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Klein, Rolex, et al...All these things are great products, somewhat tarnished in reputation by the image portrayed for them by rich folks who have more money than brains and buy big because they think they need to and not because they have to.

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Don't let the reputation of Klein as a pretty, under appreciated, and over hyped product cloud your judgement. Kleins are exactly what they were designed to be...fast, light, well made, no nonsense race bikes from the heyday of the USA mountain bike industry. If you don't have one, and you truly would deploy a lightweight race ready mountain bike on the trail, then get one, and stop trying to convince yourselves that you don't need it just because the last guy never had the balls or brains to use it himself.