1992 Klein Quantum Deluxe Race

[Bill Talbot]

Flashback the early 90's and Crit racing in the US.

I'm sure some folks remember Gary Klein and his aluminum fat tube monster bikes. It was said these took 22hrs of work per frame, the finish on the welds and paint is at a very high level.
These were criterium race bikes with parallel 74 degree angles, high bottom brackets, pressed in bearing BB, and 165m crank arms (on all frame sizes!). It's all about getting through those 90 degree corners FAST!
And a really stiff bottom bracket to sprint for the primes or the win!!!

Gary was very innovative and held many patents that you would see later on many brands once the patents expired.
This was followed by the Quantum II which had minimized the rear dropout connection and internal routing of the cables. Then the real magic of the Quantum Pro with all the 'II' improvements plus integrated headset fork with threadless alu steerer for the Ahead set type of stem. This was pure Road Race geometry.
And we haven't even touched on his MTBs.

A couple years after this bike was made in 1995 Trek bought them out but continued their production in Chehalis, Washington until around 2002 when they went to Waterloo, WI at Trek HQ.
After '05 it was about over in the US but bikes trickled out a few years longer to Japan.

 

[Philpug]

Gary had arguably some of the most beautiful paint jobs ever on bikes, especially mountain bikes.

 

[scott43]

I've worked on one of those.. nice workmanship

 

[Tom K.]

Anybody else see a Klein and think of the poster of Darrell "Big Bunny" Voss bunny hopping over the four foot log?!

 

[Bill Talbot]

Gary had arguably some of the most beautiful paint jobs ever on bikes, especially mountain bikes.

Yes the paint certainly does POP!

 

[Alexzn]

My first real.road bike was a Quantum Race. Objectuvely speaking, I should have bought a carbon fiber Trek instead of it, as it was not that much more $$ at the tim3, but I fell.in love with how the frame looked and the paint job. And the killer wheels didn't hurt. Bike was flawless, took me to lots of places, but the ride was pretty stiff. Only sold it after I got my current Cannondale Synapse, still regret it.

 

[dan ross]

You made the right decision at the time- that Trek CF frame is almost certainly in a landfill by now but the Klein is likely still in service somewhere in some iteration.. While I’m not a big fan of aluminum frames - too harsh- Klein knew how to build them.

 

[AltaSkier]

I have an late 90's Attitude Race from my old MTB racing days in the garage. Even today it is an impressive bike. I worked in a shop and got pro form on it, then went to work pulling more weight out of it. Among other changes, I put custom wheels with Chris King hubs. It was crazy light, sub 20 lbs if I remember. And wow could that thing climb!

Still love the bike, but not the best for following a 4 and 6 year old around the neighborhood.