Gary Klein is an inventor, bicycle designer and innovator of the oversized tube aluminum bicycle, now a fixture in the cycling market.[1] He first developed the concept in 1973 as part of the Independent Activities Period aluminum bicycle project at MIT, where he was an engineering student and bicycle racer, then took the concept commercial after graduation.
Their 1993 road racing aluminium frame "Quantum Pro" was the first high reputation mass production frame to bear an integrated headset fork with threadless aluminium steering shaft for a headset type stem[citation needed]. Additionally, the frame had brake and shifting cables inside the tubes making the design clean and mud resistant. Some off-road models featured one-piece welded stem-bar combinations, marketed as Mission Control, eliminating clamping bolts and excess parent material. Each of these features became trends in bicycle frame manufacturing.[citation needed] Although French bike manufacturer Vitus had marketed integrated fork designs on their adhesive lugged frames in the early '90s and Bianchi before them, they were lesser known items. Gary Klein frames were the official supplier of German cycling Team Gerolsteiner before 2003. They also made personal sponsorship in the professional road cycling eg. some riders of Team ONCE normally riding LOOK frames at the mid '90s period.
Klein's company, Klein Bikes, was purchased by Trek in 1995; production was moved from Chehalis, Washington to Trek's Wisconsin manufacturing facility in 2002[2]. The mainstay of the Klein mountain bike product line continued to be the hardtail Attitude model. Attempts were made to design and market a full suspension bicycle, such as the Mantra model, with efforts culminating in the Palomino model. The Palomino, based on a Maverick rear suspension design, was discontinued after the 2005 model year. In recent years, Gary Klein's has shifted his focus to manufacturing telescopes.[3].
References
- ^ books.google.com Van der Plas, Rob: "Bicycle Technology: Understanding, Selecting and Maintaining the Modern Bicycle and Its Components", Page 51. MBI, 1991.
- ^ Klein Bicycles Moves to Waterloo
- ^ Gary Fisher on the road: A conversation with the mountain bike pioneer
External links
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