what would you do? S-works or Klein Q-Pro XX



mdplayer

New Member
Feb 16, 2005
34
0
0
Currently I am riding a Specialized S-works E5 (less than a year old)...ok lets back up a little..I'm the general manager of a bike shop..and I ride an S-work E5.....today my Trek rep came in and offered me a Klein Q-Pro XX frame for a very good deal. Basically I could sell the S-works and buy the klein and basically break even. Not sure if I really want to do that. I like the S-works and haven't ridden the klein much.

Just curious about what you thought about the kleins...anybody out there riding them?? do ya like em??

Can anyone help??? :confused::confused::confused: I'm confused about what to do :confused::confused::confused:
 
Never been on an S-Works, or the Tarmac (though I'm sure they're great), but I've owned a Q-Pro for just under a year, and it's been a fantastic experience. I could lay on all the usual blather... ultralight, comfortable, responsive, with a distinctive and satisfying road-feel... but that's like saying "I love you." It gets said often, with questionable effect.

How about just saying the Q-Pro is a friggin' gorgeous bike? Klein infuses their frames with great style, refinement, attention to detail. Thumbs up.
 
Some fun, recent Klein gushing and showing-off, inexplicably buried in the grip tape thread.

FYI, around these parts, regulars Capwater and DiabloScott are both big Klein fans/riders.
 
Can you get ahold of one for a while . . . just to put it through its paces before you make the call?

'tis a fine, fine bike.

Good luck. You win either way ;)
 
lokstah said:
Some fun, recent Klein gushing and showing-off, inexplicably buried in the grip tape thread.

FYI, around these parts, regulars Capwater and DiabloScott are both big Klein fans/riders.
Nice Paint jobs on those Kleins. There's a nice Fission colored 58cm on Ebay now. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=98084&item=7144087104&rd=1

I see those CF Kleins every once in a while on Ebay. I might have to look into the geometry to see if it might work for me.
 
lokstah said:
Thanks. Yeah, the Fission is a real eye-popper, isn't it? Extremely hard to miss, and tough to take the eyes off of.
Yeah, no kidding. I love that color.
 
neil0502 said:
Can you get ahold of one for a while . . . just to put it through its paces before you make the call?

'tis a fine, fine bike.

Good luck. You win either way ;)
No, I wish I could but we actually just sold the only one we had in stock. I never really rode it when we had it because I never thought of myself of getting one. Which is why im kicking myself now.

As far as the paint scheme goes, It would be the stock red for 2005, Vulcan Ember as they call it.

I'm actually thinking about ditching my old Bianchi Veloce frame(which is now a fixed gear) and making the Klein my fixed gear. What a nice foul weather bike eh?? :D:D
 
53-11 said:
I might have to look into the geometry to see if it might work for me.
I just added Klein q-Pro XX to my list of dream bikes.

I'm a fan of steepish seat tube angles and long top tubes. (73.3 -73.5 STA and top tube longer than seat tube)

which includes the following....

1. Scott CR-1
2. Felts
3. Cervelo Superprodigy
4. Klein Q-pro xx (newly added)
 
53-11 said:
Nice Paint jobs on those Kleins. There's a nice Fission colored 58cm on Ebay now. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=98084&item=7144087104&rd=1

I see those CF Kleins every once in a while on Ebay. I might have to look into the geometry to see if it might work for me.


For the record, all Kleins are aluminum, all newer Kleins have a carbon rear monostay and carbon forks. Q-Pro carbon means the seatstays are carbon, not the whole bike.

If Vulcan Red is anything like Burning Poinsettia, it's beautiful paint.
 
DiabloScott said:
For the record, all Kleins are aluminum, all newer Kleins have a carbon rear monostay and carbon forks. Q-Pro carbon means the seatstays are carbon, not the whole bike.

If Vulcan Red is anything like Burning Poinsettia, it's beautiful paint.
Ladies and gentlemen, our resident authority. Please refer to Scott for all matters of Klein tech, history, line variants, and so on.
 
S-works is a great bike, not a ton of experience on it, but have put a few miles on a pal's. As Lokstah mentioned, I ride and love the Q Pro Carbon, basically the Q Pro XX from a couple of years ago. Nice lifetime warranty on the Kleins is a plus.
 
Selling a reliable bike for one with a pretty paint job is like selling a soul to a demon who wears a pretty gold chain.
 
tas1978 said:
Selling a reliable bike for one with a pretty paint job is like selling a soul to a demon who wears a pretty gold chain.
Thou speakest ill! Pistols at dawn, sir! I say pistols at dawn! For the honor of the Klein-riding community!

Demon? We're not talking about trading an S-Works frame for an immaculately painted Murray for the sake of the granite-fleck spray job. We're talking about trading between a pair of similar-caliber rigs because, well, because MdPlayer can, he's in the mood for it, and the Vulcan paint-job is calling to him.

Select your weapon, sir; may the last thing you see be the rising sun reflecting off my seatstay as I cruise from the scene of your defeat. Ok, that's a bit much, but you get the idea.

;)
 
lokstah said:
Thou speakest ill! Pistols at dawn, sir!

No sheot. A company turning out millions of run-of-the-mill bikes to the masses (I can say this as I ride an E5 as my daily trainer currently) has less soul than a company turning out a few high-end beautiful works of art?

How is a company that, in large part innovated the use of Al in modern frames, and has stuck to their guns over decades in building what are largely regarded as one of the best high-end Al frames, (Klein), is considered souless compared to a conglomerate like specialized?

Sure the E5 is a great ride but side-by-side... The Klein wins the ride quality (arguable), build quality (not arguable), and the exclusivity (definitely not arguable) awards. The E5 wins in stiffness (arguable, no significant edge here), not sure about weight. W/r/t looks...are you a compact fan or a traditional horizontal TT geometry nut?

Who's got the soul now buddy?
 
RC2 said:
No sheot. A company turning out millions of run-of-the-mill bikes to the masses (I can say this as I ride an E5 as my daily trainer currently) has less soul than a company turning out a few high-end beautiful works of art?
Trek owns Klein though. Klein is a branch of a huge corporate conglomerate itself.

Personally, I like the Klein Q-pro XX more than any of the specialized bikes.

1. it doesn't have sloping top tube (which is cheesy)
2. It doesn't have the more slack seat tube angle and shorter top tube of the Specialized.
 
53-11 said:
Trek owns Klein though. Klein is a branch of a huge corporate conglomerate itself.

Personally, I like the Klein Q-pro XX more than any of the specialized bikes.

Yes, Trek owns Klein and Kleins are built in the Trek facility in Waterloo. I'm grateful for this and Gary Klein is too. I've seen way too many high-end, small production bike companies disappear because the market was just too tough - think Ibis for example.

I think Trek has done an admirable job of maintaining Klein's reputation for quality, beauty, innovation, and owner loyalty. Trek has also done a good job of keeping the brands distinct, although Bontrager stuff gets put on everything now. They've had Klein sponsor pro racing teams in Europe (Gerolsteiner) and in the US (Jittery Joe's, USPS Masters) - and Trek of course sponsors a different team. They've maintained the custom paint program, you can buy bare frames if you want, you can even get a stock Klein with a Campagnolo group. The argument that "Merlins are just Litespeeds now" has much more truth than "Kleins are just Treks now".

In short, I think Trek understands why some people choose Klein over a Trek or a Lemond or a Cannondale, and as long as they keep doing things the way they are then they'll always have a segment of people who put Klein on their short list of dream bikes.
 
As much as I avoid Trek for being so ubiquitous, Scott's right; you have to admire how well they've preserved the three brands they own (Lemond, Klein, and Gary Fisher). Anyone familiar with the four companies knows that there's enough independence between the operations to have preserved what's good about the three "wards." The product ranges are very different between Klein, Trek, and Lemond; there's very little similarity of frame design between, say, the Klein Q-Pro, the Trek Madone, and the Lemond Victorie. Trek offers a handful of frames in dozens of models; Klein offers just a few. Lemond offers high-end steel, full-Ti, and their sexy spine-design varieites; Klein focuses on aluminum, always their priority. For their high-end, Trek emphasizes full-carbon, and the others don't.

At the same time, there's been technology cross-breeding which is good. Wherever Fisher, Klein and Lemond use carbon, it's Trek's OCLV stuff. By the same token, Trek and the others sport the ZR9000 alloy as their flagship aluminum, a material rooted in Gary Klein's innovations.

It all works out.
 
53-11 said:
Trek owns Klein though. Klein is a branch of a huge corporate conglomerate itself.

Personally, I like the Klein Q-pro XX more than any of the specialized bikes.

1. it doesn't have sloping top tube (which is cheesy)
2. It doesn't have the more slack seat tube angle and shorter top tube of the Specialized.
Uh. You think that a sloping top tube is cheesy; and the Scott CR-1 tops out your list of dream bikes? hmm.... :p
 
supergrill said:
Uh. You think that a sloping top tube is cheesy; and the Scott CR-1 tops out your list of dream bikes? hmm.... :p
I don't like sloping top tubes. I do like 73.3 STAs and long top tubes.

880 grams. I guess you can't have it all and be lightweight.:rolleyes:
 

Similar threads