Filed under: General
I first rode the Klein Palomino when Trek came down to Rock Cut for a demo day early in 2005. I had purchased a Klein Attitude only the season before, so I admit, I held a bit of brand loyalty. I loved the art of the Klein frames. The gradient paint job, the smooth welds, the internal cables. It is so pretty. But I wanted a dual suspension mountain bike.
Trek had their full line of mtb brands there to try that day. I rode the Trek Fuel and the Fisher Cake. But that Maverick monolink shock on the Palomino was so radically different than other dualies I had tried. It was like riding on air. And I found out that the 2005 Palomino would also include the Maverick fork. Cool!
I ordered mine in early 2005. It finally arrived in April. So sweet. The inverted stansions on that Maverick fork get a lot of looks and the monolink smooths out the trail. I hate to admit it, but the hardtail spent the rest of the year up on the rack in the garage.
The 2006 Klein catalog came out late last summer, but the Palomino was missing. It looks like the short run of the Klein Palomino is over. Why did Trek, which owns the brand, pull the plug on this fantastic bike?
There’s been no official word from Trek, which purchased Klein in 2002. Financial woes? Changing times? Here is a post with some background on the decline of Klein. http://no.oneslistening.com/193
The days of the Klein mountain bike are over, and one can only hope that their road bike division keeps the tradition alive. With Trek at the helm, however, the future of Klein may be a foregone conclusion.
Are patent disputes and lawsuits the reason for the Palomino’s disappearance? Read more about that at BikeMag. Scroll a bit on the page to get to the part about Maverick History.
Had I known the Palomino would be discontinued, would I have purchased a Fuel or Cake? I don’t know. I love my Kleins. I know a couple guys who ride Mantras and swear by them. Being the proud owner of one of the end of the line I feel like the last of the Mohicans. I hold an emotional attachment to my Kleins and I’m sad to see them go away.
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I own a Klein Mantra and a Mav ML7… I almost bought the Palomino but was not at all happy with the Klein implementation of the Monolink system, the seat tube was at a VERY odd angle. The early Mav’s were built by Klein so get one of those and be happy. 
The ML7 is such a great ride that my Mantra is now hanging on the wall in my study as ‘art’…..
Comment by DaveP 02.07.06 @ 9:27 amI also bought a Palomino last year after riding Fuels, Cakes and pile of others. Mine, a leftover 2004 V, has been great bike and I am likewise disapointed that the plug has been pulled on the model. I work Saturdays at my LBS and we have a lone orphaned 05 Palomino in stock. I keep looking at it and thinking I should buy it and stash it away so I can ride mine without worrying that I cannot replace it.
Comment by Tod 02.11.06 @ 9:53 pmI noticed this too. I was just on www.kleinbikes.com. Not only have they eliminated FS, there is no more menu of gradient fade paint. There is a sentence speaking to special order paint, but I think that is purely one-off custom. They added a history section that is pretty cool.
I love my Pulse Comp. The pros outweight the cons for me. The big differnce is the standard headset. I spent the extra loot for Chris King, it looks trick and is a permanent solution. The Cons- Major-My early run frame has a non-replacable derailure hanger, so if I toast that hanger, it’s going to become a single speeder. At which point I will consider FS or hope like hell I can get an Additude…
The other con is the lack of internal cable routing, but I don’t care about it.
I beleive Trek adopted Klein’s alloy(possibly vice versa), but they haven’t adopted the special gradient tubes and stays. The rear triangle on a Klein HT is harsh, but Uber effecient. I know the modern Trek and Fisher bikes are like Chevy and Pontiac. I hope they don’t kill off the “handcrafted science” like Bontrager frames…
That is the problem when big fish gobble up little ones.
Klein lovers maybe forced to buy Chevy or look to custom shops for the next breat ride.
Comment by SOGOAK 03.24.06 @ 1:49 pmI spoke to a Trek/Klein rep at the Chicago Bike Show yesterday who basically confirmed that the elimination of the Palomino from the Klein line was due to the patent disputes over the suspension similarities to the Turner ML-7 in the bottom brakcet. Seems it was easier and cheaper to let the Palomino go, than to fight for it in court.
Comment by Administrator 03.27.06 @ 10:17 amPalamino is gone for the same reason the Mantra is gone. Klein has no original FS concept. (Sweetspot/Maveric)
Comment by dbruce 07.18.06 @ 7:44 pmLeave a comment
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