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Kool Klein
Spotted this Gem of a machine parked at the local shopping centre. Check out those wheels!! Apologies for the picture quality, mobile phones still have a way to go.
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What a beast, I can only imagine what that would of cost new back day!
a squillion bucks! Probably not much more than 2 inchs of bone rattling suspension both ends,sort of thing listed on ebay with a start price of $1800or more.
You should put the price up on yours Matt they go for $1000.00 on ebay.
Damien,cept i dont seam to be able toGive the bloody thing away!
That might be it... having your feet attached to the rear triangle must feel mighty odd!
should have been fired over that one! they used to have some of the sexiest and lightest hardtails going in the 'attitude' and 'adroit'
Look at it... it's orange!!
It looks like a Lego bike. I wouldn't ride that thing if you paid me.
Well, maybe, if it was like, heaps of money. Then some more. And only if no-one saw me.
Klein made some really sexy hardtails/rigids but their duallies were a joke, but then again there was more misses than hits in the early days of full suspension design.
Give me a Proflex or GT LTS anyday, they seemed to get it right pretty much straight off, and looked the biz too ;-} You still see some proud owners riding them around and they beat some more modern designs for looks by a looooong way, I'd pass on the suspension stem though...
Further off topic... anyone remember the name of the bike that had the seat attached to a long flat sort of composite tubey thingo that joined the top tube just behind the head tube? Was around the same period as the ProFlex's were big I think.
im sure they still do road/tri bikes. ill get it in a min!
Softride
http://www.softride.com/bikes/bikes.html
bloody awful looking bikes though!
bloody awful looking bikes though!
proflex got it right straight off? hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha no seriously hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
I concur with Mr Alex here. I had a proflex, and what a total piece of sh1te that bike was, and it cost $3500. Total marketing scam. I'm getting upset now.
However, I also had a girvin flex stem and that thing was HOT. Took my riding to a whole new level. Unfair advantage really.
Anyone remember the good old Slingshot bikes? They doubled as a banjo, great bikes.
Were they really that bad? Have to say I have no experience of them at all but this would be the first I've heard them really getting bagged, I'm pretty sure the bike mags liked 'em when I were a kid? Not biased either way, just interested in what was wrong with them?
Old man Matt...
PS - Alex, if you're not participating in a discussion between 5 year olds the phrase "hahahahahahahahah..." etc. might be considered a bit rude, this isn't Farkin you know ;-}
sorry man, meant no offense by it, i seem to be mr controversy round here! just meant they were one of the dodgey-est bikes i can think of- mr muffin had a large amount of experience with them, and i remember when he had the numerous problems ranging from frame destruction to suspension freezing up to bits just braking for no good reason..he wasnt the only one either, and as he said, they wernt cheap! pitty more the poor bastards splurging out on the "beast" and "animal" designs..it was a highly flawed bike, built to withstand not much!..anyway, that aside, was just being silly and having a laugh, its all bicycles after all
I didn't see anything immature or rude about your post and I LMAO when I read it.
Hi Matt,
I had an 855 and it was the most sorry-arse piece of crap I've ever had the burden of owning.
I had to pay for two years of psychotherapy just to cover issues arising from the fork. Oh GOD, not the fork...........
There are better bikes from Big W. And they are alot cheaper.
If I ever meet one of their advertising people they will find a spoke protruding from their armpit. And I normally condemn violence. All we need is love etc.
Matt, forgive Alex, I think it was just a case of 'you can either laugh or cry about it', and when I told Alex the harrowing details of the proflex he just broke down and sobbed for days...I honestly don't think he was being rude or immature, he just doesn't have any tears left. We all cope with these things in different ways.
Peace,
Dave
While driving today I went past a guy on very bright pink and purple Klein and so wanted to pull over and get a photo for this page but thought he may be offended if I pulled over and took pics of him, What was klein thinking back in those crazy days?
Just embarrassed at being an eejut ;-} you'd think I'd get over that after 31 years, and fatherhood seems to have divorced me from the yoof of today, my bikes, and the video instructions...
Grumpy old Matt
Who still thinks those ProFlex looked good, in the same way that Milli Vanilli looked good to my sister...
I had a 855 and thought they were terrific for there day .I raced cross country and went downhill on it,the frames and swing arms used to brake often but the warranty was great .I went through three frames and four swing arms all no questions asked.Still have it and ride it occasionally for a bit of fun
Still have a 955 and 855 that I pull out for a spin now and then. Personally, I find the carbon girvin forks to still hold their own amongst newer forks, particularly with an upgraded shock in the fork.
Never had an issue with either of the bikes although I can see why they broke in early DH use.
yeh they sure looked good, dont get me wrong, we were all in awe of those with the flex's, they looked like the shizzle, like the trek y-33's remember them? they looked awesome, just broke all the time! i guess those days proper full suspension designs were all pretty experimental, i remember going to some races back then and pretty much everyone still rode hard tails, and those that had the new fully designs were bedazzling everyone, but then popping off to hospital
..i suppose all the more reason for new top of the line designs to have had enough time to design new models that have ironed out the kinks so that they dont brake straight of the lot ...but we wont go down that path again ay? 
why not? LOL
Is that marrickville shopping centre? I gotta keep my eyes open then!
dave, my first dealings with suspension was the flex stem too. bloody loved it. it seemed like it was about 8 inches of travel after a fully rigid bike. i think it might have really been adout 10 or 15mm of plush elastomer!!! how luxurious! i know the big deal with the pro flex was that due to both fork legs being joined all the way up they tracked a lot better than the rock shox type that had indipendant fork legs that even had the bridges bolted on as opposed to the new all in one moulded design of today. god!, with a flex stem i might have had a chance with Mcroy!!! NOT!
Look, in all fairness, the 755 was first dually I ever rode, in 1893-4 or something. I test rode it at a race at the central coast and I fell in love with rear suspension. So then I bought an 855 when they came out. It rode quite well at first, but it was such a weak peice of crap, I soon spent more time replacing bits of frame and straightening that stupid frickin fork than actually riding it. And then the elastomers froze at perisher. completely. permanently. On a 3500 bike. Not Cool.
Now if you enjoy having to replace frame and fork bits all the time I can see why you'd love the 855. I got to change from a blue frame to a red frame which was just terrific.
I didn't have the carbon fork so all power to you if you did, the alu one bent when cornering too hard... A decent shock would also have helped somewhat. But not much. They are good for a cross country rider that takes it pretty easy. Or for the elderly. And that's about it.
Lol, Gazza, yep it seriously was like that, I remember the first time I wacked the flexstem on and I went around trying to run straight into things and being amazed at how much it helped. haha.
The 755 and 855 were both 1995 model frames.
Why change the frame, I have a fox float as a shock in one, and newer replacement elastomers in the other. Granted the elastomers did fail after a few seasons, replacements were always cheaper than a shock service. For the people who has one of the ODI elastomer shocks, they actually functioned quiet well also.
No need to change frames, just change the elastomers or rig up a shock mount.
this morning at the dam!still had the original forks by the look of it.
I don't know if you were referring to my comment about changing frames. If you were not referring to my comment, please ignore this.
If you were, just to clarify, I got a replacement in a new colour after breaking the main frame (only once!... rear frame multiple times). I ride pretty hard, not rough, just hard, and they're not up to it, simple.
Looking back to the start of this thread, if I had known there were people out there still riding them (and not just down King St) I would have kept quiet. If there are people who enjoy their proflex's then I'm stoked for them, 'cause enjoyment is what it's all about, and I'll not speak about my experience again.
I'm sure all the kiddies at castle hill bmx track today were wondering why I turned up on a dh bike too, but I enjoyed myself...
Cheers,
Dave