Klein Bikes
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| Founder | Gary Klein |
|---|---|
| Defunct | 2009 |
| Headquarters | Chehalis, Washington |
| Products | Bicycles |
| Parent | Trek Bicycle Corporation |
Klein Bikes was a bicycle company founded by Gary Klein that pioneered the use of large diameter aluminium alloy tubes for greater stiffness and lower weight.
Klein produced his first bicycle frames while a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during the 1970s, and full production runs of frames began in the 1980s. In 1995 the company was purchased by the Trek Bicycle Corporation, and the original Klein factory at Chehalis, Washington, closed in 2002 as production moved to the Trek headquarters at Waterloo, Wisconsin. Widespread distribution in the United States stopped in 2007, and ceased altogether in the rest of the world in 2009.
Gary Klein, born June 9, 1952 , attended the University of California at Davis before transferring to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). During the Independent Activities Period in 1973, a group of students including Klein worked together under Professor Buckley to produce an aluminum framed bicycle. After analyzing a number of contemporary steel frames, and examining ones that had broken in use, they were able to determine the stresses placed on a bicycle frame. Faced with limited available types of aluminum alloy tubing, the students chose to construct frames from 6061 aluminium alloy seamless drawn tube; alternatives such as the stronger 7075 aluminum alloy were discarded because of the tubing dimensions.
After graduating from MIT in 1974 with a degree in chemical engineering, Klein took a business course for entrepreneurs. As a keen road racer, in 1975, he started a business project with three other people and built a limited run of aluminum alloy framed bikes at the MIT Innovation Center, using a US$20,000 grant provided by MIT and US$1,000 of capital from each partner. The prototypes, with larger diameter tubes and thinner walls than those produced in 1973, were displayed at the International cycle show in New York in February 1975.
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