Back in about 97 I'd just wrecked a rather nice steel Marin frame and wandered into the lbs thinking about an alternative. The guy who worked there asked if I'd seen the new Klein range – first ones released after Trek bought them out. He pretty much forced me out of the door to try one out. I'd been thinking about a post-Trek Bontrager but I ordered a Pulse the next day.
Terrible spec – crappy RS forks, gripshift, cheap Bonty wheels, etc – but it only cost about £750 iirc. I bought a Pace fork, USE seatpost then I swapped all my XT/XTR stuff off the broken Marin. It weighed just under 24lb with nothing particularly exotic hanging off it.
I raced it for about 5 years, everything from Enduro6, MM, Welsh series xc. Rode it over the Atlas mountains. Rode it for training, club rides. Everything. It wasn't harsh at all – the comments about rattling fillings out are so far from the truth…… It just went as fast as you could possible pedal it, and you could feel it saying ' Come on then, just a bit more.'
The frame was pretty much a Trek frame, but if that was a budget Klein, I wish I'd got there earlier to get a proper Klein.
Possibly the best bike I ever bought. Still got it, now as a SS, which it does very well.