 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 the February of 1975 . 
