1993 KHS Montana Team Restoration

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Frame: True Temper OX Ultra II

Fork: Orange F7 (With resprayed original Spinner as a spare).

Headset: M737 XT (1 inch)
Stem: Control Tech
Handlebar: Control Tech
Grips: 
Barends: Control Tech

Brakes: M900 XTR
Brake Pads: M900 XTR
Brake Cables: Wiggly ones
Cantilever cable hangers: 
Brake Levers: M900 XTR

Shifters: M900 XTR
Front Derailleur: M900 XTR
Rear Derailleur: M900 XTR
Derailleur Cables: Wiggly ones
Cassette: M737 XT
Chain: Shimano
Cranks: M737 XT
Crank Bolts: 
Chainrings: Shimano
Chainring bolts: 
Bottom Bracket: M900 XTR
Pedals: M737 XT

Hub Skewers: M737 XT
Rims: Mavic
Hubs: 
Nipples: 
Spokes: 
Tyres: 
Tubes: 

Saddle: Flite
Seatpost: Control Tech
Seatpost Binder: 

Weight: 25lbs

Back in the early 90s my favourite race bike was my KHS Montana Team, I bought it initially because it came stock with an almost complete M900 XTR groupset. I had no idea at the time that the True Temper frame was so good.

Stupidly I sold the bike for peanuts a few years later after I'd stopped racing and was barely riding. I've regretted that sale for years.

In February of this year I'd posted a picture of me racing my KHS online. Another retro collector messaged me to say he had one of those frames gathering dust in his garage. He'd bought it to strip for parts and the frame has languished in the garage.

I quickly purchased the frame and set about hunting for parts. I was very lucky and was gifted a lot of parts from another retro collector local to me, stem, bars, bar ends, saddle. Soon after that an Orange P7 came up for sale and that provided the bulk of the other parts I needed, with various upgrades along the way to M900.

Eventually the bike was almost complete, built, test ridden and ready to be stripped again to go to Alistair at Fatcreations for a respray.

 

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A few things weren't 'stock', although I'd located a pair of KHS Spinner forks, I really liked the aesthetic of the Orange F7 forks, so I've had both resprayed, but am using the F7 forks at the moment.

Alistair at Fatcreations did me a huge favour by fitting this job in around other jobs. The work is exemplary, no stickers involved and all of the decals are made up using paint and layers of stencils. The result is a perfectly smooth frame.

 

[Lhatch4]

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Nice work! Is the rockshox Mag going back on or one of the rigid forks?

 

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Very exciting times putting the bike back together. Really hard to get the pink to show up in photos. It's really bright.

 

[Minifreak]

That is a truly special build, I'm very jealous. Looks like a real cross country weapon

 

[mynchiboy]

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Agreed, looks great! VERY impressive work on the repaint as well.

Personally I would want to get a M900 chainset back on and the Spinner forks, but that's just me...

I'm still waiting for a 1991 Team frame (i.e the Ritchey P-23 in drag) in my size to pop up, someday!

 

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Nice work! Is the rockshox Mag going back on or one of the rigid forks?

Unfortunately the Rockshox aren't holding air at the moment. My original had Manitou 3s on it, but I'm pretty stuck on the rigid build at the moment.

It's not quite finished at the moment so it's possible it will end up with the correct M900 chainset in the future and possibly the Spinner forks - but they're hiding in a dark cupboard wrapped in bubble wrap.

 

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The spare Spinner forks:

 

[Gerard]

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Really nice job. I like it!

 

[bartsince1975]

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Allways loveed that paint sceme. I might like it enough to get me one, once... Good job.