Hey All

Cap

Retro Newbie
Hello everyone new guy on the forums here. My name is Jay and I've been riding bikes since I was 3 (literally lol). Grew up in Maine (US) so did a lot of backwoods riding as a kid... then spent some time downhilling. As a child I always had one of the horse stables in my Dad's barn completely littered with chromoly frames and all sorts of bike parts, always riding brands like Specialized, Standard, Mongoose (when they were good), Univega, etc. I've been out of riding for a few years due to schooling (aerospace, welding, weld inspection, metallurgy) but have finally found time and energy to get back on the cycle. Recently due to an injury on the sciatic nerve, I was lounging around the house looking on Craigs List for possible bike deals (due to the fact my Dad is a master engineer and I've spent my whole life creating, fabbing, and fixing, finding/repairing is somewhat of a sick addiction of mine, which is why my '89 Saab has over 400k on it hahahah...). I came across a 1996 KHS FXT Descent frame (chromoly front triangle), called the guy up, he told me he wanted a 6 pack of beer for it. SO... being that it had a 2000 Marzocchi Z3 Bam fork up front which he said was in good condition, automatically worth it. Ever since I'd had my Kona Stinky, I've loved the feel of a fully. So, 6'er for frame...I already had all the components for building... done.
What I had NOT YET REALIZED, is that its not very easy to find solid information on this particular creature. Bikep*dia.com gives me the stock specs, but that was all I really had to work with, until I discovered a thread on here about rebuilding a similar '96 FXT (which had the aluminum frame rather than the chromo). That bike was sold back to the PO after it was rebuilt, and, unfortunately the frame snapped later. ANYWAY... a bit lengthy but thats how I came to be on this forum! Hopefully my frame stays somewhat intact for a bit longer (just easy XC), and maybe someone has some info on the rear triangle torque specs and whatnot... I figured this would be the place to find it!
 
Re:

Hi Jay, welcome.

It's a rare creature indeed, but someone might know the specs.
Try making a thread with the bike's type in the subject, something like "KHS FXT torque specs?". If someone knows, that should lure him/her in.

2nd tip : Run while you still have money. Retro bikes like company ... LOTS of company. Before you know it there will be 8 of them in the bedroom and you are sleeping on the couch.
 
Re:

Here's a few pics of it... the weird sh*t on the frame is adhesive because it was completely layered in stickers when I got it. I peeled them so I could inspect weld integrity, trueness, and whatnot. Original Shock Works R3 (crap I'm sure..) rear shock. The levers and stuff are mix n' matched, so far I've paid 16 dollars on this 'build', tha says 'Made in USA', 'Made in Italy', and 'Made in Japan' on it. Not too shabby.

046b5a9e-e17f-483f-a36f-959f271a8091.jpg

Still putting in new cables.. nothing special just a 7 dollar Bell 'Fixit' or some sh*t kit.

26486cf2-951c-40db-9d7d-5d0b47af58d1.jpg

The Marzocchi. Still feels nice and tight after (14??) years. **Note: Grip Shift on one side, RapidFire on the other. Saweet.

KHS3.jpg

So that's the 18 y/o stock Shock Works R3. Somehow it still has rebound. The rear rim is 'sourced' from an old abandoned Jamis I found in an RV park, and is actually an Araya RM-20 rim (note the slate coloring). Pretty f'n solid.

Anyway, that's just me fitting it together, I have a Shimano Acera rear derailleur I'm going to put on it just to run it. Still needs a chain...
 
Hey man, welcome home. I had a 2nd hand KHS Montana (bottom of the range) BITD and although I hardly rode it, I remember it was nice bike.

I love the 'thrift/budget' way of building a bike for as little money as possible (so well done sir), which could be getting harder due to the inflation of prices on parts.

Have fun finding out about your bike, cheers.
 
Haha thanks guys yeah I was hoping i didn't put off a screw it attitude lol, I definately try to do decent builds with little money and some ingenuity
 
hello and welcome in fellow bargain hunter. Its easy to do a flash build if you have cash to burn but wheres the fun in that much more fun to find the quality parts at silly cheap prices.
 

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