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!
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!
