KHS Montana Comp - Black

[Tesseractoid]

A friend had the iconic pink/blue Montana Comp, another local lad showed up with his very smart Montana Comp in Black, it left an impression!
Fast forward 30 years :

My present day KHS fleet, a dark purple/plum 92 Montana Pro which had been dry stored for 20 years!

Then I built a Team style 93 Comp,
the build thread for that is here - https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/khs-montana-comp-build.448097/

my Son outgrew his bike, so together we rebuilt the comp back to the factory original spec 93 Montana Comp LX/DX.



The Team progress wasn't lost though - a larger Comp frame turned up so I rebuilt the Team-So-Far with new cables, some XTR, some XT and Manitou 4s.



out and about!


—— ok so —— to get on point with this thread

Whilst building the Comp, I was checking the 93 catalogue specs under the colours it said Pink/Blue or Black (Germany only).
Having a black comp would be the nuts! but slim chances of finding one 30 years later in England right!?

 

[Tesseractoid]

Well turns out not so slim!! I found one, I couldn’t quite believe it, there it was on eBay.
A bit of a shed, hours away, but it was a real opportunity to get a black Montana!

Collecting the bike was a bit of an ordeal, driving 2hrs out into the middle of nowhere with my kids and the dog, the bike was filthy, slathered in old motorbike grease! Our car immobiliser failed, leaving us stranded in the middle of nowhere! There were tears, but I eventually managed to get us and the bike home.

 

[Tesseractoid]

——Back Home— —-
After a dramatic rescue the bike was home. I used a pressure washer on it and basically nothing happened, it was that filthy with water resistant cack!

a fair while later... a bit better..


I spent a whole day cleaning the bike, removed the mud guard, ridiculous seat, bar ends, trip computer, pump bracket, wheels off, hours of scrubbing with oil patch remover and vinegar to get the slathers of grease and dirt off the bike and actually see what sort if condition it was in!

mega gunked up!


It’s got a few rusty grazes on the frame


the decals are pretty beat up


Rusty Chain rings on a Shimano Altus AT10 crank? where's the LX?!


Unknown pedals


a cork shoved in the fork? is that a thing people do? had to drill it out!!

 

[Tesseractoid]

Good bits - AFTER A DAY OF CLEANING!!!!


It is the proper German Black Comp!

The seller told me they bought it from a chap in the army who was stationed between England and Germany, he bought the bike over there and brought it back with him.

Recently been serviced and re-cabled, the cables are all looking pretty good, seems someone just worked around the filth.

Now, it rides really nice and smooth.

The wheels cleaned up great, nice Campagnolo rims!




Dia Compe 987 cantis and pads - very nice stopping action.


Black LX 560 hubs - again cleaned up good, spinning really nicely. LX RD-M567 Rear Deralliur - decent condition under all that gunk.

It’s got something I’ve been after for ages, a DX M561 Top Pull 28.6mm FD!


So I've got quite a lot of DX stuff kicking about now, so plan for this build will be

Get the frame painted - and replacement decals made up.

Then fit this stuff!

Brifters - DX M075
Headset - Keep existing Tioga Expert CR
Crank - lose the current AT10 - fit Shimano DX MT-60, maybe with black chainrings.
FD - Keep existing DX M-561TP
RD - Swap LX M567 for DX M-650
DX pedals
Flite / Bontrager TI seat - Need to source
Zoom Competition 22.2 Stem - Need to source
Black Zoom 130 or maybe 155 bars - Need to source
Swap these LX hubs over with the DX ones currently on our pink/blue Comp.
Cantis - I do like these dia compe 987a, but will source DX black ones too.

Soo. plenty to get on with, but here it is in it's current state, pretty cool!

 

[Once A Hero]

I’ll have a 1” Zoom Competition stem coming available soon if that’s what you’re going for

 

[enc]

Nice work so far

 

[Tesseractoid]

I’ll have a 1” Zoom Competition stem coming available soon if that’s what you’re going for

Great, yes always interested in any KHS spares!

Nice work so far

thanks buddy, just a rescue / cleanup so far but it should be quite special once I'm done with it, to me at least!

 

[enc]

Great, yes always interested in any KHS spares!

thanks buddy, just a rescue / cleanup so far but it should be quite special once I'm done with it, to me at leaIve never seen a black comp before!? always had a soft spot for the pink/blue comp. The monkey shred youtube channel has a few vids on the pink/blue comp.

Ive never seen a black comp before! always had a soft spot for the pink/blue comp. The monkeyshred youtube channel has a few vids on the pink/blue comp.

 

[Tesseractoid]

Ive never seen a black comp before! always had a soft spot for the pink/blue comp. The monkeyshred youtube channel has a few vids on the pink/blue comp.

Exactly! Not many black ones around, I saw one, once, in Norway in 1992/3! Yes monkeyshred has a lot to answer for

 

[Frankenorange]

A cork up the steerer tube was a thing in cyclocross circles back in the steel fork era to stop crowns and steerers rotting.

The heavy duty grease application was normal, in army circles, for anything metal that was going into storage. It was back when i played with tanks and this is possibly how the bike ended up lathered in it.

Your Comp has buffed up well. I like it.