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Submitted by
Mark Van Druff
a Weekend Warrior
from Tokyo, Japan
Date Reviewed: June 3, 2004 | | Favorite Trail: | Mud alley | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$700.00 | | Purchased At: | Price Point | | Strengths: | Price/Value. Suspension works well on rocks and roots(most of our trails are covered with them). Panaracer tires are awesome for wet, rocky and root covered trails. | | Weaknesses: | Nothing major yet! | | Similar Products Used: | First full suspension; switched up from a Giant hardtail. | | Bike Setup: | Stock except for the addition of Promax hydraulic disc brakes. | | Bottom Line: | This bike is awesome. I'm an aggressive crosscountry/light freerider and have had no frame/wheel problems at all. Whether bombing down hills, steps or jumping this bike does it all. It climbs good as well. Most of our trails are rock and root covered with mud thrown in for more fun and the bike handles it in stride. Even won a local small MTB race on it for 35 and over class. Disc brakes were a great addition, would recommend them for anyone.
Not sure why 3 of the other reviewers have had so many problems, sounds more like lack of maintenance and lack of rider ability. I've put 900 miles on mine in less than a year, and have had no problems with it at all.
Would recommend this bike to anybody. It rocks! | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Dirty
a Weekend Warrior
from Yucaipa
Date Reviewed: May 20, 2004 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$1100.00 | | Purchased At: | Yucaipa Bike Center | | Strengths: | Price | | Weaknesses: | Were to start? Fork is Kinda Sucky had to Fix the oil level one week after i got bike was overfull and i wasnt getting the full 4" travel in front rear suspension Just doesnt give you the control you really need out of a FS bike Rims are weak for a Full suspension type bike both hubs needed to have bearing readjusted a month into ridingcrappy clearence in back for rear tire biggest i could get was a Maxxis High roller 2.5 and it rubbed when turning. Lots and Lots of flex in rear of Bike | | Similar Products Used: | Khs fr 1500 | | Bike Setup: | Hmmm what didnt i replace Pretty much everything but the handlebars and rear shock ran a Pyslo sl on front xt hubs Matched to rhynolite xl wheels xt drive train Avid Mechh disk brakes 8" front 6" rear MAxxis high roller rear Maxxis Mobster front | | Bottom Line: | not a bad bike for e begginner into lightweightcross country But if your planning on really using rear suspension for anything other than comfort Buy something bigger i can see why they decided to go away fron this design all together the fr series makes better xc bike for someone who plans on riding alot | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
John
a Cross Country Rider
from Adelaide, South Australia
Date Reviewed: December 20, 2003 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$1250.00 | | Strengths: | If you're tight on $$$ this is good value for money as an introduction to full suspension (however true longterm happiness would be achieved by taking the extra time to save the cash to afford a more established rig).
The stock components are quite good, and the overall weight of the bike is quite light. The front end is especially light which makes easy work of lauching over technical sections. | | Weaknesses: | The rear suspended A-Frame is very spaghetti like with lots
of flex and feedback through the rear offers really vague feedback. I replaced the rear A-frame for U.S. $200 after 12 months as the rear wheel was not in line with the rest of the frame this wasn't caused through abuse or big drops, just day to day crosscountry riding (even after installing the new A-Frame and also a new hub/rim, the rear wheel is not perfectly true with the rest of the bike - annoying).
This bike came with the coil shock that after 12 months was toast, reverting to winding it up hard provided about 2" of 'spring' travel. You cannot fit anything wider on the rear than a 2.1" rear tyre. | | Bike Setup: | KHS Rage FXT PRo with Sun ditchwitch rims on shimano XT hubs, Avid 8" front, 6" rear mechanical disk brakes. Truvativ FiveD cranks, Crankbrothers eggbeater pedals, Shimano deore front and rear derailiuers, XT rear cassette. Bombers. WTB Mutano Raptor 2.2 front, panaracer 2.1 rear tyre. | | Bottom Line: | I bought this bike new 2 years ago as I wanted a full suspension bike for xc riding which at the time for around U.S. $1000 appeared a good thing. Looking back I have enjoyed this ride but it's limitations will be exposed before yours. When purchasing it off the showroom floor
the guys talked me into upgrading the V-brakes to those gold Formula B4's which provided as much stopping power as wedging candy bars in between the rim and frame - those brakes were a joke. I upgraded to Avid mechanical
disks and these things are the business, they are very simple to work on, extremely adjustable and tunable. I've clocked up many miles on and off road fun with this
bike and the best upgrade components I put on this bike were the Crank brothers eggbeater pedals (very very nice - but hurt the soles of my feet past the 4 hour mark) and the
Avid disk brakes.
Alas, mainly due to the frame issues I've just purchased a Craftworks Rail (2004) frame and stripped all the running gear from this KHS and transfered all the bit's to it...all in the name of Knowledge Health and Strength! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Dave
a Cross Country Rider
from Phoenix, AZ
Date Reviewed: May 9, 2003 | | Favorite Trail: | Estrella | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$700.00 | | Purchased At: | Price Point | | Strengths: | Good Frame, Looks Good | | Weaknesses: | Heavy Wheels for disk brakes | | Similar Products Used: | First Full Suspension | | Bike Setup: | Replaced wheels and tires. | | Bottom Line: | The clearance is low and I keep crashing the pedals
into rocks. The front forks seem to have a lot of
stiction but may loosen with usage. I was having
problems with front end wash out on turns but replaced
the Panaracer Fire XC tires with IRC Mythos XC and that
solved that.
Overall the bike is more fun than my lighter hardtail
and seems to do everything as well. If it holds up I will probably upgrade the forks and rear shock.
Look on ebay, the frame is exact to the Motobecane and
Oryx, (got my wife the X4B-2 so I know the frames are
the same), if you can get one of those for around $500
you will get a great deal. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Ice T
a Downhiller
from illinois
Date Reviewed: December 16, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | urban is better you find some cool stuff | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$1000.00 | | Purchased At: | 1000$ to 1100$ i can't remember exactly | | Strengths: | this bike is really strong i go out and pretty much just beat the S**t out of it. I take it off 6 to 8 foot drops more than recommended but it holds up really well. The frame is just really well designed then i guess so th frame is really well built | | Weaknesses: | the only weakness would have to be he parts that come n it but i geuss you could expect that kind of because its not a to of the like bike. the rear shock is horrible though but it works i never changed it. | | Similar Products Used: | there really are no other products like this beast it in a catagory of its own | | Bike Setup: | the setup is pretty much all second or third bottom of the line parts but they hold up nothin has broken yet for me except the rear swing are but i got a new one free warrenties are so nice | | Bottom Line: | bottom line is this bike is a great bike for starters, but if u have had other good bikes before this don't waste your money. It got me into biking and now im getting a norco launch frame i can't wait either. and one more thing bender couldn't touch this bike and the cheeta is gona be sweet | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
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