1996 KHS Alite for the missus [FINISHED!!]

baj

Senior Retro Guru
building this for the missus as a casual cyclepath bike rather than off-road blaster! picked up the frame of the evilBay for reasonable money,

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to see how sloping the top tube is..

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nitormors'd the paint off and rubbed down to try to remove the scores where the previous owner had tried with some sort of grinder to remove the paint! :shock: I used progressively finer papers and ended up near to a polished finish!

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... thankfully Mrs Baj wanted a green bike so i stopped there and took frame+fork to the powder coaters last week... picked it up wednesday and it looks really good imo, if anyone wants a good PC in the Cardiff area try Castle Coatings in Caerphilly.. £45

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Specing it with mainly budget kit picked up from here/CRC/eGay with a view to replacing with better stuff as she breaks it!

Frame: 17" KHS Alite double butted 7005 'Lite Concept' powdercoated RAL 6025 'Fern Green'
[due to only being able to find rubbish KHS decals, I have ordered some 'Orange' decals to match the bars/stem!]

Fork: Kona Project 2 powdercoated low gloss (almost matt) black - edit - 2001 Manitou SX-E

Headset: Tioga
Stem: Black 'Orange'
Handlebar: Black 'Orange'
Grips: Ritchey
Barends: n/a

Brakes: Promax silver :?
Brake Pads: Promax silver :?
Brake Cables: Shimano
Cantilever cable hangers: n/a
Brake Levers: neat silver ones with integral bell on left lever!

Shifters: gripshift SRT400
Front Derailleur: n/a
Rear Derailleur: Deore XT
Derailleur Cables: Shimano
Cassette: 8spd 11-30t Shimano
Chain: SRAM
Cranks: black Specialized Strongarms
Crank Bolts: Shimano
Chainrings: 32t RaceFace
Chainring bolts: SS stainless
Bottom Bracket: UN54
Pedals: fat black flat plastic!

Hub Skewers: Shimano
Rims: Grey Ritchey Vantage Comps
Hubs: silver Parallax
Nipples: silver
Spokes: non-bling galv steel
Tyres: Michelin Country Gravel
Tubes: Specialized

Saddle: Sel Royal - big comfy black one!
Seatpost: Kalloy black
Seatpost Binder: black Halfords cheapy

Weight: 23.2lbs without cassette/chain
 
some photos added, more to come of bare metal (almost polished) state and progress shots through the build up..

not sure if anyone will be interested as KHS are not that popular, particularly one being butchered, but will serve as a record of my first build.. :D
 
Ive a 2005 Alite Team, and its a superb rider! and stupidly light at a smidge over 1400grams for the frame. Give it a go offroad!
 
i've not weighed the frame since the paint but when i first got it the kitchen scales said just about 4lbs i think.. I will definitely have a little blast on it at some point, i'll just have to wait until the missus gets it a bit dirty first!
 
almost done, just needs cassette + chain (will do when i get home from work) and its there :D

weighed 23.2lbs as is (on crappy bathroom scales) which i am really chuffed with, particularly since Mrs Baj changed her mind and went for sus forks.. Anyway its exactly what i wanted to achieve - a cheap(ish), simple, light bike for the wife. A few 'modern' bits and not at all the original colour scheme but fit for it's intended purpose i reckon... what do you think??

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