KHS Montana Comp 1993
- Thread starter Deanr13
- Start date
dirttorpedo
Senior Retro Guru
I went the opposite and bought the Stumpjumper - much to my later regret.
robot.hebobo
Dirt Disciple
What was the regret?
dirttorpedo
Senior Retro Guru
The bike's design wasn't well aligned with the local trail networks, I got the FS version and the suspension fork was terrible, and the OE parts weren't very strong (wore out a rim within a year from riding muddy trails). I feel in hindsight I would have been better off buying a local bike like a RockyMountain or a Kona.
robot.hebobo
Dirt Disciple
Ah, those old suspension forks were pretty primitive. Surprised about the OE parts, for me that was one of the selling points of the Specialized, their "OE" parts were also sold as and quite popular on the aftermarket as they were generally very good. A bit like Ritchey. I still have the 1993 X23 Specialized rims from my Stumpjumper in service on a winter commuter 32 years later.
dirttorpedo
Senior Retro Guru
My rear rim was like cheese. I still remember the sound of the rim sidewall failing at the end of a bike tour. I had the wheel rebuilt with a Mavic rim and that wheel was solid til the day I sold the bike.
robot.hebobo
Dirt Disciple
That's not good! Odd though, I think I was pretty hard on these rims too - we used to go riding rain or shine, and in BC in the winter that was usually rain. I felt like I'd go though a set of Aztec brake pads in about 3 wet rides, but the rims did fine.
dirttorpedo
Senior Retro Guru
I'm in BC too and the local mud has a significant portion of sand in it - I still remember the sound of the sandy mud grinding on my rims when I hit the brakes. Interestinly I never had to replace the front rim.
robot.hebobo
Dirt Disciple
Ha, funny. Where did you buy your Stumpjumper? I ended up getting mine from The Bike Cellar on West 4th (Vancouver), after spending innumerable hours at pretty much any local bike shop I could get to comparing bikes. The KHS was at Breakaway Bikes in Ambleside (W.Van).
In retrospect I'm amazed how accommodating the people at Bike Cellar were with 13 year old me's requests. I asked if they could swap out the stock grips with ATI Newtrons, stock brake pads with Aztecs, and the LX brakes themselves with DiaCompe 987s - they said yes to all that, at no extra cost. And the bike was on post-Christmas sale...
In retrospect I'm amazed how accommodating the people at Bike Cellar were with 13 year old me's requests. I asked if they could swap out the stock grips with ATI Newtrons, stock brake pads with Aztecs, and the LX brakes themselves with DiaCompe 987s - they said yes to all that, at no extra cost. And the bike was on post-Christmas sale...
Right! Bike just needs the pink touching up. Sending the wife to buy pink nail varnish to match it 
. The blue was matched by my local paint shop and is bang on. Stickers going on Onza bar ends due tomorrow.
The bike has been fully stripped and serviced now. New tyres panaracer dart and smoke just fitted.
The only non original factory spec part on the whole bike is the saddle. It is still a bontrager though.
. The blue was matched by my local paint shop and is bang on. Stickers going on Onza bar ends due tomorrow.The bike has been fully stripped and serviced now. New tyres panaracer dart and smoke just fitted.
The only non original factory spec part on the whole bike is the saddle. It is still a bontrager though.
