A Walk Down Memory Lane For Me

Some of my best mountain bike memories where when I rode my old KHS Montaña Pro during the 1990's. In 2004, when I saw a barely used Montaña Team (two steps up from my original bike) for sale in a shop in Portland, OR, I knew that I had to have it for sentimental reasons.

The "Team" was the top-of-the-line steel frame from KHS in 1993, and came painted in KHS's race team colors. At the time I bought my "Pro" in '93 I'd opted not to get this paint scheme as I thought that the pink was a bit much and would not "age" well. As it turns out I was correct in 1993, but I like the paint today as it screams: "yesterday!"

The bike is built with a complete Shimano XTR component set. The m900 XTR group was Shimano's first off-road 8-speed group, and one of the best looking and operating component groups ever made. Other than a couple of paint chips, the bike looks like it just rolled out of the bike shop.

Overall the bike rides and handles well. It's more of a handful during decents than some other bike that I own (likely due to the 72 degree head tube angle). It's not as well behaved as my Mountain Goat or Bontrager, but it's not too far behind either. KHS certainly does not have the same mystique that some other marquees have, nor does it have the cult following, but KHS is something special to me since many of my early riding years were spent on my "Pro."

-el