The narrow down on KHS alite 500 and its review.
Arvind N
The search:
Sometime in July 2010 started looking around for upgrading myself
to a better cycle. During my search all the cycles i tried were ( i
had eye on each one of the below at some point :) ) .. Gaint ( Innova)
the first good cycle i tried and crashed on it too :) , Cannondale
Quick 5 nice but hybrid, Merida TFS 100 ( did 150 kms on this over a
weekend and loved it), Kona Blast ( again loved it, but upwards of
34000, its an all deore, with good frame), Merida MTA 510-A ( Very
good components, but a very diff frame geometry), Cannondale F9 (
nice)
NOTE: I started cycling on Herculas ACT 105 and personally i think it
helped me that i had some 500 kms on herculas under my belt when i was
looking for an upgrade.
Thanks Iggy and Naveen for letting me try all those cycles and
answering all naive questions. Sampath picked up his roadie KHS on the
same day. No sheer coincidence, was planned and will try not to thank
sampath for bearing with my going back and forth and loads of "hmmmm,
but .. ok. but.."
The buy :
Picked up the cycle on Aug 8th 2010 and i have clocked upwards of 600
kms on my KHS as of last sunday. Coming to the technical aspects of
it, http://www.khsbicycles.com/04_alite_500_10.htm should give you the
actual details.
The review:
Summary of glaring out components of the bike : (All Shimano) Front
Derailleurs : Altus, Rear Derailleurs : Alivio, Shifters : Acere
Rapidfire,
Tyres: Kenda Klaw, Frame : Alloy 6061, Hydroformed Frame is what i was
told and the website specs suggestes the same. Not sure of the value
it adds :) ..
Crankset : Truvati, Nice grippy pedels, Shocks/Fork : Spinner 300,
hydraulic, With lockout
Found the blue color frame to be more plesant and hence i have that.
There is one more option of a something that looks reddish.. Sorry bad
understanding/naming of colors problem here..
From a riders perspective:
Sat with Naveen and we unpacked a brand new one and over a tea sat
through with naveen and tried to understand how the assembly is done
by looking at it and again asking stupid questions. Would suggest this
incase you have time.
The cycle is real pleasure to ride. It weights a couple of 100 grams
more then 14 is my guesstimate. The extra from the standard 13.8 kgs
is coz of the disks i guess. The disk brakes are from bengal and i
think they should/could have been a bit more sleek but its not bad in
its working in anyway. The disk brakes need some 25 to 50 kms to start
really getting smooth.
Aspects i liked, very nice frame, good shocks and a very nice ride
quality. For me a 17 inch frame is very comfortable (66 inches
height). Learning about minute adjustments as i go... :). You may
need to adjust the seat for your need, and this is over and above the
regular height thing. You will figure it out as you ride more...
The shifters work smooth.
Bummers:
The frame has facility for 2 bottle holders. But god knows how they
missed it, the hook in the smaller length of the frame cannot take a
normal bottle hanger (the btwin once). The reason being the bottle
placed in this holder would touch the front deraileur :( .. I was told
i could get a diff holder that would take care of this issue. But such
a holder i am yet to find.. :( ...
I would have loved if the front deraileur was also a alivio so with
the shifters. The once that exist works like a charm, but hey i would
have loved more for the money i paid.. :) ..
The price:
I was in the the discount season and hence got the cycle around
25,500. Picked up a cateye tail light, helmet, gloves so ended with
with swiping 28,800 rs all in all..
the joy of riding .. priceless :)
HTH
~Arvind
Balu
On Sep 22, 12:54 pm, Arvind N <arvindn.onl...@gmail.com> wrote:
> hi,
> The search:
> Sometime in July 2010 started looking around for upgrading myself
> to a better cycle. During my search all the cycles i tried were ( i
> had eye on each one of the below at some point :) ) .. Gaint ( Innova)
> the first good cycle i tried and crashed on it too :) , Cannondale
> Quick 5 nice but hybrid, Merida TFS 100 ( did 150 kms on this over a
> weekend and loved it), Kona Blast ( again loved it, but upwards of
> 34000, its an all deore, with good frame), Merida MTA 510-A ( Very
> good components, but a very diff frame geometry), Cannondale F9 (
> nice)
> NOTE: I started cycling on Herculas ACT 105 and personally i think it
> helped me that i had some 500 kms on herculas under my belt when i was
> looking for an upgrade.
> Thanks Iggy and Naveen for letting me try all those cycles and
> answering all naive questions. Sampath picked up his roadie KHS on the
> same day. No sheer coincidence, was planned and will try not to thank
> sampath for bearing with my going back and forth and loads of "hmmmm,
> but .. ok. but.."
>
> The buy :
> Picked up the cycle on Aug 8th 2010 and i have clocked upwards of 600
> kms on my KHS as of last sunday. Coming to the technical aspects of
Amar
>
> - Show quoted text -