Manufacturer, Retailer, Survey and Consumer Feedback - Are KHS bikes any good?

I recently stumbled upon this bike: http://www.khsbicycles.com/04_alite_150_08.htm

and would like to know if the brand itself is reliable. I am not a person with sufficient means to buy something above $500 and to be honest I ride a bike that I guess any connoisseur would call to be a disposable bike, and I would agree unfortunately, since this bike of mine has been so troublesome.

Back to the point, could this be the upgrade that I am looking for? Something reliable, that is a decent ride and that won't break down chronically?

All bikes today are basically the same. The frames are made in a
few Taiwanese factories and built up with grupps of stuff from other
companies like Shimano. Any Trek, KHS, Fuji, BikesDirect etc, etc, etc, bike
at that price is going to be about the same quality-wise and a very useable,
reliable unit. The industry is so competitive today you really cant go wrong.
Personally and definitely biased....Id Craigslist an old 70's or 80's steel
frame/lugged bike :)
Good luck whatever you decide :thumb:

I don't know much about that brand. I was told that REI won't be carrying them anymore. Not sure why. I think they're a discount brand, though.

What pound 'em said rings true. There aren't that many factories building bike frames nowadays.

At any rate, if you're looking to spend that much money, figure out what's important to you. A lot of people will tell you that the fit of the bike is the most important thing. If you're going to be riding a lot, you should certainly consider the comfort and geometry of the bike you'll be getting.

I don't know much about that brand...I think they're a discount brand, though.


I don't know what "discount brand," means to you, but KHS has been around since the early 70s, are headquartered in california, the company is run by cyclists (not suits), they have made many developments in the mountain bike world, won the bike of the year award before from mountain bike magazine, and so on. They are a "legit" company in that sense. They have some high end stuff, but in recent years most of their line is lower priced stuff. Of course their bikes are made in taiwan like everything else in the mid to low price ranges. But they aren't just middle men ordering whatever from taiwan and selling it on. They have actual bikers working for them and developing products (i know a guy who works in research and development for them).

I LOVE my KHS Comp. It's steel and from the early 90s, however.

Its not the bike you need to worry about, its the parts. Like everyone else has said most frames are the same or real close. The shifters, cranks, wheels, brakes,forks, ect are the parts that matter. The very low end stuff doesn't work well. Shimano makes some stuff that is argueably the best in the world, but they also make some of the worst stuff in the world. That being said the alite300 is $40 more and would work noticeably better.

My wife and I ride a KHS Tandemania (07) and find it to be all we'll likely ever need. It's well made, fairly well appointed (aside from the cheapo pedals which we replaced with Shimano's right away) and since we got it one year old and with a roof rack for 1k we're very happy.

I recently sold a 1998 KHS Team on eBay. I was a KHS dealer for a while (until we closed the store). KHS was HUGE when I lived in Colorado. They make some really nice bikes. Not a "discount" brand at all.

Its not the bike you need to worry about, its the parts. Like everyone else has said most frames are the same or real close. The shifters, cranks, wheels, brakes,forks, ect are the parts that matter. The very low end stuff doesn't work well. Shimano makes some stuff that is argueably the best in the world, but they also make some of the worst stuff in the world. That being said the alite300 is $40 more and would work noticeably better.

I agree with that too. As a general rule, avoid any bike that has the dreaded Big Red Pulley. You can safely assume that any bike with the Shimano rear derailleur with gigantic red pulley will have crap components and not be worthy of anything but light bike path use.

The way I look at it, any bike that is sold 'new' through the LBS has to be of acceptable quality. That being said, my next bike will probably be a KHS Urban Xpress