I bought this KHS John Howard Team Professional some time ago. It was in rough shape and in need of repainting. I had questions about the bike and finally got answers from John Howard himself. John told me, via email, how the company had special builders for these frames. He actually still has one and said that it was his favorite crit bike.
The frame is Columbus SL with Campy chrome drop-outs and a Cinelli 70mm "spoiler" bottom bracket, the brake bridge and fork crown may also be Cinelli, from what I have seen in an old catalog. I liked that the bike had two bottle mounts.
I couldn't locate a set of KHS decals for the repaint, so I picked something I thought looked good and wasn't a brand that is regularly copied. I ordered the Speedwell set from Cyclomondo on ebay. I'm not trying to pass this off as something it's not...purely aesthetic.
Paint was done by the Color Factory in NJ. I found his add in the back of Velonews and his prices were very competitive. Roughly $200 and he turned it around in a week and a half. I have had two frames done by Joe Bell and this isn't that kind of paint job...but it was worth the money, and I like the color a lot. The coolest thing about this bike is that I have really no money in it. Most of the parts are gleaned from about 7 bike flips and the rims were given to me by a friend who had them in his garage since 91, NOS.
I finished it today and I've scheduled the shake down ride for this Thursday...hopefully it isn't raining.

That is nice.

Beautiful build! That rear brake bridge ROCKS!

So this is one of the Velo-CheapO Build-Off bikes???

I'd give it

reminds me of my first "real" road bike, a Bianchi.
Nice job, & I'm sure it WILL Speedwell for you!

No, not part of the Velo-Cheapo Build... it would take me a week to dig up all my purchases and sales to get the actual cost documentation.

Well done!

Looks good--extra parts are always nice to have to build up a bike----Jim

Parts weren't really extras, just removed for future use. When I'm looking at bikes to turn around I tend to buy my size and what I would ride. That way I keep what I need and I'm still sending cash from Paypal to the bank. It's a win - win.

Wow, the paint is amazing! It looks very thin and VERY Original, true to the time period. Fabulous.

The paint is very thin, which I'm happy with. I like being able see the details. It's a big change from how I got it, with a heavy repaint over the original.

Sweet, clean build. Let us know how the shakedown goes.

stan
.