Two years with my KHS Alite 500. (A review by Anindya Roy)

Two years with my KHS Alite 500.

A little history:

I bought this bike almost on impulse. Before I did, I had my eyes set on the Trek 4300D and had been inquiring with a certain shop in Panjim for nearly a year, for availability. KHS was a brand entirely new to my ears when Ajay brought its presence to Goa.. Checking out specifications from the KHS website it was clear that the Alite 500 was to be the new kid in town, with a price to put the Trek 4300D to shame. Of course someone looking for brand pedigree might have still opted for a Trek, but reason pulled me to the KHS.

The first trial ride outside E-FTRB took me by surprize. I had never ridden an imported bike before. My last bike many years ago was a dual suspension, 18-speed Hero Ranger Swing. I used to think that was pretty advanced for its time. The Alite 500 threw that notion and memory out of the window - everything about it felt so well engineered and refined. Finally realized what the Rs.20k plus price tag is all about.

I prefer off-road, but also do short to medium distances on tarmac. The Alite 500 is an entry level hardtail MTB which means it is designed for duty on unpaved tracks and non-technical trails. However, I'm not the one to hold back when I find myself on untamed terrain even if it threatens to overwhelm the bike's or rider's capabilities. Here's what I have to say – I've hammered this bike through some serious, jaw-breaker trails where only serious full suspension bikes and 4WDs dare venture at any speed above 30kmph. It has survived everything with grin-inducing bravado.

As much as the Alite 500 is a well put together package, its worth pointing out how the individual components have faired in these two years.

Frame: Robust construction and tubing that resounds with a re-assuring, singular 'thwack' landing from every jump and hop. If at all there is any flex, I am too lightweight (62kgs) to have pressured the frame into it. On smaller details, I wish KHS would route the 3 cables above the top-tube and not below. It just makes carrying the bike on your shoulder so much easier when one has to ford a stream or squeeze through a small clearing. Two sets of mounting points (down tube and seat tube) come in handy when carrying a bottle plus, say, a mini pump.

Drivetrain: Truvativ 3-speed crankset, Shimano 9-speed cassette,  Shimano Alivio derailleurs front and rear, Alivio shifters, KMC Z99 with Missing Link. Now this is a complex system to address in parts. Overall, it has fared well all this time even with my limited knowledge of drivetrain upkeep practices. Only a slight de-tuning of the rear derailleur has crept in where shifts tend to miss / jump around the middle 3 or 4 cogs. I haven't changed the cables since I bought the bike and I feel this might be the reason – probably a bit of casing friction and/or cable elongation.

Wheels & Tires: The Weinmann XTB rims have stood their ground really well through all the pounding and trail bashing with barely a hint of un-truing till now. I've recently felt a small amount of play in the rear hub but since its tiny I'm yet to open up the cassette, freehub etc. to check it out.

The 26” Kenda SB8 tyres look really cool because they're FAT (1.95”) and the small block treads look purpose designed for bridging road and trail riding duty. They perform perfectly well on road with low rolling resistance and are rated to a solid 80psi. They feel well planted on hard packed as well as scrubby trails. Only at speed on loose earth and gravel will they tend to surprize you with sudden bouts of weave and drift. The SB8s seem to have a threshold of cornering grip that gives out without prior warning, but can be anticipated after enough time spent on them.

Fork: Spinner 300LC 100mm travel with lockout and pre-load adjust. This piece of equipment gave me my first worry and remains my only gripe with an otherwise splendid package. When new the travel felt plush and precise, but within a month I noticed a shuddering play in the fork under light front wheel braking. Since, it is a technically complex job to repair forks, I have to live with this until a repair or an upgrade comes my way. Apart from the play, the forks have lived through hell during rides through punishing downhill runs of Chorla, Mollem, Krishnapur and a crazy hill trail behind my last abode.

Brakes: Bengal mechanical discs. No complaints yet. I love them so much for their tunability and ease of maintenance, that I'm almost glad I don't have hydraulics. This notion could just be from a lack of knowing the experience of good hydraulic brakes, but I find nothing lacking in these mechanical brakes to wish for an upgrade. That's it.

Saddle: The OEM saddle the bike came with was a comfort model which I recently traded in for a slimmer, harder sport saddle. The original saddle felt great on bumpy rides but tended to feel tiring on longer tarmac rides. I suppose saddle fit is quite a personal matter and I'm yet to clock enough kilometers on the new saddle to give a definitive comment.

Fasteners and Hardware: The Quick Releases, Seat-post Clamp and other bolts etc. are  not the best one can find out there, but nothing has snapped, stripped or weakened so far. So that's good. Goa's saline environment has pushed the limits of chrome plated and powder coated steel components, as some of them are showing patches of surface rust.

A couple of small mods I've made to my bike that have worked out well:

Some time back I rigged up a tiny mud-flap between the rear wheel and seat tube just for saving myself the trouble of cleaning the front derailleur after every little off-tarmac ride. Its a tight squeeze and the thing is held by a single nut-bolt to the chainstay bridge. Its works spot on. Looks sexy and minimal too. MTBs are supposed to be free of such paraphernalia but I'm keeping this one for life.

Secondly, I've flipped over the brake cables to have a left-rear, right-front set-up. I prefer this since all other two-wheelers (motorized and other Indian bicycles) follow the same combination. Braking then becomes instinctively consistent across anything you ride. This is a personal choice and may not be felt amiss by others. My rationale is also that in a dire emergency you can't afford the time to recall and decide whether your right lever will let you drift clear of an imminent crash or flip you over the front wheel. So its better to have your brain (and brakes) wired the same way no matter what you ride.

And finally, before I can afford to buy myself an all-out freeride bike (which is the goal in life) I have sweet dreams of upgrading a few components on the Alite 500 and bring out its real guts. I say this because in spite of the 'value-for-money' and 'budget' tags attached to the bike, I know its limits lie well beyond its low key image.

ANINDYA ROY

MOIRA, GOA