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First Look – KHS 3000 4 Season Fat-bike

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I stopped by Marty Gauss’s Total Cyclery in Kenosha, WI a couple of days ago, Christmas Eve to be exact, for a bit of personal business. Fortunately, it coincided with the fact that Marty had, the day before, finished assembling a just-delivered KHS 3000 4 Season Fat-bike giving me a chance to look it over and take a bit of a ride on the new entry in the exploding fat-bike space.

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To keep the $1799.00 retail price point KHS made some component choices that seem to put the goods where you need them, like a SRAM X9 rear derailleur, SRAM 11-36 cassette, SRAM X7 front derailleur and Avid BB7S disk brakes while using more value priced components like Weinmann 80mm rims and Vee Rubber 120tpi Mission tires that are serviceable and can be upgraded later if needed. The WTB saddle is a nice touch while the remainder of the cockpit includes a 700mm Alloy bar with a 10mm sweep, a 31.8 Alloy seat post and a forged Alloy stem. Rounding out the components is a forged KHS crank with 22/36 chainrings and outboard bearings.

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The Frame of the KHS 4 Season is 6061 Aluminum with what appear to be hydro-formed top and down tubes. There is generous stand over (the model Marty got in is a Small but I measured an effective top tube of 22.75 inches that seems to stretch it out a bit into the Medium range). The rear stays have rack mounts and the frame features Slider-style dropouts with replaceable derailleur and disk mounts. Interesting choice with the Slider on a 170mm rear end. At this point it does let you change the wheelbase  some. I measured the chain stay length at 18.25” in the forward position with maybe 3/4” that the wheel could move rearward. What does the future hold for a Slider on a 170mm bike?

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Since I couldn’t locate any geometry numbers for the 4 Season I did a bit of measuring in the shop and found a 71d head tube angle coupled with a 73d seat tube angle and the above mentioned 22.75” effective top tube.

The fork measured out at approximately 468mm a/c and is a straight-bladed cro-mo unit with rack mounts as well as what look like Anything mounts on a 45d angle along the rear of the fork leg. I did’t have an Anything Cage to test out the fit but they looked about right.

The riding position of the 4 Season is more MTB than a traditional snow bike and the brief ride I was able to get in the 4 Season felt responsive and didn’t exhibit any quirky handling with the Missions at about 15psi. We will have to get more experience on the bike in different conditions to make a better evaluation of how it rides though. So, stay tuned!

We first saw a hint of the KHS fat-bike at Interbike where it was very much a prototype. Gomez and I thought it rode better than some of the other offerings at the Outdoor Demo and were happy to offer up some thoughts to Wen Hsieh, President of KHS Bicycles! The fact that KHS got it to market so quickly is a testament to the flexibility of a smaller company and we look forward to more fat-bikes from KHS.

9 Responses to First Look – KHS 3000 4 Season Fat-bike

  1. AlsHead December 26, 2013 at 3:51 pm #

    Any weights on this bike? Also, I assume you mean 10deg sweep on the bars? They look completely flat…

    • Todd J December 28, 2013 at 10:12 am #

      The bar is an alloy flat riser, 31.8. 700x10mm.
      We weighed the 17″ KHS 3000 in the shop last week. It came in at 33lbs., 1oz.

  2. Todd J December 28, 2013 at 10:04 am #

    We weighed the 17″ KHS 3000 in the shop last week. It came in at 33lbs., 1oz.

    • G Greene January 30, 2014 at 3:43 pm #

      KHS makes their own bikes, along with producing many others.

  3. Truger December 28, 2013 at 1:22 pm #

    What brand is the rear hub? Is it possible to convert into XX1?

  4. Boomking December 28, 2013 at 6:26 pm #

    Curious on your comment on the sliders?
    I think ALL hardtails should have them! It being 170 and sliders?
    I would have bought a carbon beargrease or other carbon but none had singlespeed options. Ended up ordering a Carver w/slider because of the wicked value. Fat and single is the BEST for when there is no snow!

  5. derek December 29, 2013 at 3:13 pm #

    just purchased this bike yesterday in Mammoth Lakes, where we don’t have a ton of snow right now for skiing. so I’m looking forward to riding this all over the minimal snow that exists for now. The short demo ride was a blast and felt really nice. Like u said, good enough components where it counts in order to get price point right. I’ll give it some time and post a short summary of what I think in near future, though this is my first fat bike I’ve ridden longer than 10 min.

  6. Darin Bazinet January 29, 2014 at 4:38 am #

    Put my hands on the KHS 3000 Four Seasons yesterday when the Rep brought his personal bike into the shop. Comparing them side by side with a 9Zero7 frames are similar in appearance but have many different features and are not exactly the same. KHS is also introducing a lower price point model in Feb.-March

  7. Kris haralson January 31, 2014 at 7:42 pm #

    I’ve been demoing this bike out of our shop in maine bike is solid lighter than the surly handles very nicely anything cages fit nicely I do believe the frames run larger I’m usually on a large but riding the medium frame

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