Comments on: KHS Urban X Review

By: Austin

Austin — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:06:59 +0000

Well I went ahead and picked this bike up. I payed about $350 for it, taxes were pretty much subtracted from my total, which was good. I feel I paid a good price for what this bike delivers.

I have ridden it only for a few days now, but can say it is pretty quick when cruising and stable. Right off the bat the fenders were making noise. This was easily solved by applying a thin layer of grease (with a toothbrush) to the metal attach points (which are tack? welded).The ‘brooks’ style saddle is OK, but time will tell. The rivets in the saddle can be uncomfortable at times. It does, however, provide you with a decent level of shock absorption, substantially less had a “normal” seat been put on. The tires seem to be fine, but new ones would probably help with vibration damping. The rack seems quite strong, and I had no problems attaching various items to it. This bike is a tad on the heavy side, but my riding is purely flat, so I do not notice.

For someone like me, who comes from mountain bikes and 26″ tires this ride was a perfect balance of versatility and price. 26″ are much stronger than larger wheels, and most of all cheaper. While I would not huck this off large curbs, it is more than happy taking hops off regular curbs, something a 700c tires certainly does not like. I also have to say it gets quite a few looks. I own the flat black version and people often check it out. It looks much better on the road than in the showroom floor, parked next to a $1,000 bike.

Conclusion: Test ride this bike before KHS realizes they can charge more for it. My biggest complaint, it is made in China, but the quality, both in ride and craftsmanship, is above its price point.

By: Reviews on Commute By Bike at Commute by Bike

Reviews on Commute By Bike at Commute by Bike — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 04:51:07 +0000

[...] *KHS Urban Xtreme *Redline 9-2-5 *Rocket Shower by 10 nine 8 *Banjo Brothers Saddlebag panniers *Xtracycle Freeradical *Sette Rival Shoes *Bailey Works Super Pro Messenger bag *Active Tunes *Terry Scooter Capri *Ibex X-ray *Champiot Ultra *Lizard Skins Logo Lock-on grips *Trikke *Tifosi Pave sunglasses *Ibex Alpine 550 *Ergon Performance Grips *Bumble Bar organic bars *KHS Urban X *Cygolite Hi Flux 200 *Price Point Epic Baggy shorts *Rec Rac *Vaporwick Jersey Polo *TopLine Mgf Unigrip *Trikke Bikke *Masterlock Street Cuffs *KHS Latte *P1sseezee Bike Wash *Hoss Ponderosa Shorts *Xootr Swift *Kinetic By Kurt Road Machine *Tifosi Optics Slip *Ibex Trophy 770 *Bike Slingger *Fezzai Wiki Peak Comp *Lizzard Blizzard Gloves *Yukon HL Bike Headlight *Allen Racks 144A *Terry Commuter Skort *Genuine Innovations Deluxe Tire Repair and Inflation Wallet *Wilderness Electric Bike Kit *Smith Optics Threshold *Woodstock 505 *Giatex Sportable *Bell Citi Helmet *Inertia Designs Business Pannier *Park PCS-1 Workstand and BK-2 rollup *Rio Cali 128 MB MP3 player *Video Bike Repair DVD *Kryptonite Evolution-Mini *Ibex Corrida LT *Kona Smoke *Rudy Project Wizaard [...]

By: Diamond Back Transporter First Impression at Commute by Bike

Diamond Back Transporter First Impression at Commute by Bike — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 01:48:52 +0000

[...] This time I rode from my house to work, a 30 mile round trip with some rolling hills. The first thing I noticed was the weight of the Transporter, it was a little hefty. I’m usually not picky about weight on any of my commuter bikes, but I was able to tell the difference between the Transporter and the Kona Smoke and the KHS Urban X. I also noticed the choice of tires that Diamond Back put on the Transporter, they are WTB All-Terainasauras 26×1.60 Multi Purpose Tires. These tires are more knobbier than I’m used to. [...]

By: Bike Trends at

Bike Trends at — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 03:33:49 +0000

[...] KHS Bicycles has their Urban Line that feature 3 bikes, Urban X, Urban Xpress and Urban Xtreme. Although not part of their Urban Line, KHS also has a fixed gear bike, the Flite 100. [...]

By: Trends at Commute by Bike

Trends at Commute by Bike — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 18:57:39 +0000

[...] KHS Bicycles has their Urban Line that feature 3 bikes, Urban X, Urban Xpress and Urban Xtreme. Although not part of their Urban Line, KHS also has a fixed gear bike, the Flite 100. [...]

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 21:41:14 +0000

Pics of the 2007 Urban-X (listed as theKHS Urban-X SC-100″
are on KHS’s Canada website. Besides cosmetic changes (darker gray, more red in the labels), the most noticeable (and welcome) change addresses the handlebar height. Instead of the WTB integrated headset, it’s got a 1-1/8 threaded one. See it at http://www.khscanada.com/v3/bikeview.php?id=419

By: Kenny

Kenny — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 04:31:03 +0000

Like Christopher, I went to City Bikes to test ride the Urban-X. They are charging $70 too much, money that would be fab to use making up for the lack of lights and perhaps the chain guard that should be standard for a bike labeled as “commuter”. For $299 this is a great buy. You will lose out with having bottom of the barrel Shimano Derailer, lower line cranks, and low line rims…but it came with good brakes, and the rack indeed appeared solid. It is no light weight…but at least it is not a total pig.
My biggest issue, besides the lack of lights and a proper full chain guard, was that the seating position is actually quite low and not upright.
City Bikes recognised this and offered a bike with low line steel upright bars with another $20 tacked on the fairly hefty $369 price. I would opt for some chrome moly ones after purchasing the bike. Those bars made the bike feel a lot more like a comfortable commuter. A better seat wouldnt hurt…or better yet you could try and find a Trek L200 with a 8 spd internal hub, proper full chain guard, lights, better quality componentry on sale for under $600 (over $800 retail…but I have foudn some bike shops on line that HAVE offered it as low as $499). Well worth the jump up in price because you could enjoy the bike a lot more right out of the box. Too bad no one in PDX that I could find had any in stock.

By: Interbike Pic of the day at Commute by Bike

Interbike Pic of the day at Commute by Bike — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 01:26:50 +0000

[...] It’s the KHS Urban X that I had a chance to review! // Used for showing and hiding user information in the comment form function ShowUtils() { document.getElementById(“authorinfo”).style.display = “”; document.getElementById(“showinfo”).style.display = “none”; document.getElementById(“hideinfo”).style.display = “”; } function HideUtils() { document.getElementById(“authorinfo”).style.display = “none”; document.getElementById(“showinfo”).style.display = “”; document.getElementById(“hideinfo”).style.display = “none”; } [...]

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 00:02:47 +0000

Thanks for the great review and update. I got an Urban-X about month ago and have been riding it to work regularly. It’s a very comfortable bike, with the notable exception of the saddle, which looks retro-cool, but *literally* left me numb. As the reviewer did, I swapped the saddle, and it’s made a world of difference.

By: Jess

Jess — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 15:03:27 +0000

I like the urban X, I wish that it came in different color options, but for comfort I really enjoy the Xtreme. It is a nice cromoly frame that rides like a dream. Super responsive, comfortable with the carbon fiber front fork, and the curved seat stays take away most of the roughness of the road. Only down fall is no fenders, not so good for the soon to be coming rainy season.