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Speaking of Performance Bikes - Mountain Bike?

Old 04-20-21, 08:42 AM
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smontanaro 
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Speaking of Performance Bikes - Mountain Bike?

I'm familiar with Performance Bike's road bikes which in the vintage era were contract built by Biemmezeta. I walked past the local Play It Again Sports store yesterday and noticed a Performance branded mountain bike. I only glanced, but it seemed to have a level top tube, so I presume it was older. Any idea who Performance used for those frames? I can swing back by today and take pictures if there is any interest.
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Old 04-20-21, 11:27 AM
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I'm aware of the Performance ATBs but I don't believe that I have any serial number data for them. However, we have seen road, CX and hybrids that would appear to from Nakagawa of Japan and Hodaka of Taiwan. I also know that Kozi Yamaguchi (sp?) did some design work for them in the early 1990s, so I wouldn't be surprised if Fairly of Taiwan was another source. If it's not inconvenient, I'd appreciate a photo and the serial number but don't go out of your way. TIA.
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Old 04-20-21, 01:27 PM
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I've got a friend's Performance MTB in the garage right now.
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Old 04-20-21, 02:09 PM
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Originally Posted by Marylander
I've got a friend's Performance MTB in the garage right now.
Pic's?
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Old 04-20-21, 02:10 PM
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Originally Posted by smontanaro
I'm familiar with Performance Bike's road bikes which in the vintage era were contract built by Biemmezeta. I walked past the local Play It Again Sports store yesterday and noticed a Performance branded mountain bike. I only glanced, but it seemed to have a level top tube, so I presume it was older. Any idea who Performance used for those frames? I can swing back by today and take pictures if there is any interest.
Yes on pic's plz.
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Old 04-21-21, 01:51 PM
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I'll take a pic or two when I do some work on the bike (truing back wheel, swapping out tires, swapping out der cables, etc). This particular bike is an M404 with full STX. I was not mountain biking back then so don't have any idea of the level of that but it's got gear indicators on the shifters so I'm guessing lower than a 105 equivalent.
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Old 04-21-21, 04:19 PM
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I took a few (bad) pix of the Performance (turns out to be an M605) at Play It Again Sports. Apologies for the bad takes on the serial number. I was in a bit of a hurry as it was rather cold out. I won't be able to get back there for a couple days to get better shots.

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmVmjUGN

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Old 06-29-21, 01:45 PM
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Originally Posted by merziac
Pic's?
I finally got around to doing some stuff to the PBS M404 (in the process of moving and finally the garage was clear enough to do some work). It needed the back wheel trued, some lubing in the shifters, and he wanted some different tires mounted.









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Old 06-29-21, 02:50 PM
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Originally Posted by smontanaro
I took a few (bad) pix of the Performance (turns out to be an M605) at Play It Again Sports. Apologies for the bad takes on the serial number. I was in a bit of a hurry as it was rather cold out. I won't be able to get back there for a couple days to get better shots.

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmVmjUGN
I apologize for not repeonding esarlier but I did not realize that you had follwed up with photos. Unfortunately, I can't read the full S?N from the photos. However, you bicycle should be a 1995 model, as during this era the last character in the model number appears to represent the year. I do have a 1995 listing for a performance M805 with True Temper AFVand Shimano Alvio RapidFire, for $359 US MSRP.
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Old 06-29-21, 03:30 PM
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Originally Posted by Marylander
I finally got around to doing some stuff to the PBS M404 (in the process of moving and finally the garage was clear enough to do some work). It needed the back wheel trued, some lubing in the shifters, and he wanted some different tires mounted.
As stated in my previous, the last character in the model designation appears to represent the model year, so the M404 should be a 1994 model. FYI, the MSRP in 1994 was $480 US. Given their respective ages and levels, there is a very good chance that the M404 and the OP's M605 are from the same manufacturer. Once we have both serial numbers, we may be able to crack the code, even if we can't identify the manufacturer.
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Old 06-29-21, 06:07 PM
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Right, serial number...
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Old 06-30-21, 05:54 AM
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Originally Posted by Marylander
Right, serial number...
Unfortunately, that format does not appear to be the same as the OP's. However, it does at least confirm a 1994 model, with manufacture having taken place during April 1994.
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Old 09-23-21, 09:11 PM
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+1 on the date.

@Marylander the serial number from your Performance M404 is from manufacturer KHS of Taiwan.
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Old 09-24-21, 07:26 AM
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This is mine. It's a 1991 M103,from the research I did on Google the serial format matches the Diamondback,Centurions and KHS of that time period. The only bikes I've found with the True Temper OX Ultra 2 tubes were sold by KHS.
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Old 09-24-21, 12:06 PM
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Originally Posted by BoozyMcliverRot


This is mine. It's a 1991 M103,from the research I did on Google the serial format matches the Diamondback,Centurions and KHS of that time period. The only bikes I've found with the True Temper OX Ultra 2 tubes were sold by KHS.
Do you have a serial number? I saw your other thread on this tubing. Just a theory but it sounds like maybe the same manufacturer made all these MTBs from DB, KHS and Performance/Supergo. Tubing manufacturers will create special versions of their tubes for manufacturers and I am guessing that's what happened with True Temper OX Ultra 2. If you want to go down the rabbit hole of trying to find out where in the True Temper hierarchy this tubeset lands (per your question in your other thread), you could try to look at the catalogs for all of these manufacturers to try to find tubing specs and then compare it against the more widely available True Temper tubesets listed here: True Temper OS2 vs OX Platinum - Bike Forums
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Old 09-24-21, 02:04 PM
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Originally Posted by tricky
Do you have a serial number? I saw your other thread on this tubing. Just a theory but it sounds like maybe the same manufacturer made all these MTBs from DB, KHS and Performance/Supergo. Tubing manufacturers will create special versions of their tubes for manufacturers and I am guessing that's what happened with True Temper OX Ultra 2. If you want to go down the rabbit hole of trying to find out where in the True Temper hierarchy this tubeset lands (per your question in your other thread), you could try to look at the catalogs for all of these manufacturers to try to find tubing specs and then compare it against the more widely available True Temper tubesets listed here: True Temper OS2 vs OX Platinum - Bike Forums


I believe it was TMar that dated this as a 1994 by the serial number but this paint/graphics does not match the 1994 catalog. It does however match 5he few others I've found on Google as a 1991.

As far as the rabbit hole goes i have already considered that this is a non standard TT OX tubeset made for KHS. Looking at all of the other OX decals it's pretty safe to assume they did this for a lot of brands. All of the OX Comp decals I've seen so far have been for Trek.

Since finding some original Performance frame decals will be a PITA and having reproductions made will be too expensive for this resto-mod do you think it would be out of line to slap on some KHS decals after the repaint?
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Old 09-24-21, 03:32 PM
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@BoozyMcliverRot You can do whatever you'd like! Trying to make a re-decal and make a replica of a really valuable bike gets into a grey area since someone down the line can get duped, but you aren't doing that here.

Maybe get some Yeti decals? ha

Not a Yeti: Gravel Jesus’ Surly Midnight Special Pro Fro Tribute Bike – John Watson | The Radavist | A group of individuals who share a love of cycling and the outdoors.
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Old 09-24-21, 04:53 PM
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Originally Posted by tricky
@BoozyMcliverRot You can do whatever you'd like! Trying to make a re-decal and make a replica of a really valuable bike gets into a grey area since someone down the line can get duped, but you aren't doing that here.

Maybe get some Yeti decals? ha

Not a Yeti: Gravel Jesus’ Surly Midnight Special Pro Fro Tribute Bike – John Watson | The Radavist | A group of individuals who share a love of cycling and the outdoors.
I did consider some Klein or Cannondale decals but the steel tubes are wayyyy too small of diameter to fit either of those huge aluminum frame decals.
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Old 09-24-21, 06:26 PM
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Originally Posted by BoozyMcliverRot
I believe it was TMar that dated this as a 1994 by the serial number but this paint/graphics does not match the 1994 catalog. It does however match 5he few others I've found on Google as a 1991....
The serial number indcates December 1992 manufacture, which should make it a 1993 model. If I said 1994,it was likely a typo.
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Old 09-24-21, 07:03 PM
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Originally Posted by T-Mar
The serial number indcates December 1992 manufacture, which should make it a 1993 model. If I said 1994,it was likely a typo.
Ok. Thank you. That makes more sense then. It's likely that they used the same paint and decals for more than 1 year.
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Old 09-24-21, 07:27 PM
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Originally Posted by T-Mar
The serial number indcates December 1992 manufacture, which should make it a 1993 model. If I said 1994,it was likely a typo.
Are you able to tell the manufacturer from the serial? Was "KHS" a manufacturer themselves and they did contract work for Performance, et al or just another brand that used one of the manufacturing firms out of Japan?
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Old 09-24-21, 07:56 PM
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KHS (Kung Hsue She) was one of the early Taiwanese bicycle manufacturers. The company traces it origins back to 1930, when it was a supplier of educational products, though the KHS name was not adopted until 1945. The bicycle division was created circa 1972, as a diversification of the sporting goods supplied to schools. After early quality issues KHS engaged the help of a Japanese bicycle manufacturer who helped raise their manufacturing standards. KHS' American bicycle division was establshed circa 1974.
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Old 09-25-21, 01:41 PM
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Originally Posted by smontanaro
I took a few (bad) pix of the Performance (turns out to be an M605) at Play It Again Sports. Apologies for the bad takes on the serial number. I was in a bit of a hurry as it was rather cold out. I won't be able to get back there for a couple days to get better shots.

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmVmjUGN
Hello smontanaro,

I have taken a look at your pictures of your M605. The serial number appears to be U50400407.

If so, the frame was manufactured by KHS of Taiwan, as they used a U prefix.
The 5 is for the year of manufacture, 1995. the following digits 04 are for the month, April.
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Old 09-25-21, 02:26 PM
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Originally Posted by BoozyMcliverRot
This is mine. It's a 1991 M103,from the research I did on Google the serial format matches the Diamondback,Centurions and KHS of that time period. The only bikes I've found with the True Temper OX Ultra 2 tubes were sold by KHS.
This bicycle was discussed in a previous thread.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...nce-frame.html
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Old 09-25-21, 04:23 PM
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Originally Posted by Hummer
This bicycle was discussed in a previous thread.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...nce-frame.html
It indeed was. I posted here also in case the serial format or what I've found out about it could be beneficial to the OP.

Edit: I now realize it was you who told me year from serial and not TMar.
My apologies to both of you for misremembering manufacturing date.

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