State of the Trek

The Trek and I have had an amazing journey this year, she is barely recognizable from the initial drop bar, skinny tired, 6 speed steed that I picked up on Craigslist last December.  I've been trying to wait till I'm 'done' to post some more complete pictures but have decided to go ahead as the projects are really un-ending and at the same time she's really riding very well as is...  I haven't really named her, though I usually use 'Trek' to differentiate from the others, at the same time based on my inspirations for making these modificiations I've been musing over 'RIVEN-HERSE' to honor the Rivendell/Grant Peterson and Rene Herse/Jan Heine connections.  At the same time I could also go with SURLY-ORANGE to honor the Surly Bikes and Velo-Orange companies as they have both supplied parts and direction on the path to putting this bike together.

I've also made some progress in the 'provenance' (to steal a term from Waterford), I'm now settled on the 'fact' that she is a 1982 Trek 715... The initial 612/614 designation was blown up by the brazed on derailleur cable guides on the top of the bottom bracket.  So to make it a 715 the only missing feature are the Reynolds 531 stickers on the fork... maybe they came off at some point, or maybe this is an odd duck 612/4 with the extra braze ons. I'm not sure but from now on I'm going with 1982 Trek 715.

Regardless of what you call her here she is circa July 2013;

Beusage! - The Cockpit is dominated by the two-toned, Hokie-inspired Orange and Maroon bar tape... two coats of shellac and a very liberal coating of hand sweat especially towards the bar ends has changed the look significantly the more I've ridden.   The PDW cup holder is reasonably new as well, pretty cool but you can't put a paper cup in there an expect to have the lid keep your coffee in on all but the gentle-ist rides.  Works great with a sealed metal cup though.  You'll notice the baseket crumpled to the left, I'll fix it eventually but for now I'm leaving it as a constant reminder to keep my head up, pay attention, and NOT CRASH THE BIKE AGAIN!

 

The other huge addition is of course the Supernova Dyno-powered headlight...  this thing is just as awesome as I was hoping.  The installation isn't finalized as I need the rear fender on to accomplish my taillight mounting plan but I'll certainly be adding images once I'm done with that portion.

 

Extra Leger - The Grand Bois Hetre 42mm tires... like the supernova these puppies do not dissappoint. I can't compare them to the non- Extra Leger version unfortunately but am satisfied enough that I'm trying to see if the 29mm EL tires will fit on my Bianchi.  The tires make a humongous difference in the ride quality.  The Velocity Synergy 650B rims also deserve a shout as they have been flawless and held their true very well.

I've bragged on the VO prototype brakes before, but can't avoid a mention again.  Extremely effective brakes (too effective last wednesday!).  They continue to be very easy to adjust, very easy quick release to remove a wheel and just all around awesome.

Of course after Wednesday's mud clearance experience I can't help but point out the extremely narrow tolerance by which these 42mm beauties fit in the rear triangle.  I'm wondering now if would be feasible to have a frame-builder give me some 'clearance dimples'... like I've seen on other chainstays to make this a bit more comfortable...

Also worth mentioning here is the rear fender, or lack thereof...the problem is the chainstay bridge which has no hole drilled in it. My mechanic buddy Mark says I shoudl drill it and I'm close to following that advice but I just haven't built up the momentum to do so yet.

The semi-horizontal (or is it semi-vertical) dropouts have had their adjustment screws removed to push the rear wheel back as far as possible, thats the only way these Hetre tires fit.  The Shimano Deore XT RD has been flawless, easy to keep in adjustment and really invisible to me as the rider.  The sweet in line cable adjuster that my mechanic friend Mark installed is a bit out of focus but very clever.

The Brooks B67 came to me after I got a very kind gift card to Spokes Etc from a friend... I'd been considering it for a while.  I'd say after around 300 miles or so I'm not completely sold but am trending happier with it.  I've been stubbornly avoiding wearing my padded shorts, even on the recent 50 mile ride to really break it in and get a 'feel' for how I like it.  On the 50 miler from about 25m on I was distincltly aware of the spring column's if I sat to far back on the seat.  Also it squeeks like no bodies business.

Not much to say, but the topeak frame pump has worked splendedly, the stains on the headbadge are from coffee coming out of a paper cup in the PDW holder.  Nice lugs!

One of two original to the time of purchase, and most likely the last original part on the bike.  (the front derailleur is a Shimano LX but I think Suntour was the initial group on this bike as delivered by Trek)

The bottom line (actually the top tube)