Jim,
Here
is my second submission for the Current Classics gallery.
This
is my "new" 1983 Trek 500 "Resurrectio". This
bike was completely rebuilt using a combination of new, new-old-stock,
and used components taken from my 1976 Trek TX500 (Current
Classics #261). The decals are from Rivendell, designed to adorn
bikes that have risen from the ashes. No one will ever see the bike
cleaner than in these pictures Š taken on the morning I finished
final adjustments, and just before its maiden voyage around Lake
Harriet in southwest Minneapolis, Minnesota.
I
bought it as a complete, non-original bike on ebay. Probably paid
a little too much, but it came built with 1980Õs campy record crank,
brakes, pedals, and hubs (French), badly mismatched non-campy bottom
bracket, crappy headset without enough spacers, and a really marginal
paint job. IÕll call the ebay seller "Jack the Dripper".
He claimed the "custom" powder paint job was really nice
- he lied. Oh well, a bike is more than its paint job. I have the
original head badge -- waiting for new paint.
I
bought the bike because my 1976 Trek has always been (as in going
on 30 years) too big for me. After all that time riding a larger
frame, I still haven't gotten used to the riding position on the
'83, but the upright bars are part of that. I have another setup
of Nitto noodle bars, stem, and brake levers with cables and casings
that I am planning on swapping out with the Albatross, kind of a
bar conversion kit that I can swap out (although it's never as quick
and easy as it sounds). IÕll update with photos once I finish it.
The
one downside of this bike, and not uncommon among many of the bikes
of the 70's and 80's - toe clip interference with the front wheel,
especially with fenders, which I like to use. Believe it or not,
we're pretty adaptable.
Component
rundown:
From
the 76 Trek:
Wheels - Campagnolo Record hubs, Weinmann concave rims 27 x 1-1/4
Brakes - Suntour Superbe, long (standard) reach (early model)
Crank - Sugino Mighty Tour, new 46-36 chainrings
Pedals - Loyotard Berthet platform
Seat - Ideale 90
New-Old-Stock
bought on Ebay or elsewhere:
Shifters - Suntour Sprint Power ratchet (as good as it gets)
Derailleurs - Rear: Suntour Cyclone, Front: Suntour Superbe
Brake Levers Š Suntour XC Expert
New:
Bars and Stem Š Nitto Albatross, Technomic
Freewheel Š Shimano 6 speed
Chain - SRAM
Headset - Tange
Came
with frame, probably original:
Seat Post - SR Laprade
Weight
as pictured: just a few ounces shy of 24 pounds.
Paul
Jacobson
Minneapolis, MN
paulj@relres.com
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