My wife and I bought a pair of matching green and black Tange Chromo Trek hybrids in '93. Broken chain sidelined mine for a bunch of years, until I stumbled on a fixie blog, where I was instantly hooked on minimalist bikes (which I leaned toward in motorcycles already). Tore mine down, rattle-canned it flat black which was more forgiving given the patina of the rust and dings, ground/cut/removed 3-5 pounds of stuff. I soon realized that this hybrid would become 90/10% road/off-road:

* Single stock rear brake/lever, Dia-compe/Shimano off-road
* chopped/flopped cheapo ebay alloy narrow drop bar
* sticky tennis raquet wrap from local sporting goods store (SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES)bound with electrical tape
* plastic cheapo bar ends from one of the kid's bikes (parts bike, I'm not a monster)
* $9 plywood-hard, 30 year old, ebay wrights saddle, which took much oil, heat, shoe polish, and lacing to get back to life on stock seat post
* ground off the outer chainring, (welded 3 ring unit) haven't gotten around to the tiny one
* cheapo 1 speed chain/chain tensioner from LBS down the road (vert drop-out)
* cheapo bmx 16t frewheel, screwed right on, from same LBS
* rowdy ebay NOS Sakae quill, which I love
* cheapo mks pedals, which I love, gift certificate to LBS for my birthday
* cheapo ebay toe clips, which I love
* adjustable bottle holder of unknown quality, gift from family for father's day, so it's great
* complete $35 ebay 650 skewer, Hutchinson tire (+ tube), and Weinman rim package with nice black spokes, quick fix for awesome handling that I craved, compensating for stock high-ten steel forks
* big old slick 32 on wide stock 700C arraya rim, complete with rusty spokes, trued and dished; comfy for thrashing around in the dark, I am a father of 4 with 1 on the way, only get to ride m-f, flat out for 30 minutes, at 5:30 in the morning.... kept rear deflector, and wear reflective vest and helmet, of course
* I was going to get vintage Trek seattube decals for $25, as I feel that badgeless vehicles tend to look a little DIY sometimes, but I said screw it, this bike is my workhorse, I haven't even washed it, ever. I put some electrical tape down low on the seattube to lower the "line", just for the heck of it, give it a little color or something. Lame attempt, but I felt that maybe the stripes would add to the vintage flair.

Basically, I want to race a crit in a couple years after I turn 40 and my little ones grow a bit. I would like to build up a classic frame to race, so this is my trainer, proper.

I love this bike, it is a gas, period.

Thanks for looking.

Alan Medina
upstate NY

alan.d.medina@fritolay.com