Converted Trek

[hobbs.c...@gmail.com]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/109479323@N05/

I have always enjoyed this old Trek (circa 1979), just a real comfortable easy bike to ride.  The only problems were that it had no braze ons.  Even the water bottles were clamped on.  And the best I could do was 700x32 wheels and tires.  I was running Challenge cross tires that are very nice, but not as wide as I wanted.

I have been reading Bicycle Quarterly for a few years, so I knew that eventually I would have to see what all the fuss was about.  So I decided to adress both isssues at once.  I brazed on cable stops, shifter bosses, rack bosses for the front fork, water bottle mounts (two) and a chain hanger.  Without crimping the stays I can easily fit 650bx38s (compass loup loup).  

At the end of the season I will strip it and repaint it.  For now I am riding it ugly.  Not enough moisture here to worry about rust.  I think I may add a third set of water bottle mounts, configure it for centerpulls, crimp the stays, and upgrade to 42mm tires.  I have a set of Mafac Racers that should work for that purpose.

I am super happy with how it has turned out.  On pavement I feel comfortable and fast, and on gravel roads the difference is amazing.  I am about 175 pounds and I am running them at 60 pounds, I would be curious to hear what most people are running on maintained dirt roads/pavement.

Charles Hobbs

Fort Morgan, Colorado

[Tony DeFilippo]

Charles, nice job on the trek. I'm impressed by all the brazing work, was this the first time you'd done that sort of work? I have an'81 Trek 610 in my garage with a similar idea for a project but I haven't done the research on the brazing just yet. I'd love to hear more about your experience doing the hot work.

My proof of concept was an'82 Trek 71x that I rode 650b converted for much of last year. I squeezed 42mm hetre's into that frame but it was a tight fit on the chain stays. The bike had a fair amount if'shimmy' and was about 2 sizes to big for me even with the smaller wheel size.

As for pressure on the 42's i've settled in on 40/60 psi for most purposes.

[Jim Bronson]

How does the from rack attach at the top?  Fork crown?  I couldn't see in the pics.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "650b" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to 650b+uns...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to 65...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/650b.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[hobbs.c...@gmail.com]

Thanks for the comments. I am self taught with the torch. I spend a lot of time on the framebuilder forum and practicing in my shop with both brass and silver. After about four years of tinkering in my garage I have built some decent racks and two complete frames. Both are upright mixte frames suitible for slow speed cruising to the coffee shop. I felt pretty comfortable after that warm up taking on the modifications to my beloved Trek. The long term goal is to build a lightwieght Rando style frame from the ground up. I think I may be ready to start that project this coming winter.

The rack hangs off the brake bolt sort of like the old Blackurn racks. Here is a photo.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/109479323@N05/10998026533/

Regards

Charles Hobbs

[Tony DeFilippo]

Charles, sounds like you've done some interesting projects! I'd love to see and hear more about your brazing, a buddy of mine did the brazing route at UBI last year and we have been talking about picking up a torch to start messing around with in my garage.

Is that front rack a custom built one of yours?

[Hoch]

Cool.  I have an '83 500 that I wouldn't mind doing a conversion on.  Although I'm not keen on using long-reach brakes...

[hobbs.c...@gmail.com]

On Sunday, June 8, 2014 8:50:43 PM UTC-6, hobbs.c...@gmail.com wrote:

[Charles Hobbs]

I liked this conversion so much that I went ahead and gave it a complete upgrade.  I got it back from the powder coater, put reproduction decals from Velocals on it, new Pacenti rims, Schmidt front hub, and some classic MAFAC tandem cantis.  Next is a upgraded crank, some kind of more compact double instead of the triple on it now. 

 https://www.flickr.com/photos/109479323@N05/18289340294/in/dateposted-public/

Charles Hobbs

[Jim Bronson]

Lookin good Charles!  Are you going to put some fenders on it also?

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "650b" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to 650b+uns...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to 65...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/650b.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

Keep the metal side up and the rubber side down!

[Charles Hobbs]

Thanks. No fenders. Not philosophically opposed, but here in
Northeast Colorado (flat and windy, not the part of the state that
gets all the press) we get maybe 12 inches of rain a year. When it
does rain it is usually one hard, fast downpour. Even after a big
rain the dirt roads are fully drained and dry in a few hours. I like
how fenders look, but I just don't find them useful out here.
Charles

[Kieran Joyes]

Hey Charles, is that a 710? Looks great and I bet it rides nicely too.

KJ

[Evan E.]

Beautiful Trek, Charles!  Did you by chance ever try Mafac Racers with 650B rims? I have Racers on my my 1978 Trek TX500, and the pads don't reach quite far enough south to reach the brake track on 650B wheels.

Evan

[Charles Hobbs]

I bailed on the Racers. I got a little spooked by some posts about
how tricky brazing centerpull posts can be, so as a decided amateur I
went the canti route. I never even checked to see if the Racers were
going to work. Not sure what I am going to do with them. Plus, I
really wanted to use these old MAFAC high profile cantis. They work
great, cool stop pads and the machined rim surface on the Pacenti rims
work well togather; no squeal.

> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the
> Google Groups "650b" group.
> To unsubscribe from this topic, visit
> https://groups.google.com/d/topic/650b/3iGyLI7isNo/unsubscribe.
> To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to

[Jim Bronson]

Wait...you brazed the canti posts yourself??

Nice!!!!!

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "650b" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to 650b+uns...@googlegroups.com.

To post to this group, send email to 65...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/650b.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Nick Favicchio]

Great bike. And brazed yourself? Jealous :). Which pads are you using? I just got Mafac tandem cantis myself! I'm rocking the Eagle 2 up front and a 70mm Sunlite (I think?) Thinline knockoffs in the back. The Eagle 2 grabs like wow!

But yea, which Trek is that?

[Steve Frey]

I'm a huge fan of 1980s Treks, and yours is a great example of how these old bikes can be made even better with some simple modifications. I especially like the bosses on the seat stay for the pump. That's clever.

Not meaning to heist your thread, but your bike is so similar to mine that I thought it would be interesting to share mine here too. Mine started out as a 1982 Trek 311. I added many of the same braze-ons you added (downtube shifters bosses, water bottle bosses, brake and derailleur cable stops, etc.) but decided to go with stud mounted Dia Compe 750s for the brakes. I've been riding it like this for several months now and love almost everything about it.

Indeed, centerpull posts are a little fussier than canti posts. It took me two tries to get it right. But they now work very well. For the rack, I cut the support struts and fork crown tang off of an old VO Randonneur rack, and then brazed on new attachment points to get it to work with the centerpulls.

The rear brake cable hanger was made from a spoke and a cable housing stop. It's pretty delicate, so I'd probably do something a little more substantial next time. For now it works well enough.

The changes I made to the bike were substantial enough that it didn't feel right to call it a "Trek" anymore. So, I mooshed my last name (Frey) together with the old Trek logo, and voila... Frek.

Steve

[Steve Palincsar]

That's gorgeous!   Two questions: what width tires does it fit?  38mm max?  and  what don't you love about it?

On 06/19/2015 04:26 PM, Steve Frey wrote:

[Steve Frey]

Thanks!

38 mm is the widest it will take. I thought about dimpling the stays to squeeze in 42 mm tires, but with the Dia Compe brakes I'd have to let air out of the tires to get anything wider on and off. 

What I don't love... The 311 was built with a pretty stout tube set. The main triangle is Ishiwata Magny X which is 9/6/9 throughout. At about 150 lbs (me, not the bike), I do better on a bike with a little more "spring" to it like my Rawland Stag. Frek is primarily my commuter bike and for that purpose it really works really well.

Steve

[Steve Palincsar]

On 06/19/2015 05:49 PM, Steve Frey wrote:

Thanks!

38 mm is the widest it will take. I thought about dimpling the stays to squeeze in 42 mm tires, but with the Dia Compe brakes I'd have to let air out of the tires to get anything wider on and off. 

What I don't love... The 311 was built with a pretty stout tube set. The main triangle is Ishiwata Magny X which is 9/6/9 throughout. At about 150 lbs (me, not the bike), I do better on a bike with a little more "spring" to it like my Rawland Stag. Frek is primarily my commuter bike and for that purpose it really works really well.

I think many would agree that for a commuter bike it looks way nicer than it needs to be.  It reminds me of one of those JPW reimagined Raleighs.  I totally get the "spring" thing.

Steve

On Friday, June 19, 2015 at 1:47:54 PM UTC-7, Steve Palincsar wrote:

That's gorgeous!   Two questions: what width tires does it fit?  38mm max?  and  what don't you love about it?

On 06/19/2015 04:26 PM, Steve Frey wrote:

I'm a huge fan of 1980s Treks, and yours is a great example of how these old bikes can be made even better with some simple modifications. I especially like the bosses on the seat stay for the pump. That's clever.

Not meaning to heist your thread, but your bike is so similar to mine that I thought it would be interesting to share mine here too. Mine started out as a 1982 Trek 311. I added many of the same braze-ons you added (downtube shifters bosses, water bottle bosses, brake and derailleur cable stops, etc.) but decided to go with stud mounted Dia Compe 750s for the brakes. I've been riding it like this for several months now and love almost everything about it.

Indeed, centerpull posts are a little fussier than canti posts. It took me two tries to get it right. But they now work very well. For the rack, I cut the support struts and fork crown tang off of an old VO Randonneur rack, and then brazed on new attachment points to get it to work with the centerpulls.

The rear brake cable hanger was made from a spoke and a cable housing stop. It's pretty delicate, so I'd probably do something a little more substantial next time. For now it works well enough.

The changes I made to the bike were substantial enough that it didn't feel right to call it a "Trek" anymore. So, I mooshed my last name (Frey) together with the old Trek logo, and voila... Frek.

[Christopher Grande]

This is really well done, an utter joy to at least look at. Kudos to your handy work.