TREK 700 - Bringing back an unfinished project...

[horsefarmer]

This forlorn Trek 700 (hidden behind the orange Mongoose) was a project of my late brothers. I believe it's a 1988 model. All I have is the 19" frame with fork, canti brakes and looks like a new unused Shimano crankset - still wrapped in plastic. Crank bearings spin super smooth I bet he replaced them.

This was another of those infamous police auction bikes. IDK where the original 700c wheels went but they could of been fubar.

Good bones.

Found some old Schwinn? 27" wheels and they seem to fit....

 

[MattiThundrrr]

I'd wager that will be a good rider. Another nice hoss for the stable.

 

[horsefarmer]

Got the Schwinn wheels cleaned up and fairly true. Many spokes had to be freed up! Found a couple of used tires and tubes too.
I think these were from a old Giant or Panasonic built Schwinn.

The center of the rear hub is pretty beat up looks like a Schwinn logo then printed underneath, made in Japan.

Wheels are steel made by FEMCO.

Suntour 5 speed freewheel freed up easily with a little 3 in 1 oil.

Found this in my late brother's stash. Looks NOS. And should be much better than a big box bike derailleur.

Sadly, there was another front wheel with a cool high-flange hub but busted a spoke trying to free 'em up.

 

[horsefarmer]

Serial seems to be 1993 mfg but paint looks like 1992 700 found online...

IDK if the Trek paint is deteriorating, or if previous owner touched it up with flat white paint? Could be house paint or white out - pretty easy to scratch that's for sure.
I'm still deliberating on gear ratios for the crank.

 

[horsefarmer]

Coming right along. Digging around in my brothers stash, I found some old SunTour derailleurs. They look almost NOS condition.

The seat binder bolt mounted brake cable stop hanger for the rear caliper brakes was long gone so I made my own out of an old brake arm..

A 52t crankset will yield 50 to 100 gear inches. 2 options.
1. Super Maxy.

Or 2. Deore with Biopace.

Super Maxy has less offset. Have to see what the chain line looks like. Surprised these cranksets will clear the frame, they won't fit my typical mt. bikes.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

I like the look of the Deore. I'm undecided on the biopace ovals. Some say that they ruin knees, but I'm skeptical about that. Probably depends on how much/how hard you push with them

 

[horsefarmer]

I like the look of the Deore. I'm undecided on the biopace ovals. Some say that they ruin knees, but I'm skeptical about that. Probably depends on how much/how hard you push with them

Thanks! I like the OvalTech by SR Sakae XCE Crankset on my GT Arette.
https://ratrodbikes.com/forum/index.php?threads/90s-gt-arette-some-upgrades.112608/#post-1166355

I'm a Clyde and would rather power up a hill than spin up it. Seems like the oval works to my advantage.

This thing is a bit of an odd duck. It's only 160mm (usually run 170 and up) cranks so there is that.

 

[horsefarmer]

Decided on the bio pace cranks. Put some used chain on there and hooked up the Suntour derailer with a Deore sis thumbie. Even though it's got a shorter cage length it shifts just great! Even shifts fine on the smaller front ring so thats a plus.

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

I've found out recently that femco rims are heavy but tough

 

[horsefarmer]

I've found out recently that femco rims are heavy but tough

Thanks! The chrome on them cleaned up pretty well. They were quite famous in BMX I believe.

 

[horsefarmer]

After goofy issues with the 6 speed Shimano sis Deore thumbie vs SunTour 5 speed hub, I finally switched it to friction and it's much better, so I'm going to run friction shifters on both the front and rear derailleurs!

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Friction shifting solves all the problems! I need a couple of sets of thumbies

 

[horsefarmer]

Works great now! These thumbies have tiny ratchet pawls. No name on them tho.

 

[horsefarmer]

Pretty much did as much as I can do on this till weather permits a test drive.

IDK about the rear rack or the bars. Looking at this pic, if I adjust the stainless straps a little bit I can get the rack to be horizontal. It's a trek rack.

 

[horsefarmer]

Quick test ride today! OK but dicey on the slushy icy stuff.