Bikes are never done, right? They're always fluid...existing in one form or another just temporarily...at least for those of us who like to tinker. I have had my '97 750 in a steady state for a little while now, putting many miles on it in the basement on a fluid trainer over the winter. And it's been out and about some this month, now that the weather in the mid-Atlantic has finally broken for some 60s and 70s. I haven't taken any snaps of it lately with its current parts, so I figured I'd post some for the MultiTrack fans out there.
^^^ On a very pleasant evening ride tonight. This is a 21" frame. Given the height of my seat post and bars, you'd think I should be on a 23". This may be true. I'm usually right in the middle between a "medium" and a "large" and I generally prefer upsizing a small frame rather than trying to downsize a large frame.
^^^ The current drivetrain. This originally came with a full STX drivetrain with a 22-32-42 crankset, but I wanted a little taller gear than that as I use this as my "road bike", so I swapped on a 26-36-48 FSA crankset from my parts bin. The hub has a 7-speed freehub that is not upgradeable because it's a roller clutch hub...so I have an 8-of-9-on-7 cassette on it. I took a 12-36 9-speed cassette and I'm using the 12-32 from it, dropping the 36 tooth sprocket. I have this paired with a 9-speed chain and 3x9 Microshift thumb shifters, indexed on the right/rear. I replaced the original STX rear derailleur with this Acera M3000 from my parts bin to better clear the 32 tooth sprocket and it shifts very nicely with this combination.
^^^ You can see the "bell" of the roller clutch mechanism from behind the cassette. The 8-of-9-on-7 is working great in this application.
^^^ It's riding on 38mm Panaracer Pasela PTs. I have a set of the regular (non-ProTite) versions in the same size on another bike and those seem a bit more supple than these (understandable). I'm happy with these, happy with the look, and happy with the comfort. They're dead quiet and seem to be wearing like iron so far.
^^^ This bike was originally equipped with cantilevers, and I've had both the original and newer Tektro cantilevers on it, but the linear pull brakes just work really nicely, especially with the rear rack configuration (more on that below). These are Avid Single Digit 5s (no longer produced). I'm very happy with these brakes.
^^^ This is the rear rack area. There are threaded bosses for two rack stays, but they're set pretty close together, laterally, and don't work very nicely for that. The brake bridge works much better as a rack stay mount, but that necessitates the cable routing offered by linear pull brakes. The fenders are Planet Bike Cascadias, 45mm wide. They cover the 38mm tires very nicely.
^^^ The cockpit. From the outside working in, those are Ergon GP3s (large), Origin8 bar ends with generic foam grips, and Microshift 3x9 thumb shifters. There are a lot of hand positions here and it's pretty comfortable to ride. The inner bar ends let me "tuck" (or as much as an overweight middle age Fred can really tuck!), and I can sit up nice and tall on the outer grips.
^^^ Another cockpit view, showing some of the angles. The bar is a cheap Sunlite 720mm rider bar I found on clearance at a local bike shop. It works great for this application.
Really nice riding bikes, these MultiTracks are. I own several newer bikes with aluminum frames and hydraulic disc brakes, but this bike just feels
good to ride. And it's a quiet operator, with the smooth tread Paselas and roller clutch hub. I'm very pleased to own this example, and I use and enjoy it as often as I can.