Originally Posted by bikemig

I picked up a 1979 Trek 510 a few years ago and I figured it was time to get it on the road. This is a crazy time with the coronavirus. It just feels good to hang out in my shop, put on some tunes, drink a beer or two, and work on a fine machine from back in the day.

I'm a big fan of old Treks. I worked in a bike shop in the 80s. I liked the way that Trek took on the Europeans and the Japanese and built a fine bike that could stand up against anything being built in the day. I know I sold a lot of Treks in the shop where I worked. I believed in them then and I'm still a fan of steel vintage Treks.

The 500 series bikes sort of flies under the radar since they were built with Ishiwata tubing rather than Reynolds or Columbus like the higher end models but they are very fine bikes. The bike is low temperature silver brazed as are the higher end bikes. And Ishiwata 022 tubing is just as good as Reynolds or Columbus.

Current plans are to build the bike with parts on hand and try to use parts that will look right on a bike from 1979. I'll go with different and sturdier wheels. I'm not a fan of the narrow Rigida rims that came on so many Treks. They were soft and did not keep their true well. I'm also going to change out the crank since I want to go 3 x 6 on this build. The SR Apex crank that came on the bike has an obsolete bcd in any case. I'll keep the original derailleurs since they are suntour but I'll likely change out all the other parts.

Here is a picture of the bike as found in the "wild" as well as the spec sheet from the '79 catalog: