Barrettscv 

I'm a cyclist with an assortment of current and vintage bikes. I've had five vintage bikes over the years, including a 1974 Schwinn Paramount and a 1985ish Trek 400. These bikes were sold in 2010, the Paramount was too small and the Trek found a new home and a new life as a commuter bike.

During the last 6 months I've purchased one complete 1978 Trek TX900, a 1983 Trek 970 frameset and a 1985ish Serotta Nova Special X frameset. The 1983 Trek 970 is now road worthy and will see several events this year, including the Dairyland Dare in Wisconsin and E'roica in Italy.

Of all the vintage Trek models, the 1983 970 is the best combination of materials and geometry. The geometry is perfect for me with a 63cm C-to-T seat-tube and a 59 C-to-C toptube. This size 970 is built with Columbus SP while the smaller frames were built from Columbus SL. SP has thicker wall thickness and the tubeset is about 20% heavier than SL, adding about a half-pound. I'm a Clydesdale, and really like the stiffness of these frames.

The bike will be used for century events and credit-card touring. I'm using a rebuilt 36 spoke wheelset featuring Campy Record high-flange hubs and new Sun CR18 rims. The rear wheel was rebuilt with an offset and a NOS Suntour Winner seven-speed 13-24 freewheel was installed. The Crankset is a Apex SR with 52, 40 & 28 chainrings. The derailleurs are Shimano XT. The Brakes are Dura Ace and the levers are NOS Shimano 600. Currently I'm using new 700x28 Vittoria Rubino Pro Tech tires. The cables and guides are new. The headset is a new Tange Levin and the BB is rebuilt Shimano.

The bike has a just-right blend of stiffness and dampness, the tires are kept below 100 psi to keep the ride plush. I'll install 700x27 Challenge Paris-Roubaix tires for events.

The bike is a my first high performance vintage bike that both fits well and is properly built for events. It should see some special days.

jeirvine 

Super nice Trek, and exactly my size. Jealous. Enjoy it.

bikemig 

I like the bike and I like the triple. This bike will work great for the Dairyland Dare.

spacemanz

Congrats, that should be pretty awesome! I have a real good idea what you mean, about getting things "right", compared to just ride-able. My Bottecchia is very similar, 63cm with Columbus tubing, but not marked as SP or SL, and a similar geometry too. I'm actually going to go out on it today, for my first ride since building it up, so I can't really comment on that yet, but from going around the parking lot the other day, I get a real good vibe from it. It's not that easy finding the good frames, but hopefully, it's well worth the trouble of finding one.

El Segundo

Nice bike, enjoy the ride!

inkandsilver

Beautiful!

AAZ

WOW! Rare and unique. Enjoy this beautiful ride!!

dgodave

Oh oh oh.... I have one too. Same year. Full campy SR setup. Nice bike!
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bibliobob

Love it...

dgodave

Here's the one I got. Was my racing bike from '85 through '92
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jjhabbs 

970 or 170 is my dream bike. Love it

rekmeyata

My first real road bike after getting back into country was a brand new 76 Trek TX900 with fastback stays that came as a frame (Columbus SL if I remember correctly) and fork only and I had to buy the components from the dealer. It was an alright bike, later I discovered that it was flexy, but most frames (and wheels) were flexy back then, and climbing mountains made the chain rub both sides of the front derailleur and the back wheel to rub both brake pads. I sold the bike a year later due to girls thought it odd that a single man had a expensive bike and a junker car (and a Moto Guzzi which I also sold), so I got a good car and had no bike for a few years. I kind of wish I would have kept the bike, but the girl thing was worth it!

I too now have several vintage bikes but nothing real high endish. I do have a 84 Trek 660 that I got as a new frame and fork and had all Suntour Superbe components put on, that bike has over 160,000 miles on it and still runs perfectly but I semi retired it so to save the wear and tear on it.

Barrettscv 

Thanks' Everyone,

I put 70 miles on the bike this week-end. I'm happy with the result. It's blurs the line between a true race bike and a sports model, just what I was hoping for. :-)

dgodave

Awesome.
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I find the bike to be pure race, at least the way mine is st up. I like the way you set up your gearing. I'm not really qualified to ride mine anymore.
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Barrettscv 

Hi Dave,

Your looks to be correctly built and matches the 1983 catalog specifications. It must be fun on a fast and flatter route. The Campy SR is the way to go and I would have built it up with SR if I had the legs (and the wallet)!

BTW, are the Trek letters durable? Mine are gone (they must have been removed)and others I have seen are mostly gone.

dgodave

Yeah, mine is unchanged, except for the wheels, which arent original. I even think the gray cable housing is original.
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I do think the trek decals are somewhat fragile, as I've seen a fair amount of damage on other old trek decals, including my 1983 620.
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(I am going to get this bike back on the road soon. Havent ridden it in years.)
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rekmeyata

I don't know if I would call the Trek decals weak because even though mine are really faded, (from the original yellow to whitish color), but I put about 140,000 miles on in the intense sun of S. California and mostly desert and mountains where the sun was really bad. Even the paint is faded. That's the only bike I had that I exposed to that kind of sun beating, so I have nothing to compare it to. I do know it was the last 30,000 miles or so that the decals really got bad, before that they were fine.

Chris_in_Miami

I agree, someone probably peeled those decals off for some reason, the examples on my '77 TX300 and '82 950 have held up well. Great looking 970's, both of them