X-LinkedRider

Part of the responsibility of being the 'bike guy' is seizing the opportunity to help a friend in need when they are not quite sure how to spend their money or IF they should spend their money to repair something or replace it.

Over the last 6 months, I have either bought or helped a good friend/riding partner obtain a much better bike instead of wasting any more money on older/heavy or sometimes the incorrect size.

The latest purchase was today. My buddy who brought his road bike up from 'home' wanted me to let him know how much it would cost to fix everything or make it new or modern. The bike he brought to me was an XSM (maybe a 46cm) Univega Nuovo Sport with 26" road wheels. The upside was, the bike has pretty decent drive train as it was fully equipped with Shimano Light Action Indexed DT Shifting 2x6 setup and the bike was in near perfect condition in regards to being tuned. (Just needed cleaning and lubing) The problem is, my friend is 5'7 with longer legs and short torso, so and he was way too big for this kids sized bike. So I had him ride my rival equipped 54cm Allez to get a feel for the frame size. (He was OK with the height of the seat pretty low but the reach in the arms was too long) So I told him I would start looking for 50-52cm road bikes for less than $200 (That was his limit) that would have 700x wheels, Indexed Shifting, an Aluminum Frame and weight less than 24 lbs.

This was what I found for him. We checked it out, test rode it, brought it home, and I changed the saddle til he buys a nicer one and I gave him a pretty proper bike fitting while on the trainer and of course a routine bike purchase maintenance and tuning.





1989 Trek 1200 (50cm) Aluminum Frame
Shimano 105 - 7 spd Road group with DT shifters
Matrix ISO C Wheels w/ Matrix Tires (700x20)
Shimano 105 Pedals/Cages
Bio-pace crankset (Oval chainrings)

Total weight with pedals (22.9 lbs)

*Original Owner
*Had original owners manual and all maintenance records
*The bike was never laid down and kept indoors in it's entirety
*Was really only used about 2 to 3k miles as he only used it for 3 specific charity rides each year for 7 or 8 years.
*Was maintained at the LBS he bought it as it should have been (Which is still there and is considered one of the most reputable in our area)

Purchase Price - $150.00 plus some good bike conversation

Obviously he will be replacing the saddle, grip tape, brake/shifter cables and tires when we get to the chance to run to the store and I have a set of Look Keo Classics in black (I think) I will be giving him. Him and I were throwing around a few ideas in regards to a color scheme.

Any ideas? We were thinking
Black saddle/black tape
White Saddle/White Tape
Black Saddle/That Mint Green/Celeste Bar tape
White Saddle/That Mint Green/Celeste Bar tape

As always, thanks for the input.

vautrain

Man, you're a good friend, and that's a sweet ride for $150. I'd go black/black probably, although I do kind of like that color scheme on the bar tape, I'd almost encourage you to try to find some of that (if it's still being made!). Celeste would also be a good color for the tape, but I'd still go with black for the saddle. A white bike with a white saddle is too much.

milkbaby

Wow, that is super clean; nice job helping your buddy!!!

I personally would go black saddle, celeste tape because the black saddle will balance with the black stem and black hoods while the celeste complements the logos.

X-LinkedRider

Thanks, are you saying you like the dalmation tape? Lol. You should have seen my friends eyes roll when we saw that. but honestly The bike is incredibly clean and the welds are buttery smooth.

This was his and my final thought, but it always helps to seek out options maybe we didn't even think of.



By the way, the other two bikes I found before this one was an 88 Cannondale Crit (which I bought for my friend as a birthday gift to replace his non stop trouble making Schwinn Le-Tour) and a 2002 Fuji Newest (Which I bought for my girlfriends father as a birthday gift - but ended up being from everybody as they thought I put too much effort into to by myself) Lol.

K.Katso

I don't think that's quite Celeste that you have there. It's more like Miami Vice green. I could see Crockett or Tubbs riding that. If it were me, I would go with black bartape and stick with a black saddle to try to minimize that color. The 80s called - they want their bartape back! I think that would be the first thing I changed. That and remove those reflectors.

You did a great job finding that though. As for being an enabler - well, there are worse things he could spend his money on.

X-LinkedRider

I was thinking I would have to bring the bike in to really match the color of the tape if he went that route. There will obviously be some standard bike aprroved upgrades in regards to the reflectors and such. (Though he will be commuting a bit to help subsidize gas costs)

If you are going to spread an addiction, what better drug than cycling? And, from what I am seeing/reading I think he got ONE HELL of a deal on a quality frame and group in awesome condition.

I will post pictures after Tires/Saddle/Tape/Pedals=Changed and Reflectors/Dork Disk=Removed and my guess is the total weight will be right around 22 or less complete with pedals. After a a couple hundred miles and I convince him to upgrade the wheels it will probably lose another lb or 2.

dtrain

I have some celeste tape in the for sale area if you think it's right for this project. True that the shade is not quite as 80's as those decals appear. But given the story, I'd knock several bucks off to help with the cause. I'm doing a similar favor (build) for a friend right now. Another forum member helped me out yesterday with a crankset swap between bikes in his garage/shop. I should say that I watched him do it - rather than he helped me...

X-LinkedRider

We'll probably end up with Black/Black unless we can find that "80's Green". Sometimes it is easier to just let the person who knows what they are doing do it. In my case, I am usually the one that ends up doing the service for everybody else. It's certainly comes at a lesser cost than watching people give up on cycling because they don't quite know the mechanics. I have lots of faith that this Trek will be ridden a lot and kept as well maintained as it was for the past 23 years.

K.Katso

Easy - just ask Crockett:



Sorry, couldn't resist...

X-LinkedRider

Lol. Yeah but that shirt looks more celeste than the green on the bike. It might all kind f pull together anyways. I am going to show Rob - Who the bike is for - this picture. We;ll have to get ourselves a badge. I guess I'll have to be Guess I'll have to be Phili Michael Thomoas.

dtrain

The Fizik Microtex or the Bianchi branded celeste tapes are both a shade more "80's" than the Cinelli cork.

A roommate and I did the Crockett and Tubbs thing one Halloween in college. Got some laughs for sure.

X-LinkedRider

Awesome! Good to know. Might be checking out performance today or tomorrow.

X-LinkedRider

So here is what we ended up with. I think it looks beautiful in real life, but the pictures didn't come out too terrible either.
Black/White Forte Pro MX Saddle (Clearance-$30)

Black Forte Grip-Tech Grip ($15) 2 Tubes + 2 Forte Pro + Road Tires ($62)

He also picked up some Shimano Road shoes and Look Cleats for the pedals I will be installing for him tomorrow.
Here is how it sits currently.



Weighed in at 22.3 (With old school pedals)

vautrain

Very nice! I'd also get rid of those pedals, and go clipless, for sure.

X-LinkedRider

Yeah, wasn't even a thought to not do that. I just didn't want him spending any more of his money when I have a set of pedals for him. My girlfriends father should be dropping them off sometime today.

Hiro11

I had the version of this bike with 600 Ultegra (the one with the small blue/green rectangles on it) back in high school. Except mine was royal blue with hot pink decals. Biopace, quill, downtube shifters. So. Very. Eighties. If I remember correctly, this is a 7000-series bonded (not welded) lugged alloy frame with a steel fork.

This bike was alright, but I remember I prefered my steel Miyata 912 at the time. The Trek was heavy even in the day for alloy.

X-LinkedRider

Here is the catolog.
https://www.vintage-trek.com/Trekpromoa.htm#pg18

Clearly it's not as comfortable as a steel touring bike, or as light as a BRAND new carbon bike. It surpassed his needs (proper sized frame, lighter bike, 700c wheels, indexed shifting) and beat his budget of 200. His, fit on the bike is damn near perfect.

vautrain

Besides, no way you can get a Miyata 912 for $200 these days.

X-LinkedRider

We went out for a 25 mile ride around noon. We, meaning Rob (This Trek 1200), Chris (Who I bought the Cannondale for) and I. So they were both riding and comparing their bikes. Both really nice rides for what was paid for them. And neither bike has any trouble keeping up with my carbon bike, at least for a little bit, then they get tired and I turn it up a little bit just to let them know I can drop them, no matter what bike they are riding

K.Katso

Now you just need to trade bikes with them and do the same while you are riding their bikes.

X-LinkedRider

Did that that today as well. Though we had to switch shoes as I ride on 5700 Pedals. They are both very capable though and probably would easily hang with me if they spend as much time in the saddle. I'm 5'9" -145lb, Rob about 5'7"-150lbs and Chris 6'2" about 185. So we all have slightly different builds but equally athletic. At this point, the excitement of a new bike would have let Rob pedal 50 miles however fast I dragged him. But he would have hated me tomorrow and I have a tougher route planned for tomorrow

area51bikeworks

You're a good friend and thats a great find!

noodle soup

Zombie thread alert