Thisguy

So I picked this guy up on craigslist for $80 on Thursday. It was pretty clean, no rust, wheels were true, tires and very good shape, I believe mostly original parts, and everything functioned correctly. That night after oiling it and changing saddles, I took it on a practice run on my 8 mile commute route. And man did I enjoy it. Felt steady, rolled fast, and felt great over all. The only downside about it is; it has grip shifters that I am not a fan of, and the seat post collar kept coming loose, forcing me to pull over and fix it. All in all I am very happy with this purchase. What do you guys think? Am I correct in thinking its a 92 or 93 model?

Thisguy

Yesterday I cleaned it up some. The drivetrain cleaned up very well. I put on black bar ends, a black water bottle cage, added some lights and a comp. Well at Dick's, I picked up a pretty good $9 Nishiki air pump for it, and a pair of Kendra K838 slick tires for it. I haven't been able to test them out but they have great reviews on amazon and a few other sites I checked. They were only $14 a tire. Hopefully they pan out. I was disappointed my old racks didn't work for this bike, so now I need to find a new one. Any recommendations? I don't want to spend too much.

Question: the wheels have a quick release but I cannot figure out one for the breaks. If I want to remove a tire, I have to completely deflate it. Is that the correct way?

bconneraz

Looks great! You shouldn't have to let air out of the tires to remove the wheel; if you squeeze the calipers together with one hand, you can use the other to unhook the straddle cable, and the calipers will "fall" to the side allowing easy removal of the wheel. Go ride the heck out of it!

RubeRad

Looks like a great deal for $80, you cleaned it up nice, and the purple/green fade looks cool!

Did I count correctly, 7 gears in the back? I'm not a fan of grip shifters either, but you can replace with low-level "triggers" for quite cheap (I put those on my son's bike bcos he wasn't strong enough for grip shifters); or you can probably find a better model used in good shape on eBay.

Thisguy

Yes there are 7 gears in the back. I really want to change the shifters but will wait before doing so. I'll give it some wear before doing so and I need to get a rack, and probably another light.... Thanks for the tip on getting the tire off. I'll definitely give it a try next time I need to remove the tire.

Rapidoyfurioso

For the seat post slipping and seat clamp coming loose, a reflector attached just above the clamp will do the trick

Thisguy

Thanks for this tip I just did 15 miles and had no issue with the post slipping.

So after 30 miles on this bike, I realized I really hate these grip shifters, so changing the shifters and grips have jumped to top of my list of things to do. I want a brake and shifter combo. I came across these , and think I am going to pull the trigger on them (unless you guys guy have a better recommendation). The 3x8 is $10 less than the 3x7, which my bike actually is. Can I still the use the 3x8 in order to save the 10 bucks, and possibly upgrade to a 8speed in the future?

RubeRad

Well, the Sheldon Brown spacing crib sheet seems to say those 8sp shimano shifters will pull cable for a 4.8mm cog spacing, and your 7-speed cassette/freewheel almost certainly has 5mm spacing. So you may be able to tune it so it is well-enough-aligned at a certain range of gears, but the further you get from that the shifting will become rough.

I can say, however, that my son has a bike with the opposite combination, that is 7sp shifter and 8sp cassette, and the shifts are aligned to the small 7 cogs (can't shift into granny), and it seems to work fine.

So if you want to save $10 and take a chance, you might just get away with it. If not, then you would have to replace the 7sp ont he back with 8sp.

Usually (but not always) 7sp and fewer are freewheels and 8sp and above are cassettes. If you have a 7sp cassette you are lucky and you should easily be able to find an 8sp freewheel to replace it (I think 7/8 would be compatible thicknesses on the freehub...)

But more probably your 7sp is a freewheel, so you would need to replace with an 8sp freewheel. A quick google shows a couple of options int he $10 range, here's one.



Also, if it makes life easier, if you search some more, you can undoubtedly find 3x7 shifters for as cheap as the 3x8.

rumrunn6

fun summer project!!!!!!! nice work too!
did you lube that chain? it looked a little dry in the photo
can you angle those lights parallel to the ground?
this link for racks came from the trek website: Bontrager: Products > Accessories > Racks
and I think this is the store I bought my racks for my family's trek bikes. if it is the same store they were great on the phone helping me get just the right rack for our specific models: Packs/Racks/Baskets - Trek Bicycle Superstore
how long is your commute?

Thisguy

Thanks, and yes I lubed it. I took the picture right after I finished cleaning it up. I lubed it the next day before i took it out for a spin. I plan on overhauling the brakes next as im getting a lot squeaking, and will be installing my new shifters. I ended up going with the 3x7 levers that I linked earlier. I will give that website a look. Thank you. Oh and my commute is between 7-9 miles depending on which route I want to take. The longer route has better street conditions.

Velocivixen

I see only one set of eyelets per fork/ dropout. So do you plan on adding fenders along with the racks? If so you will have to do something creative for the eyelet situation. Or you could get those sporty mountain bike type fenders that don't have stays that attach to eyelets.

Thisguy

No no plans on adding fenders. Don't plan on commuting during the wet season.

rumrunn6

brake squeaking is likely "toe-in" I think it's called. that's the adjustment of the angle of the pads as they make contact with the rim. the pads shouldn't be flat where the whole surface contacts the rim at the same time. there should be a very slight angle so that the front edge makes contact first.

use the right tools

brakes have lots of fun adjustments like centering them so ea side makes contact at the same time as well as the most attended to tension which adjusts how much free play there is and how much squeezing is required to close them. lots of great youtube videos out there. but you'll have to identify what kind of brakes you have to look up the correct adjustments.

while you may not need to, you might want to replace cables, cable housings and pads. the money is going to add up quick so choose your changes wisely. and time them so that perhaps the cost is spread out over several paychecks.

corwin1968

If I found that bike in my size for $80, I would buy it without a second thought.

I rode the 700c version of that bike for twelve years with gripshifters with no complaints. Maybe give them a few weeks before spending money on replacing them.

Also, I don't think you can upgrade to 8-speed on that hub. When I wanted to upgrade my mid-90's Trek to 9-speed and I had to have a new wheel built around a different hub and I'm pretty sure 8/9 speed are interchangeable and 7-speed is not. I may be mistaken but that's how I remember it.

Good luck. You have yourself a very nice bike there.

e0richt

well actually, I have found that 7/8 are generally interchangeable but with your old wheel you probably can't put an 8 speed cassette on it.
I have a newer wheel that I put on my old 7 speed bike which needed a spacer to take up the slack. so if you got a new wheel you could definitely swing 8 speeds... if you get the 8 speed shifter you could always upgrade your wheel later.

Thisguy

Thanks for the advice. This bike was in really good shape. The only issues I have have been the brakes. I'm butting new shifters and brake lever in so I will be replacing all cables. The currents ones are all rusty and one brake one is beginning to fray. So I figure I'd clean it up some more, add new grease, and check the pad to see if they need to be cleaned or replaced. Not much planned for it besides maybe some more cleaning and greasing after more rides, and adding a rack.

I'll stay with the seven I haven't had a problem with it so don't feel any need to upgrade that. Plus the teeth, and chain are in good condition as well so like they say "If ain't broke don't fix it".

Thisguy

Wait they made a 700c version of this bike? I need to see that. I didn't come across it on bikepedia.

The grip shifts need to go. I've never liked them on other bikes I've ridden, and they are not comfortable at all for me. I feel like I really need to grip the handle bar hard to shift and after my last ride I could really feel it afterwards in my wrist. So trigger shifters are in the mail.

krobinson103

Integrated v brake/7-8 speed shifters. They come in at about 60-70 for a set and give you a nice brake lever and indexing for front and back. Come with all the cables etc you need. They also work 7 or 8 speed regardless of the version. The spacing is near enough it just takes a bit of adjusting. Sometimes you even luck out with a really cheap beater for sale or scrapped with them onboard.

corwin1968

In the mid-90's the 800 and 900 series Treks were mountain bikes with 26" wheels. The 700 series, also called multitracks, had 700c wheels. The only things they lacked were suspension and they had limited tire clearance (40'ish mm tires are the max). The generic term for these bikes was hybrid but they literally had MTB geometry and weren't designed for really rough terrain. They were the perfect commuter bike and Trek even marketed one version of the 750 has a commuter, complete with fenders, lights, racks...etc...

Trigger shifters are nice. I just got some put on my good bike after using friction shifting for the past 2 years. A huge improvement. I was just trying to save you some money but you won't regret spending it.

Here is the 1995 catalog image of the Trek 730 (I have two of these):

corwin1968

That's correct. I should have specified that I was referring only to hub compatibility. I don't know anything about the shifters themselves because I was using friction thumbshifters when I made all of these changes and those are literally compatible with everything.

Thisguy

Oh alright yeah I've seen them on craigs before. I think I may have to check it out if I come across one.

rumrunn6

couple years ago I got my son a used Trek 750 Multi-Track. he outgrew it and now he rides a larger 7.1 FX. this is a terrible pic from when I just brought the 750 home before cleaning, adjusting, new tires/tubes, etc. it's a great bike and I don't have the heart to get rid of it. I've cycled through (no pun intended) many used bikes but the good ones stay in my possession.

bkrownd

If it fits you, that's a great commuter. Tough and fun. I bombed around town on a similar Trek 820 happily for many years before I moved to a mountain where I need a road bike frame with climbing gears. However, I love the Grip Shift on my 820.