Chr0m0ly 

I recently picked this up!

Ishiwata 022 frame and a screwed on head badge narrowed down the year pretty well.

What caught my attention was the 022 fork sticker. A 500 series is a full chro-mo frame, including fork and stays. I went looking for a reason not to take it home. The paint is poorly touched up. But the rust is superficial. The seat post moved, the steering stem moved (with convincing, I tapped on the bolt with a hammer to knock it down (hit the Allen key, not the bolt)) but it freed up.

There aren't any ripples in the frame, and the fork is straight. The wheelset has been replaced with sunrim 13 II's a it's wearing panaracer paselas 28mm.

When I got it home the serial confirmed it was built in July of 1979, and it has the Shimano headset that came in '79. The dropouts are Campy 1010 record instead of Suntour GS II so I guess they started using the '80 drop outs a little early.

thumpism 

I have one, bought as a used frameset. Set it up as a city bike. Kinda whippy and not much clearance for tires wider than 30C.

Chr0m0ly 

I'd like to strip the touch-up paint, and leave the Imron if possible. The touch-up was done in flat gray and looks to have been hastily brushed on. Any idea for a paint stripper that won't remove the original paint?

I think this old girl will be gorgeous with the touch up cleaned off, and a good frame waxing. Maybe some clear nail polish to protect the cable guides.

The ride is REALLY snappy, for what was billed as a touring frame I was pleasently surprised with response of the bike. And the drop outs are really long with wheel currently slid up towards the front, so I could take the ride if I feel like it. Those chainstays are 44.5cm long.

I recently had a beautiful '84 610 stolen from my garage, and while this bike isn't the same, and it's definitely in rougher shape, I think it will be a good matchup for the mission. Fast all day rides with minimal bags.

The '84 may still pop up, and I hope it does, but my friend Tim (who pointed this bike out to me) likes to remind me my bikes are "too nice"!

Chr0m0ly 

Hey Thumpism, you ride in a hilly area? Being in Chicago I wonder if I just don’t have the opportunity to hammer up a hill and determine a whippy frame.

The Golden Boy 

510?

Chr0m0ly 

Its the 510 frame, with the #4 Suntour VX build.
514

Chr0m0ly 

Requisite drive side photo, put on an appropriate saddle and post. Still needs a bath.
1978 Trek 514

thumpism 

Yes, we have hills here, but a load on my bike will produce the same effect on level ground.

bikemig 

I have one of these I need to build up. I mocked it up and I can get a 32c tire to work. Is yours the 510 or the 530?

bikemig 

Very cool find. This will replace your 1984 610 right?

I have one of these I need to build up as well. I'll need to sell my 610 though if I build this up. This is the bike as it came to me in the wild:

thumpism 

510. A 32C would rub. Might have been that specific tire. I went with what was easiest (what was in our warehouse at the time).

bikemig 

Interesting.

Well I have a set of 650b rims and I'm thinking seriously of doing a 650 build for my 1979 510. I picked up a bianchi cross bike a while ago that was too large. I sold the frame and kept the suntour XC pro group that came on the bike. I'll likely use that for the build and get a set of the long reach Tektros. I reckon this bike will ride nice with 38c tires.

seypat

Here are a couple of different looks for that paint color. I took these when I was building up an '82 412. I think both look really good.

The Golden Boy 

Not that this has to do with that or anything- but 32s will not fit on my 78 730. IIRC the sticking point was the brake bridge.

I've played around with the 650B Kool Aid for my TX700. Right now it's sort of temporarily built up with 27s with 1 1/4" tires and a set of the Gran Compe 450 center pulls.

seedsbelize 

My '80 414 is Ishiwata with hi ten fork and triangle. And a glued on headbadge. The 79 930 is full SL with a screwed on headbadge.
Nice rides

Hudson308 

You can start with mineral spirits, and if that doesn't touch the touch-up then go to lacquer thinner.
If the lacquer thinner doesn't do anything then try acetone. Put a small amount of acetone on your cloth/paper towel of choice, and don't spend too much time rubbing in one spot. Avoid getting it on any graphics.
Imron is pretty tough, but if it starts to soften then stop everything and let it dry for a few hours. I've had good luck using acetone to remove decals on 80's Schwinns without hurting the paint.

non-fixie 

I've had good luck with a credit card.

And no, not for paying someone to do it for me, but for gently scraping off the top layer. YMMV, depending on how well the "painter" prepared the surface for the touch-up. Mine didn't.

Chr0m0ly 

Is this bike a "TX" Trek? I'm not sure what that means.

bikemig 

I'm not sure what the TX stands for but this is a 510. If you take a look at the catalog, there wasn't a huge amount of difference between the 3 levels of Treks. Your bike has a full Ishiwata frameset; the next level up (the TX 700 series) has a full Reynolds 531 frame; and the "top" level (the TX 900 series) has columbus frame tubing. All were low temp silver brazed and there isn't any difference in terms of quality between these 3 tubesets.

Back in the day, a lot of enthusiasts like Reynolds or Columbus better because it came on European bikes and that was the mark of excellence. The Japanese had equally as good tubing sets and a lot of the parts coming out of Japan were excellent (like suntour derailleurs).

You have a bike with a full seamless chrome moly double butted tubing and that is good stuff.

Chr0m0ly 

To answer your earlier question, yeah this was bought to replace the stolen 610.
It’s interesting that the even numbered frames are the mixed tube sets and the odd numbers are the full tube sets, I’d never noticed that before.
I tightened the rear wheels spokes and rode it to class today. I like it!
I like the full chromo tubes, and I love the radiused braze work on the drop outs!
I’ve also wanted a birth year bike for a while, and while this is off by a year, I’m only 9 months older than the bike, so I’m calling it good enough.

mountaindave 

I now have two 500 series Treks (‘78 & ‘81) and the Ishiwata is just as good as the Reynolds. The ‘78 came with 27” wheels and converted nicely to 700c. I can squeeze 38’s on there... barely. Boldly go as big as you can. I converted my two 710’s to 650b with 38’s and fenders.

This is not a touring model, unless you meant sport touring. It will ride as you wish: long hours in the saddle, comfortable yet responsive. I’ve found these early Treks to be fantastic rides - I have five so far for the family.

Chr0m0ly 

Yes, sport touring, I just meant the 510 with the longer chain stays and not the 530. I have a few of canti’ed trek tourers and wanted a sports model to replace an ‘84 610 that was stolen two weeks ago. This 510 is in a lot rougher cosmetic shape, but as far as quality I think it well matched.
I had been planning on putting cyclone on this but the VX seems fine, and now I just want to remove the nasty touch up paint and wax the frame.

dailycommute

Picked up the 78 version f/f project from sloar a few years back, these late 1970s ishiwata treks are way underrated. I built it fixed gear for commuting duty but have been thinking about swapping it to a more traditional build this winter. It does have insanely long wheelbase! While same measurement as a traditional tourer it feels even longer. Mine had quite a few scratches to bare metal but just sealed with clear nail polish.