TenGrainBread 

Currently my only modern bike is my tourer - a 2015 Kona Sutra. While the bike is great (tigged cromo, braze-ons everywhere, lots of clearance for big tires), I've been looking for an excuse to replace it with something old and lugged that I've built up myself.

Inspired by @whatwolf 's 950 rando build, this morning I picked up a 1993 Trek 930 in my size off CL. '93 was the last year Trek used lugs on their MTBs. The 930 was the entry level into the 900 series (Trek's top of the line steel MTBs). As far as I can tell, the main difference between the 930 and the higher 900s in '93 was that it used Altus instead of Deore and the fork wasn't butted. Frame looks to be the same (True Temper OX main tubes and cromo everything else).

The plan for this guy is a period-correct Deore groupset and some sort of dirt drop setup. The bike is stock. Grimy but the frame/paint/decals are in good condition and will clean up nice.

Catalog shot:


The grim reality

bikemig 

These are fun bikes; I own a '93 950.

Bikerider007

Looks like a great project and we don't see many MTB restos or builds on here.

tiredhands 

Nice! I'm currently working on a '91 970. I love that chunky seat cluster!

TenGrainBread 

Yeah, I'm totally in love with these seat cluster lugs

Henry III

I almost picked up a complete white 950 for $100 but decided to go with something newer and bought a US made 2006 Trek 9.8 carbon MTB frame for the same price. Almost makes me want to still buy the bike to save for a winter project.

What's your plans for it?

Clang

I recently made a 2 hour round trip to buy a '92 Trek 930. They look indestructible and yet have a really nice ride quality on and off-road.

For more inspiration, Peter Lombardi builds up some beautiful (and well-photographed) lugged Treks. Example: finalizing the Trek 950 Singletrack? | blog.peterlombardi.com

Looking forward to seeing what you do with yours!

Eric S.

I picked up a 950 on Craigslist for $35. I didn't use many of the original parts and had almost everything I needed to make it a 1x8 drop-bar bike. It's not light but I love how it rides.

Stubecontinued

Some of my favorite bikes... honestly I'd trade my lugged Stumpjumper for a 970 any day.

eom 

Here you go.
Trek 970 mountain bike in GREAT shape -ca1997

It's not mine. He started at $300.

TenGrainBread 

Here's the plan for the build:

-Full Deore. I'm looking at a late 80s donor bike for this tomorrow.
-Soma Portola dirt drop

-Nitto dirt drop stem
-A pair of early 80s drilled Dia Compe brake levers I have hanging around (non-aero)
-IRD Silver bar end shifters (friction)


I'm still debating on the wheelset. The rims on the current wheels are shot so I'm wondering whether I should go vintage or new for the wheelset. Rear spacing is 135mm so anything from 6 to 10 speed should work. Any suggestions?

exmechanic89

My wife and I ride early 90's Treks and hers is your exact bike, OP. It's stock other than the shifters, which were replaced with Gripshifters by a previous owner. Also I installed a shorter stem since she's pretty petite. Those early Treks are great bikes though, I'm currently building up a '95 820 for myself and it's a real nice frame, though not quite at the 900 series level. Good luck with your build.

Bicycle Addict

Personally, retro suits retro, they still ride nicely, Sun CR18's or Velocity's will be a nice alternative though, the CR18's on Amazon are nicely priced.
Personally the look of modern wheels and retro groups messes with the OCD part of my brain lol
If you are going to go CR18's you could go with the Black rims with the polished brake surfaces?

Clang

Why not look to use the wheelset from the parts donor bike? Its worth a shot at least.

Bicycle Addict

^ I like that suggestion

dailycommute

Have been riding a 93/930 that was upgraded to xt by original owner, I think the steel forks are the ones to grab and then upgrade components. Older wheelsets can be fine if they were not ridden much, but I did break a few spokes on the rear stock wheel, swapped the front for a modern deore and may go ahead and replace the rear, The sun rims are good alternative for these bikes.

I find they accelerate well and ride very smoothly though a bit heavy by modern standards or for road conversions, The tt run long for sizing, I ride a 21 for offroad but for onroad would probably want a 23.

TenGrainBread 

OK, so the donor bike fell through. I haven't seen anything else worth looking at locally on CL so I did some internet shoppin' this morning. This is going to be a sorta weird frankenbuild but I'm excited.

Here's what I have and what is coming:

-used Deore XT derailleurs from the mid 90s
-Paul cantis (yep I splurged on this. Touring version in back, traditional up front)
-new Sugino XD600 triple crankset
-Nitto dirt drop stem + Soma Portola dirt drop bars
-drilled Dia Compe brake levers (non-aero, early 80s I think)
-IRD Silver friction bar ends
-7-speed Deore XT hubs laced to Mavic M231s (early 90s)

Gotcha38

If you're going parts instead of a donor bike, why not modernize a little? 9 speed or 10 speed.

Velocivixen

I'm eager to see how this goes. Sounds nice.

Eric S.

On my 950 pictured above, I initially set it up with a 12-23T 9sp cassette on some Sun Rhino Lite/Deore 525 wheels I've had in the garage. For some reason, things didn't run well in the 12T cog. I couldn't see the chain hitting anything on the frame; just didn't run well so I went with 8sp.

TenGrainBread 

First misstep - did not realize the old Trek System 1 quill stem is 1 1/8" (why, Trek, why???). Nitto Dirt drop stem is getting returned.

Anybody have any good stem options for 1 1/8" threaded that don't involve a shim or replacing the fork?

Eric S.

That was a big pain for me getting my 950/Tange Big Fork set up. So much confusion out there that I bought & returned 2 threadless stem adapters before getting the right part from Nashbar. Problem with the Nashbar item is that it has almost no rise available; it's a bit beyond min. insertion in my 950 photo above and, just for appearance, don't want to run a "reach for the sky" stem.

gomango

I'd look into Kalloy stems on ebay.

tiredhands 

I just had to grab a 1 1/8 stem on eBay for this exact problem. I noticed a few others. Otherwise it was going to be a 1 1/8 to 1 1/8 threadless adapter I had kicking around.

Have you had the Soma Portolas on any other build? I recently put them on my '90 520 and I think they are amazing.

Bicycle Addict

I just typed 1 1/8 quill stem into the search engine on eBay and there is a nice one by Profile designs(with format change it is harder to do links on my iPad sorry) a polished unit with decent rise, there is also a Girvin Flexistem, these are fantastic, they really do soften the ride. There is also a twin bolt front mount (makes removing bars easier) stem in Black from Origin 8 which looked very nice, these were all on the 1st page too, so there are loses of options,

I would stay with 7 Spd possibly 8spd as stated above the chain can rub on the frame with 9spd.

Looks like it's coming together well.