"Ok, Riddle, did you actually ride it?"
Yes, I did. And it did alright! Brake pads were hard, so despite the easier lever effort, stopping power was casual. The stem and narrow, 38cm, long-reach bars make for such a lovely "guiding" of the bike when steering. In the saddle. Out of the saddle, that beautiful handling and steering relationship is destroyed. Shifting was recalcitrant in front and ok-enough in the rear. The Biopace rings were of the second generation type (aka less extreme of a squircle) and actually felt alright to ride. Small diameter tires were rougher on crummy pavement, but that was to be expected. 28s will fit underneath these calipers, if not 32s, though the front has noticeably less clearance (ugh, Trek...). It's a bike, and it's a vintage Trek, so it know how to be a decent ride. It would have been a great Klunker Challenge bike, and certainly for the under-the-budget-limit price, but that's water under the bridge. I'm here to give it a new lease on life and hopefully not lose money on it (it's going to be tight, I think) when I go to sell it, as has been my plan for it this whole time. I'd like to ride it, of course, and just enjoy what a late-'80s "low end" Trek feels like.
At 64.3cm tall, it bests the catalog stats by 0.3cm, making it all the closer to my 64.8cm 620 and 65cm 720. At 3440g for the frame, fork, and headset, it is on the heavier end of the sport touring scale (at this size), which is not surprising.
It's a handsome looking bike, I think. Very well-mannered rider, and I can't wait to see what my restorative efforts (with new-to-it componentry) bring about!
