Originally Posted by Smokinapankake

I'll be keeping it for sure. I think it's interesting that there's really "nothing new under the sun", particularly when it comes to bicycles. Sure, disc brakes are good, but they're not new. I recall working at Fishers Cyclery in Salt Lake City in the early - mid 90's and working on a bike boom ten speed with Positron shifting and disc brakes. But the marketing sure would have you believe your stuff isn't up to par. Another example I recall from the early 90's is reading glowing MBA reviews on the Tioga Psycho TT tires. A year later, the Onza Porcupines came out, and all of a sudden the Psycho tires were garbage. This same thing happened to the Porcs a few years later. But what changed? The trail didn't change, the bikes didn't change, the riders' abilities might have changed, so why all of a sudden is last years stuff so bad? Maybe 8 speed was better than 7, and 7 was better than 6 only when 7 speed cassettes finally had an increased range. I like 9 speed and triple cranks. If you pair up an 11-34 cassette with a 20 or 22/32/42 or 44 tooth crankset, you've got more gears than you'll ever need. Yeah, there is some redundancy in gears but who cares? It's not like we're all top pros getting paid to ride a manufacturers' equipment. And if you're worried about 30 extra grams on your bike, maybe you should look at the extra 20 pounds you're carrying around on you waist...

I agree with you Cyco, there is nothing wrong with 26ers. I find my 89 Panasonic mountain bike converted to commute duty with slicks to be faster (by 3-7 minutes) than my 700c hybrid with skinnier, higher pressure tires. That bike feels sluggish to me in comparison.

And I also agree about cantilevers/V brakes. They work as well as anything else if set up properly, and have no real disadvantage. Other than maybe wearing through a sidewall on the rim.

So I'll be building this Trek as an all road touring style bike, much like the Bridge Club is advertised to be. What that amounts to, really, will be replacing the fork with a rigid, raising the handlebars, installing a swept back handlebar, and probably some new tires. I'll post up as I go along....

But I do find it interesting that the BC geometry is so darn close to my old Trek.... And I guess that's been my biggest question all along. What major advantage does a new BC offer? I can't see much.