Pompiere

I am another happy 400T owner, although it currently does not have a triple installed. I don't really need a granny gear here in the flatlands, so I installed a Shimano tricolor drivetrain from the parts bin. The Oval Tech crank found a new home on my Cannondale ST400.


1988 Trek 400

ehcoplex

Nice to see the enthusiasm for Trek 400s- I kinda figured it'd be something I'd pull together over the winter, but now I'm anxious to get it built up and try it out! Putting the cart well in front of the horse, but I'm curious if anyone has ever mounted a front rack for panniers on one of these and how it worked out. Mainly just curious..

ehcoplex

Finally got the 400T together, at least enough to do a test/shakedown ride. The ride is quite nice- steering is a bit less ‘responsive’ than that of my main-ride ’72 PX-10, which I suppose is to be expected. Dia-Compe bar-ends and Cyclone MKII mechs work very nicely (and that’s with cracked jockey wheels…). I need to find a 45T large chainring for the 1/2-step+ setup I like- for now the original 52t ‘Ovaltech’ ring is on there, and I definitely don’t like oval rings- I guess with a generally fairly high cadence it’s just too noticeable. Tektro brakes are more than adequate and the levers are comfortable. I’m not 100% sure on the stem, so I haven’t taped up the bars yet. The Soma 650bx42c tires are really nice- they feel more plush than the Grand Bois Hetres on my PX-10 (same size, same pressure & on the exact same wheelset). The front rack is from another bike, but I’m curious to see how the 400T works with a front load, so I threw it on for now to do some testing. If it works out, this’ll become my ‘light tourer’ (though with only single eyelets on the front fork I’ll have to sort out rack-attaching that gives better peace-of-mind. Got a set of VO fenders on hand but waiting to know for sure if this is a keeper before I mount them.

pnwgopher

Beautiful! We had similar ideas, though I opted for swept back bars and an upright riding position. I really like mine, but wish it was a size or two bigger. And I should probably swap in a set of shorter cranks, as I do bottom out from time to time.

OldsCOOL

Beautiful. Being a bit biased as a Classic Trek fanatic and owning several…Lenore is lovely.

ehcoplex

I'm a pretty conservative rider and usually coast through (tight) corners. I'll have to take some measurements and see how the pedal clearance compares between the T400 and my PX-10 650b (never had a strike on that one). Did you dimple your chain stays? Clearance is quite tight with 42c tires and I've got the axle all the way back in the dropouts, so I'm going to do a wee bit of dimpling (have another frame in the queue I want to do too), just haven't had the chance to build up some kind of dimpling apparatus..

pnwgopher

I put a slight dimple in there so that I could clear 38s with fenders (while not having the wheel all the way back in the dropouts). But clearance is really tight, so I'm probably going to go and make the dimples a little deeper. Don't see much harm in it.

ehcoplex

Swapped the VO stem for a Nitto with a little shorter reach, taped up the bars.