indyfabz

Dont' wait! Act today!

saddlesores

no problem.....just save a copy of your photo as a smaller file.

saddlesores

this just in! new youtube video of squiggy's brand new 920....and bigfoot!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3Xf0T7I6KA

.....the real reason there are no photos or reviews of "zombie killer"

robow

I had to laugh when at about 56 seconds that little girl states aloud "at least he can ride the damn thing" Ha

alan s 

fietsbob

as an International Touring Destination My LBS only has 1 520, as predominantly everyone touring the Oregon Coast
arrives with their chosen bike and Gear.

You will have to ask Your local Trek dealer for terms and conditions.

lifein4bags

Hey guys, been a lurker for a while now and signed up today to post a response to this one. So my introduction and first reply in one....(Obligatory Howdy) Howdy from Missouri!!

Being new to any kind of serious riding I was going back and forth on which bike to get. I had it narrowed down to pretty much the Ogre, it was a good touring and trail bike from what I heard and that is what I wanted. Then my LBS received a Trek 920 and when I saw it I thought... this is a cool looking bike. Based on looks alone I thought...I have to give this thing a shot! I rode it around for a few hours and loved the feel of it except a few things. Hated the drop bars, bar end shifters and did not want to fool with hydraulic brakes. I planned on living off this thing for at least a year and didn't want to mess with them if they sprung a leak.

So after talking to the pro there he said the price came down on it and he would give me retail trade in on anything I wanted swapped out so it was a deal. I had a Jones loop added to it, mech brakes and trigger shifters and upgraded the front disc to 180 from 160. Then brought it home and began to modify it a bit to suite my needs. Added a riser to the fork stem, wrapped the bars and added a Brooks. Then went to an excellent wheel builder and had new rims for touring built, DtSwiss 350 32h front and Chris King 36h back with Schwalbe Mondials on both. I kept the original rims and tires for trail and snow riding.

All in all I love it, not the fastest bike but neither am I. I can peddle all day but keep around 10 to 13 mph on average...except hills!! I like to take lots of breaks

Here is a gallery I made on google. If you have any questions just let me know, will try my best to answer.

Working on adding photos to a post, having some issues at the moment but learning from you guys. Also my garage in the pictures is a mess so no judging, doing some remodeling on the house Will add some more photos with all my gear set up on it soon.

Thanks!!!

alan s 

You the man!!! So, now that you have it all tricked out, how does it ride offroad and onroad?

Squeezebox

Yes real bad move on my part. I apoligize . I'll spend some time on imgur & flickr

robow

I can't quite get my head wrapped around those bars but I do think it's neat when people personalize a bike the way they think it should be done,
two thumbs (errr bar ends) up on creativity.

lifein4bags

[QUOTE=alan s;18668480]You the man!!! So, now that you have it all tricked out, how does it ride offroad and onroad?

Thanks Alan, as far as riding goes its awesome. I am not a single track guy but have taken it out on a few just for the challenge and with the orig wheels setup as tubeless and low pressure it was great....I had a lot of fun and felt very secure riding it. With my new wheel set it works great for commuting on roads and the Katy, not the best for big gravel or to much ruggedness, will beat you up a bit but tire pressure has a lot to do with it. As far as fully loaded, it is rides even better. I am not a light packer and with 60 pounds of gear with water its a beast but rides better than I could hope for. My girlfriend bought the Ogre, as she put it..." I dont want to be twinkies". She likes my 920 better, but she is still tweaking hers though. From single, gravel and roads I am very happy, I wanted a bike to do it all and this one seems to fit the best for me.... for now

mdilthey

There's a nice 920 hanging in my shop. I will take a picture and post it here later today.

But, can I ask, why does everyone keep aggressively prodding Squeezebox for bike pictures? Did I miss something?

Squeezebox

I think you have to wrap the bars around you head, not the other way around.
Were you able to keep the hydro brakes?
Any chance you could post a photo of the BB area, The internal housing exit is interesting, As well as the fender peg for the front of the rear fender. For those that are looking close notice they cleaned up the welds on the frame, but not on the fork. Why the difference? Through axles if that means anything to you.
I will work on how to post photos. Promise.

mantelclock

Apparently.

indyfabz

Tons.

mdilthey

Ok, don't elaborate or anything

indyfabz

The fear of being accused of harassment prevents me from doing so.

mdilthey

Scenario 1: He posts a picture of a bike. Will you then absolve him of all the posts you disproved of, forever silencing all critique?

Scenario 2: He doesn't post a picture of his bike. Will he be kicked out of the Touring Cult, forever shunned by all two-wheeled travelers? An outcast? A vagrant, like us, but without our flag?


This is a no-win scenario. As Joshua put it, the only way to win is not to play.

edthesped

Didn't I read somewhere that the 920 has Carpy Spokes?

dannwilliams

That had me ROFL!!

Squeezebox

[QUOTE=edthesped;18669237]Didn't I read somewhere that the 920 has Carpy Spokes?[/QUO

A couple of people ranted their opinion about spoke count, but could not provide any data.

Squeezebox

I called Trek customer service to ask about the fork bags you see on the 720. Got the price for a full set, $200. Verified that they will fit the 520 & 920. I mentioned my 920, he mentioned his. He said he's had a couple of 520's, and now a 920, but at 28 yrs old I can't quite see going through that many bicycles. but he was a nice guy.
But to my main point he kept his completely stock, did not change anything. ( should cross post to the as is thread) I asked him about brifters vs. bar ends. He said he likes the hydo brakes more than he dis-likes bar ends. My experience with bar ends was 35 yrs ago. Since I own a set of bar ends and hydro brakes, I'ld like to test ride a bicycle with those. I ride with my hands on the hoods over 90% of the time. he does not. I think I made the right decision. But I think I'll check it out anyway.

elcruxio

[QUOTE=Squeezebox;18670775]If we do a quick calculation based on jobst brandts Bicycle Wheel (which indeed does have the data you so much crave, would you be willing to read it).
He states that the stress a wheel goes through every cycle gets absorbed by the four bottom most spokes in a 36 spoke wheel, 5 if we're talking 40 spokes.
A spoke tensioned at 100kg will then have a resistance of little less than 100kg as when the spoke has 10-20kgf tension they are pretty much slack already. Spokes going slack is the basic method of spokes breaking. If you need proof, read the book, or do a google search, this is wheel mechanics 101 so very basic stuff.

Now with the 36 spoke wheel with all the spokes at 100kg the wheel has a resistance of little less than 400kg before the spokes go slack and the accumulating stress of tight/slack cycle begins breaking spokes. That may sound like a lot, and it is a nice buffer, but still riding too hard into bumps in the road will exceed that 400kg limit which, if repeated often enough, will start breaking spokes.
With a dished (typical) rear wheel we have even less buffer since the non drive side is slacker. With a typical wheel with 100kgf at drive side, the non drive side will have a tension of 50-60kgf. We don't want the non drive spokes going slack at all either so we need to calculate the buffer according to the weaker spokes. So now we have a buffer of little less than 240kg. It's much, much less than with an evenly tensioned no dish wheel. Still acceptable but for safety's sake I'd take the 36 spoke wheel, find a rim that can take 120kgf, tension it to 135kgf and have the non drive side at 82kgf by dishing 1mm towards the non drive side (as I have done) which gives a safety margin of 320kg. The other way is of course to use an offset rim.

Now we come to the 28 spoke wheel. As it has much wider spoke spacing at the rim the stress given to the wheel will need to be taken by 2-3 spokes instead of 4-5. If you have conventional spoke tension in your spokes that gives you a buffer of 120-180kgf. That is not a lot since a heavier rider with a packed rear rack can overcome that by just pedaling standing up, and even a lighter rider can easily go over that limit by riding over bumpy terrain little too fast. We need to keep in mind that luggage doesn't unweigh itself like a good rider does so it gives all of its weight directly to the wheel in every bump. And as we all also know, the faster you go over a bump, the more the force transmitted into a wheel grows.

There are ways to make the the 28 spoke endure, mainly having to do with raising the spoke tension.
option 1: use a very high tension rim, which allows the DS tension to rise towards 160kgf
option 2: use an offset rim which will balance the dish and allow more tension towards NDS
option 3: use a tandem hub to balance or to remove dish entirely
option 4: use a internal gear hub to remore dish.

It needs to be kept in mind that Trek has used none of the above options in the 920. The rim is conventional, it's not a high tension rim, nor is it offset to my knowledge and if they have it excessively tensioned the nipples will pull through the rim at some point. The hub is spaced equivalently to a 135mm OLN hub even though it is a 142x12 thru axle since in that standard only the wheel locking mechanism changes, there are no changes in the hub flange spacing.

So there's some proof why the 920 has carpy spokes. Before you try to refute any of that I suggest you read up on it and try to refute specific points rather than argument with the knowledge of Trek engineers since even they cannot overcome the basic wheel dynamics this post is based on.

ironwood

If I were a Trek representative, I would pay Squeezebox to shut up about the 920. Praise from him has probably turned off a few prospective buyers. It is like an endorsement by Bin Laden. On the other hand, were I from Surly, I'd slip him a few bucks to continue to criticize the LHT. His criticisms have probably made more people like the LHT. Some people think"Gee, if Sueezy doesn't like it it, it's probably a good bike.".

veganbikes

Hey is the 920 could do all of those mountains and caves that Bush said he was in but decided not to catch him there, it must be a good bike. That actually wouldn't be so bad of an endorsement. I still dislike the guy but if he could punish it in the mountains of Afghanistan than the bike must not be so bad.
\
Say what you want about Al Qaeda at least they were able to post photos on the internet ; )