vintagepedals

My trek multitrack 720s converted as my sports tourer and a monstercross bike.




The sports tourer is a 7 speed 50/34T crank 12-32T cogs with a 700c x 32 tires and the monstercross is a 9 speed 46/34T crank 12-40T cogs with a 700c x 45 tires.

HelpSingularity 

vintagepedals
Nice ride. I have a '92 750 (white with red lettering) set up much the same way. Except I have the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires mounted. No flats yet after a year in the mean streets of San Diego. No speed demon but fun to ride, reliable and comfortable for all day cruising.

HelpSingularity 

A crappy image of my 1992 Multitrack 750 converted to drop bar touring rig.

StarBiker

I always think about how dumb it was to flip the perfect 750 I had 12 years ago. 91, True Temper Frame..........duh

KenCT

Same here, I got rid of mine 5 years ago and still regret it.

vintagepedals

Yours is a nice build too. Actually I had a blackburn front rack that I removed some months ago, maybe I just have to reinstall it again after seeing yours. Well, I really love these multitracks, in fact I still have one unmolested multitrack 790 in like mint condition that I'm keeping it as is.

UniChris

Multiple Treks!

Mine is the one in the background, doing grocery-getter duty though the milk crate does make getting on and off in marginal MTB terrain a pain.

Both are 19 inch / 48 cm cm models but mine was mis-represented by the seller as a 21 / 53 cm. I usually ride a 56 in drop bar models, should have gone with my gut feeling that it was too small when I forgot to bring the tape measure, but oh well, still have my eye out for a future drop bar convertible grocery getter, and wonder if I got a full 350 mm seatpost (vs the 270 on there) if this might still be redeemed.

StumblingCorgi

OK so I’ve had the bike a few months and have been tooling around having a blast. I had originally put friction shifters on but really hated the placement so I swapped them out for trigger shifter brake combo levers. While doing so I swapped out the brakes for a cheap set of cantilevers and threw one a set of Saint pedals I had lying around. Next steps gonna be just to take the bike apart again and clean it all up degrees the derailers and clean up the chain. I’m still holding out to find a 23 inch. If one does come my way I’ll be upgrading that one to a one by 10 drive train. This one can keep the three by seven.


Still madly in love with these bars.

Bmx style headset.

Represent.

These are cheap but no complaints so far.

Grips were 7 bucks from Amazon.



Definitely a worthwhile investment in good tires. I Follow a YouTuber channel called Spindatt. Where he takes old bikes and just has fun with them “every bike is a good time“. Only reason I knew about these gravel kings. Consider me influenced.

DorkDisk

Those cranks look like CT-90s which were recalled; perhaps you'd like to check the model number to be sure?

StumblingCorgi

I just went in the shed and looked and you are very correct my good man these are CT 90s. I will be reaching out about sending these in. Thank you very much for that info.

goodwrench84

Looking to see if anyone knows of a brake / shift combo set up that will work with cantilever brake's? I have been slowly upgrading my 700 and I am on the fence switching to V brake's and fenders may be on the horizon and I hear cantilever's give more room. Thanks for any insight.

dmark 

Amazon.com : SHIMANO ST-EF65 Shift/Brake Set (Black, 3x7 Speed) : Bike Brake Parts : Sports & Outdoors

There is a red lever that adjusts brake pull for v's or canti use. Disco'd and hard to find.

daywood 

I believe any short (normal) pull levers will work with cantilevers; thus, any that aren’t long pull, which are specifically for v-brakes, should work. At least that’s my experience. Good luck. Sounds like a fun project.

xaztec

if you’re sticking with flat bars, any flat bar lever will work. If your going with drops, there are very few drop bar STI levers that will work with v-brakes but TRP and Tektro make mini v-brakes especially designed for STI levers. I have the TRP version on an all-rounder build and they work great.

hokiefyd 

Yes -- if you're interested in using short pull brake levers, you can use Tektro Mini-V brakes or similar. Short pull brake levers are generally not compatible with full length V-brake arms (100mm or longer), but they do work well with the shorter ones (~80mm). This is a helpful website showing the length of several popular V-brake (linear pull, to use the generic term) arms:

https://www.gravelbike.com/v-brake-arm-lengths/

jpbiking

Here are my two main multitracks. Both are from 1992 and the white is a 750, the blue a 790. They are both on 42mm tires and the white one sees my cruising/townie rides while the blue one sees the gravel, bikepacking and some trail rides. Out of all of my bikes these see 95%+ of the miles I put in and are my favorite bikes that I've ridden to date.

Although I had ridden steel treks before (90s mtbs) I finally got into multitracks after I bought/built up a lugged 520 for my wife that was large enough for me to ride also. The feel of that bike sent me down the rabbit trail that led me to the early multitracks. I've also got a tig 730 that's being built up as an e-bike, a 970 that has made a great cruiser for my wife and an early 80s 614 which shares a lot with the later lugged frames and is a blast as a gravel/road bike. None of those match the nice balance of fit, ride quality, feel and sturdiness of these multitracks though.


1992 Trek 790

1992 Trek 750

hokiefyd 

Those two MultiTracks look really nice! Did you make or buy those frame bags? It looks like they fit like custom bags!

Kobe 

The 750 is very nice, the 790 is outstanding. That's a great conversion to drop bars.

jpbiking

Those are both Oveja Negra 1/2 Pack Frame Bags:I've got those bags on 3 bikes at this point and have gotten so used to their convenience that I miss them on the bikes that I ride without them. On the white bike I didn't like the color of the bag that I ordered (my fault) so I spray painted it white. I'm not crazy about how that turned out, but am not that worried about it either and think it may look better if/when the paint starts to wear.

Like all built up bikes, they are never done. I'm looking forward to more upgrades on both as parts wear out, etc.

Cycle Tourist

I've got plenty of touring bikes, (Cannondale ST and a Miyata 610), so this newly purchased '95 750 is just getting a rebuild with racks added. I wanted something versitile and uncomplicated. It had a frozen seatpost so I got it for $50. I got it free in an hour or two and took it for a short ride. I really like it.

Cycle Tourist

I'd move a spacer/washer from one side of the axle to the other. You could re-dish the wheel but assuming it's centered in the drops and properly built to begin with I'd just fiddle with the spacers. I'm assuming the frame is straight since your lbs got a look at it. If not grab some string and check that first. Fortunately steel frames can be straightened.

Dragum

Fist Look the DropOut.

ja1124

If you go back in the thread to the photos the op posted, you'll see that the wheel is too far toward the non-drive side and there are no spacers to remove on the drive side.

Hi_c

I scored a 1984 Trek 520 some years back from a thrift store and have built it up as a gravel bike with mustache bars and a 1x9 drivetrain. I had not ridden it since 2019 and recently broke it back out. The excellent ride quality and it inspired me to pick up a 1991 750 which I’ll post as soon as I pass 10 posts!

jpbiking

@Hi_c

Look forward to seeing your 750 and 520 too. I'm curious how different your 520 is from the 750. The 520 I have is from the last year or two of lugged 520s and is pretty much identical to the lugged 750/790 framesets from what I can tell. My early 80s 614 is pretty different and more of a "sport touring" / lighter frame though it rides great in it's own way. Does your 84 520 share a lot with the 750 you picked up?