mazdaspeed

I'm wondering if it might be odd to use a touring frame as a primary road bike. My trek 520 fits perfectly and has excellent ride and handling, to me at least. I am in the process of retrofitting it with 700c wheels, dual pivot brakes, a modern rear derailleur, chain, and brake levers. Basically I'm converting it to a road bike. What, if any, would be the drawbacks of using my 501 touring frame for this purpose rather than just buying a more modern racing style bike? Am I trying to make it into something it can't be?

EjustE

Absolutely nothing wrong with what you are doing (I would advise that if you are going to get a modern RD, 700c wheels and dual pivot brakes, you might want to get STIs/Ergos -pick your flavor- to go with that; and cold set it to 130mm). It is a bike you know, it fits you and like the way it feels on the road. It will be very hard to get the same kind of ride from a modern bike (and you could, maybe, but probably would have to pay 2-3 big ones to find a comfortable steel frame).

sonatageek

Sounds like a good update. Modern drive train on a nice frame set that fits you well.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

I agree with E. You're on the right track for a comfortable bike you can ride all day.

Personally though if its the Trek in your Signature with the CYclone Drivetrain....I'd keep the cyclone parts on there....But I am very partial to Suntour Cyclone...its my favorite.

A few differences between what you'll end up with and a bike thats purpose built as a racer is the Frame Geometry. A race bike would have steeper angles. Additionally it would be more responsive, possibly lighter, and probably stiffer. These things will generally come at the expense of comfort but will make the bike feel more nimble underneath you. I think the main thing I notice between a touring frame and a race frame is the responsiveness to turning input. A race frame is ready to cut knife edge turns at your whim while a touring frame will require a greater input to turn.

cuda2k

I'd advise keeping the original parts in case you decide to upgrade the frame later in the future and want to revert the 520 to original spec. Must ask, what type of brakes does the bike have on it now? Canti? or another type of caliper brake? You'll need to get long reach dual pivots, which have recessed brake mounting bolts, which the frame most likely does not take. One of a few "gotchas" that you'll have to solve and decide if the modifications needed are worth it.

Otherwise, if the bike fits, you enjoy the ride, go for it.

mazdaspeed

It has cantilevers. I ordered long reach calipers and I am aware that I will have to drill the hole in the fork out to a larger size. I am keeping the original parts but besides the hole boring nothing should be irreversible. Glad to hear I'm not crazy for wanting to do this. I really like the frame, but some other things, namely the 27" wheels and brakes, aren't what I'm after

mazdaspeed

One thing that surprised me about this bike is that it feels about as nimble as the schwinn super sport and team Fuji I sold. I might just be imagining it, or maybe it just fits better. I'm hoping it will end up around 23lbs but I'm not sure if the 501 is particularly heavy or not compared to other tubing from that era.

bibliobob

A lot of people would REALLY love to have a 520 with cantis. Sure that you don't want to sell it and go with one of the sport touring Treks? Some people would say that it's a shame not to utilize the cantis.

In any event, enjoy. It's an excellent bike.

mazdaspeed

I'm not really sure what the advantage to using the cantilevers would be

SingeDebile

cantilevers are excellent brakes (they are on mtn bikes and touring bikes for two main reasons.. they have the best stopping power and allow you to fit larger tires/fenders more easily).... even if you upgrade the brakes themselves to modern ones (tektro cr720 are excellent for example) there is very little reason to give up the canti's and go to dual pivots. Also switching to 700c will not give you higher performance... either way 28mm-30mm panaracer pasela's are fast and affordable tire options (available both as 700c and 27) also switching wheel size will affect the handling/geometry. And regarding your derailleurs... the suntour cyclone has pretty much identical geometry (they invented it) and shifting performance to every modern derailleur (if its in good shape of course). STI/ERGO would be fun (and would require the rear derailleur to match).

wrk101

+1 Stick with the cantis, they are great brakes (and less expense and work).

mazdaspeed

Thanks for the input. I had kool stop pads on the cantilevers and trust me, the stopping power isn't anywhere near dual pivots. As for the wheels, the 27" wheel has a helicomatic 6 speed hub. Not well regarded, and therefore I might as well switch to the lighter 700c wheels with a better 7 speed freewheel. I also do not plan on using tires larger than 25c so the ability to fit gigantic tires is a moot point. As for the derailleur, it may or may not be as good as the campagnolo unit replacing it, either way I will use whichever seems better.

mazdaspeed

Also the cantilevers it has don't seem able to be adjusted far enough to use on the 700c wheels.

SingeDebile

those new tektro's would almost certainly adjust enough,

helicomatic can be a good reason to upgrade,

28mm-30mm tires (good light fast ones) can do everything better then the little 23's except possibly tour de france finish line sprints... also the switch from 27inch 32mm and larger tires (as designed for a touring bike) to tiny skinny ones will affect the handling as you are changing the trail of the fork

hehe, and lastly the skinny 23-25mm tires will leave a massive hole between the fork crown and tire that will look funny (compounded by the fact 700c is smaller then 27)

im not trying to give you a hard time, just sharing ... either way good luck with the bike! (and post pictures of the completed build)


ps: what kind of bimmer do you drive?

mazdaspeed

No hard feelings. Once the tires I have wear out, I would be interested in trying larger ones as you aren't the first person I've heard advocating them. A lot of what i am up to involves using parts i already have...

btw i have an old m3

theschwinnman

Sounds like you'll have a nice sport-touring bike, which happens to be my favorite kind, I tend to ride far, on flat ground, with an occasional hill. So I have rode bike gearing, on a sport touring frame, it is a wonderful combination, and makes a fairly quick bike that is comfortable to take on long rides.

mazdaspeed

Thanks for the encouraging words. That's pretty much exactly what I'm going for, a little bit of speed and luxury.

BTW I used to have a chrome voyageur 11.8, incredibly smooth riding bike. Too bad it was a little too big.

cuda2k

I put a pair of these on my Schwinn Passport recently, they have way better braking than the old shimano brakes they replaced. Also, read up on Sheldon Brown's website about adjusting cantilever brakes, may help figure out where you're lacking in braking power.


Tektro CR720

cuda2k

I put a pair of these on my Schwinn Passport recently, they have way better braking than the old shimano brakes they replaced. Also, read up on Sheldon Brown's website about adjusting cantilever brakes, may help figure out where you're lacking in braking power.


Tektro CR720

jtgotsjets

Usually the problem with cantis not stopping your bike is that they aren't setup properly. There is no shame in this, as they are a royal ***** in the ass to set up—the Rob Roy in my sig still squeals like a piggy every time I stop but I just can't bring myself to readjust them. It'll be a day-long process.

The good news is that once they're set up, you should have amazing stopping power.
Plus no ugly canti posts sticking out from switching brake systems.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

I honestly think the difference in size between 27" and 700c is being played up way too much. Yes, it will change the fork trail but its such a minute change that it won't negatively affect the handling if you can even feel it at all.


If the OP want's to use the existing RD with STI's/Ergos it can be done easily, just need to put a barrel adjuster somewhere inline before the RD. The indexing is in the Shifter, not the Derailleur.

RobbieTunes

I recently rode a century in which there wre two 520's. One was full touring package, and looked nice. The other was stripped to bare road bike setup, and looked just as good. I know another guy racing cyclocross with his 520.

Bottom Line: Very versatile frame, and is pretty darn good at whatever you want to do with it. Full Speed Ahead.

USAZorro

It certainly won't make the bike unrideable, but it will make the handling notably more "darty". It could make the difference between comfortably riding with no hands for a few seconds, to turning the event into a daredevil stunt.

Good luck with the project.

mazdaspeed

If the handling seems compromised because of the tire diameter I guess I will have to get larger tires

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

Definitely agreed.

Who knows, perhaps the little extra bit of twitchiness will give it the slightly racier feel the OP may want.