Dominae

When I graduated from college I bought a Trek 560 road bike as my first real serious bike. That bicycle, and the experiences I had on it, led me to a lifetime of cycling and I am still going at it, albeit with newer equipment. I gave away that Trek 560 many years ago and now wish I had it. Since I can’t get it back, I decided to buy another one like it which seems to be in fair condition. I know the 560 is not a particularly valuable bicycle but it has tons of sentimental value to me. I am not entirely sure how to approach the restoration of this bike? It will not be a regular rider, so I am inclined to clean it up and try to bring it back to original condition. Others suggest I modernize it with integrated shifters, 8 or 9 speeds, etc.

if I opt to keep it as original as possible, should I just replace any non-original parts, clean it up, leave the frame chipped and scuffed, and put new tires on it? I have never thought about bike restoration before and I’m not sure how far to take this project.

jdawginsc 

Restoration can be a fun activity over time...trying out new skills! Refreshing can as well (leaving the patina). Retro-rodding can be a good way to bring an old friend/frame to new life. I have done two of the three, and can tell you, they all are correct (I have not tried to bring any bike back to it's original state through professional painting and decaling)

Do what you think will bring the most joy and what you want from the bike when you DO ride it.

Dominae

Well to the extent it would even be possible the best result would be a mint condition original version of the bike, like the day I wheeled it out of the shop in that small college town. But that is not possible. I would like to bring it back as close to that condition as possible, with maybe a more modern saddle to cradle my much older bones.
And modern pedals to accept my current road shoes.

RustyJames 

I encourage you to place a request on this forum for the Trek you seek and it’s surprising what shows up. Make sure you mention size, preferred condition, etc

jdawginsc 

Agreed...everyone seems to have a Trek for sale recently. What year was yours? 1987s seem to have a nice following.

Dominae

Thanks all. I found the exact bike and have made arrangements to pick it up. I don’t posses it yet but I am starting to think about what I will do with it once I receive it.

Chuck M 

My sentimental bike project is a much lesser bike than yours but fun for me nonetheless. I bought a 1980 Takara 970 to revisit my days riding a Takara 960 in high school. And like you, I have a modern option to ride so I kept this bike as 1980 as possible even though it has no real collector value to anyone. The bike I bought was almost all original except for the saddle and the top tube cable clamps were missing. I found a Takara branded saddle and the missing Cat-Eye spoke reflectors on eBay and Velo-Orange had the cable clamps cheap enough. New brake pads, tires, cables, bar tape and a Pletscher rack makes this a fun bike to ride on the MUP I rode as a kid, to get coffee or stop by the local brewery for a cold one.

If you are seeking opinions, I'll offer that adding modern equipment such as STI levers and wider cassettes will take you away from that old feeling. In fact this morning on my modern bike, I felt inclined to reach for the down-tube shifters more than a few times. And for the 25 or so mile rides I ride my Takara on, the straps and cages and old saddle suit me fine.

merziac

I would consider a modernizing retro build for this or the next one.

You may not like the idea but many here have done it and it can be the best cycling move you make.

Most all these fantastic older frames really come alive when you make it so you can ride them far and wide with newer running gear, more, better gearing, brifters, etc.

These could not take me half as far if they were not "upgraded".

SurferRosa

To start, post good pics in this thread.

I've never restored a bicycle. But I've refurbished every single one that's come to me, which means a full overhaul, polish everything, and replace parts as necessary with period correct componentry.

Dominae

SurferRosa,

Obviously I am a newbie to the vintage bike page and when I typed the word “restoration” I did not realize the distinction from the word “refurbish.” In your estimation, what is the difference between restore and refurbish? Maybe what I really want is the later?

merziac

The distinction can be muddy, we blur a lot of lines here, most any bike you get will need a thorough teardown and inspection, resulting in a overhaul, new grease, bearings and cups, races as needed, etc, possible cables, chain, tires, tubes, bar tape, etc.

A clean and polish while it is torn down will result in a "in house" restoration of sorts without new paint which many try to avoid, its only original once.

We most always encourage this but it takes tools, time, skill, patience, elbow grease, zen, Chi and of course $$$.

Chuck M 

I'll add in addition to merziac's comment, even if the seller claims all this was done, it isn't a bad idea to do it yourself to make sure it is right. I went to look at a Univega I thought may have been a Miyata built bike a few weeks ago that the seller claimed was recently gone through at a local shop. Let's just say the seller posted good photos in his ad because that bike hadn't been serviced in a while. I passed on the bike because I already have enough projects that need complete tear-downs and it wasn't a Miyata frame.

Edit: And the bike I posted above is not a restoration. It is more of a refurbishment. Tore down to the bones, cleaned, greased and I replaced some consumables.

Dominae

Merziac,

yes that sounds like what I want to do-an “in house restoration.” I do not want to repaint the frame-maybe touch it up in spots to prevent rust? What is involved in the cleaning and polishing phase? How best to “refurshish” to aluminum parts like the stem, handlebars, seatpost and crank? Are there any online guides to this process?

I might be open to replacing the bottom bracket with a newer sealed version since you don’t see that anyway.

Chuck M- the bike I purchased has not been refurbished at all, although it looks like it was well cared for and is not rusted or scratched.

Ironfish653

I did a pretty heavy in-house restoration on my dad’s 1976 Bridgestone; focusing mostly on the mechanical aspects, with just a minor refresh of the cosmetics like paint. I ended up replacing some things like the brake calipers and downtube shifters with ‘period appearing’ but slightly updated versions

For bare aluminum; Mothers’ Mag Wheel and Aluminum Polish is really good stuff. You can get it at any auto parts store, and by itself does a good job removing the haze from aluminum parts. For heavier corrosion, you can start with Scotch-brite, or even 400 or 600-grit sandpaper to bring the surface down even before you polish it.

Finally, there are some “hidden” upgrades that can help you enjoy the bike more without obviously changing the look of it.
You already hit on BB and saddle, but I like to put modern, SIS-compatible freewheels and 8-sp chains on my bikes (Shimano and Sunrace make SIS 5- and 6-sp so you don’t have to mess around with wheel spacing)
The ramps and pins on SIS freewheels and chains make shifting so much smoother, even with vintage RDs

SurferRosa

"Restore" means just that, back to original, exactly as it was when it was brand new on the showroom floor. The biggest investment with that is paint. For example, if someone wanted to restore a vintage road bike with bad paint and he powder coated it, that's not a restoration.

Again, refurbish includes a full overhaul, etc.

merziac

A lot of this can be hunt and peck, tools, parts, pieces and process. Highly dependent on upfront acumen, skill, experience and willingness to dive into the unknown.

Plenty of pitfalls and challenging, kinky twists and turns that can be lots of "fun", again depending on your comfort level and ability to get through it without making more work out of it.

RJ the bike guy seems to be a good go to resource and many use him, Sheldon Brown website is very helpful, GCN how to's are also good, we will help here and there are many discussions on all aspects of this here.

I would encourage you to take the time to learn all the oldschool methods as most parts can be reused and the processes of disassembly and working on them builds much more skill IMO.

The plug and play, cartridge, disposable mentality is the reason many solid old bikes don't survive in original form.

Many here swear by them and that's fine but I will go to great lengths to do no harm and save every piece that I can and I very rarely can't.

Again, this can be very dependent on your background, experience, mechanical aptitude and skill coming in.

3alarmer 

.
...if nostalgia for a bicycle of a particular sort is your motivation, using newer parts and updating it to more cogs in the back seems to make little sense. I do some restorations from time to time. It's time and labor intensive, including a full teardown, usually stripping and repainting the frame, and full cleaning and reassembly using the original parts. The rubber, chain, cables, housing, bar tape, etc that get used are all new. At the end of the process, you end up with something you enjoy riding, which was the point, anyway.

If it's something with a questionable set of wheels, I use the old hubs, refurbished with new grease and bearings, and construct wheels using a more modern box section rim, because that increases my enjoyment of the riding of it. But there's no reason you can't skip the repainting part if your original paint is in pretty good shape. Every project is different. The one thing they all have in common is that there is little hope for eventual return on your cash, time, and energy invested. And it does take a lot of tools.

If you decide to do it, at the point where your frame is free of component parts, have someone knowledgeable check the alignment of the frame and fork. And as you reassemble the thing, make certain that the rear derailleur hanger is properly aligned. Of the old steel bicycles I overhaul and/or restore, very few of them have not had some bending or misalignment problem. Stuff happens.

Hobbiano 

When you can, post pictures of you bike here. Then you will get some specific advice on your options. Like what parts will fit, where to find them, possible upgrades, how to do it information, tools you might need etc. It will no longer be a mystery.
I have an '85 purple 560 that I "restored" to be a decent rider. In other words I refurbished it, or whatever. I did not restore it to like new condition. I upgraded the wheels, handlebar and stem, seatpost (I destroyed the original getting it unstuck) and cleaned and re-greased everything else. New consumables of course.

merziac

The cleaning and polishing can be an adventure as well, I always go easy until I have to get more aggressive and then proceed carefully so as not to cause harm.

This is where the elbow grease comes in, it can get the job done when the chemicals can't without damage, sometimes it takes both but you have to determine where the line is that you don't want to cross, patience and finesse usually wins the day and can be very time consuming.

Much of the aluminum we encounter is clear anodised and can be a mess, sometimes it cleans up some with polishing, and sometimes it gets worse.

PugRider

I tend to let the bike, and more often than not its components, tell me what direction to head in. Sometimes it comes down to a single part or something you know is going to be a pain--for example, a Cilo that came to me a while ago (531c!) had those proprietary Shimano downtube shifter bosses, and it would have been a project converting them to accept bosses for brifters etc. Plus that Shimano 600 Arabesque stuff is pretty and it was a complete group, so I basically left well enough alone (except for the tubular wheelset, which I replaced with sort-of-period-correct Mavic clinchers) and went from there.

My Univega touring bike, on the other hand, came to me as just a frame with some random parts still hanging on, so in my mind I had more latitude, and I have all kinds of modern and old stuff mixed in on that bike.

A few things I've learned restoring/refurbishing/whatever you want to call it:
1.) I've definitely evolved into a patina enthusiast. I kinda like the idea of polished, meticulously brought-back-to life components on a frame with all kinds of scratches and chips and wear. Is it what Grant calls "beausage?"
2.) Doing it right is either very time consuming or expensive or both.
3.) Evaporust works as advertised--it's amazing. A water/Barkeeper's friend paste comes in a close second.
4.) If I have the chance to replace traditional brake levers with aero levers, I will.
5.) Old tubes and brake pads are remarkably resilient, in most cases.
6.) Sheldon is still the gold standard, and the Bicycling book of bike repair is my go-to on a lot of things too.
7.) I don't like paint, and even touch-up I find never comes out quite right unless you take a course in autobody repair, but I do swear by a good polish and wax.
8.) Old pedals were made for narrow feet, and I'm sort of over them.

Jeff Neese

A man after my own heart. I still pine for the '83 Trek 720 that I had, and I really regret selling it. My stable includes five vintage Treks, including my newest which is an '87 Elance 400T, pictured below.

All of my bikes have been rebuilt from the ground up, sometimes using original parts and other times with upgrades. Two of my Trek's (including the 400T) still have their original cup-and-cone BBs - they were still in good shape so I cleaned and repacked. Same with wheels and hubs - most of mine have new wheels and hubs, but a couple of them are rolling on original wheels. Same with derailleurs, cassettes, etc. My advice is to do what makes sense. Reuse what is already there to the greatest extent possible, but don't get too crazy about keeping it "original".

Personally I find no great appeal to upgrading the gearing on a vintage bike. Most of my bikes were originally 7 speed and that's what they still are. The 400T is only six in the rear, and that's actually just fine (especially since there's a triple up front). Back in 1987 people who bought and rode this bike weren't thinking they needed more gears - they were thinking about what a nice bike it was to ride. Leave the fundamentals alone and just ride it. I did upgrade my '92 Trek 750 to 8 speed, but that's only because I had a new wheelset built. I also put drop bars on it.

This '87 Elance jumped out in front of me at a thrift shop and begged me to rescue it - I had no choice. It was filthy but underneath the dirt and grime it had hardly been ridden - very little wear on anything so I was able to use all the original parts. That was great because it kept my costs down. The only real upgrade was aero brake levers. Naturally tires (Continental GP5000) and brake shoes, cables, etc. I also put a new saddle on it since this picture (Charge Spoon). It rides and handles great - a lot of fun to ride. Just like your 560. Looking forward to pictures of it.

Dominae

If there are no deep scratches on the aluminum parts, does “polishing” still involve some amount of sanding with super fine grit sandpaper or if there are no scratches and the finish is just dull and oxidized can you go directly to polishing with some type of paste?

Chuck M 

On the bike I posted above, all the aluminum was polished with Bar Keepers Friend and an old dish rag. The aluminum wasn't in terrible shape to begin with so it was easy. But as merziac mentioned above, start out with the more gentle approaches if possible. But some people like to break out a polisher and go for a higher sheen.

Dominae

I know that the Trek 560 has a 6 speed Helicomatic hub and have read that they are unreliable, the bearings don’t last, etc. Would this be something worth replacing right away? I suppose I could convert to an 8 speed free hub/ cassette and just rebuild the rear wheel? I would have to expand the frame to accommodate. Would I be able to use the original rear derailleur or would I need to buy something more modern to match? I am not interested in index shifting at this point.

SurferRosa

Usually the problem with these is sourcing a Helicomatic freewheel if the original isn't working for your needs. I would try to make it work as-is. If I couldn't, I'd rebuild the wheel with a normal freewheel hub if the rim is in good shape and matching with the front. Matching rims are important to me.