sarhog

So, I’m not a C&V guy at all, but I was browsing the listings on my local bike market page on Facebook yesterday and I saw what appeared to be a good condition 1985 Trek 410 for sale and I was slightly intrigued. Long story short, I bought it today for 1 crisp $100 bill. Just brought it home a few minutes ago and snapped a few pics and rode it up the street and back.
My intent was to just try and flip it, but I might ride it for a bit and see if it grows on me. It kinda reminds me of the Nishiki racer I briefly owned and rode in the Philippines.
Anyhow, on to the photos…enjoy.

poprad

Nice find, keep it for a bit, Enjoy it. I have news for you, you're already one of us!

sd5782 

You did great. Others will chime in on the fantastic price and specs. It seems this bike is aimed at a sportier rider than some other 400s. If you are strong and youthful you would do well to hang on to this for a learning experience. I’m not an expert but considering your initial $100 investment, I would think you would have to spend 3X as much to upgrade your learning experience. Now if fast and classic isn’t what you are after, folks here would take that off your hands. Learning is half the fun.

sarhog

Rather than immediately sell it, I think I may keep it awhile, and possibly ride it every now and again.

Question: How would I go about lowering the gear ratio on this thing? It has a 52/40 chainring, and a 13-24 cassette (or is that called a freewheel?). Any ideas? Easy solutions? I’d like to keep this thing stock, or be able to return to stock easily in the future. Thanks.

noobinsf 

I'm pretty sure that crankset has a 118mm bolt circle diameter (BCD) [EDIT: whoops, 116mm], which is unique, and which makes it difficult to find different chainrings. Your best bet is likely to find a 6-speed freewheel (not a cassette) with a 28-tooth large cog. Caveats are that you will likely need a longer chain and perhaps a rear derailleur with a longer cage. The upside is that if you spend a little time and a little money on specific tools, there are a lot of vintage options to have a crank with a more common BCD for smaller chainrings, as well as a lot of options for long cage rear derailleurs that will work well. The frame is a great starting point and can turn into many different bikes if you're interested and willing to spend the time.

jlaw

Looks like a keeper with most or all of its original parts. Very nice!

Re: lower gearing - it may be easier to simply replace the Campy Triomphe crankset and the bottom bracket with new. The bottom bracket is 68 mm BSA threaded.

46/30 cranks are pretty easy to find - paired with a 14-28 freewheel will give you fairly low gears. Or, a mountain double crank with say 38/ 26 or similar will be better if you really want to be able to crawl up hills and still be able to pedal to about 22 mph without spinning too fast.

I used a SRAM 39/26 mountain double with the SRAM GXP bottom bracket on my 410 and found it to be just right. The GXP BB is an external-bearing type of BB - unlike the spindle-style BB original to the bike - and this makes installing the crankset a little easier in my opinion. I also replaced the FD but the original Campy FD probably would have shifted the cranked ok.

To do crankset and BB work you will need some special tools.

Larry650

My absolute all time very most favorite bicycle is my 1988 Trek 400. Hands down the most comfortable bike I have ever owned.