Early 90’s Trek 820 Singletrack touring build.

PB Forum :: Road Cycling and Touring
Early 90’s Trek 820 Singletrack touring build.
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flag jessekeels
Posted: Dec 10, 2018 at 19:32 Quote
Hey guys I recently traded for a Trek 820 single track in cromoly. I have a full late 80’s/early 90’s LX drivetrain as well as new deore V’s and levers. Also transplanting a leftover asymmetrical wheelset from an 01 GF sugar 3+
Have an adjustable stem to experiment with angles.

My end goal is to build up a longer distance touring bike. With that frame I could run fatter 26 tires or like 650b road plus. I Want comfort and longevity not quite speed or mountain manuverablity. I have a mountain bike already this one will be kinda an all road type build.

This is sorta a build thread. But also has anyone done this before? I would maybe like to run on rim brakes 650b so if anyone has rim recommendations that would be great.

Stay tuned for pics and steps, this is a build thread.
flag dirttorpedo
Posted: Mar 7, 2019 at 10:53 Quote
jessekeels wrote:
Hey guys I recently traded for a Trek 820 single track in cromoly. I have a full late 80’s/early 90’s LX drivetrain as well as new deore V’s and levers. Also transplanting a leftover asymmetrical wheelset from an 01 GF sugar 3+
Have an adjustable stem to experiment with angles.

My end goal is to build up a longer distance touring bike. With that frame I could run fatter 26 tires or like 650b road plus. I Want comfort and longevity not quite speed or mountain manuverablity. I have a mountain bike already this one will be kinda an all road type build.

This is sorta a build thread. But also has anyone done this before? I would maybe like to run on rim brakes 650b so if anyone has rim recommendations that would be great.

Stay tuned for pics and steps, this is a build thread.

Many people have done this. Go check out the drop bar mountain bike thread and mountain bike touring thread at Retrobike.uk for many examples. So, you can't use 650b wheels on this frame unless you get a disc compatible fork and get some disc tabs welded on to the rear triangle. Lots of real touring bikes have 26 inch wheels and there are way more suitable tires in the 26 inch size so I would just embrace the retro wheel size. One thing about setting these old mountain bike frames up for touring is that they tend to have shorter chain stays than touring bikes which can lead to heel striking on panniers. There are a some rack manufacturers who have sorted this out - Old Man Mountain is one manufacturer who does this. Tubus may also be able to sort that issue out. Another key is getting those drop bars waaaaaay up. Some people use the nitto dirt drop quill stem to get that height. A nitto technomic will also do it, but give you more of a vintage roadie look. The other thing to look at is the reach on the frame. Mountain bikes tend to have different proportions over touring bikes. You can sort this out with the correct stem length.

Have fun with the build. I have an old Ritchey Ultra I'm thinking of doing something similar with.

 


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