Trek 613

  About a year ago, I scored a 1982 Trek 613 bicycle of the local craigslist.  These early Treks are pretty desirable and known for their quality construction and all-around practical geometry.  Trek was one of the first high quality, large quantity, steel frame manufacturers in the USA, base out of Waterloo, Wisconsin.  When I saw this listed locally, clearly in my size, I jumped on it.  Probably one of the better deals I've ever gotten since I got into this bike thing.

What it looked like when I brought it home.

  Overall is was in really nice shape, but as with most things of this nature, it needed an overhaul.  I tore it down, cleaned and repacked all the bearings with grease, cleaned and adjusted all the derailleurs and brakes and outfitted her with new cable, tires and the like keeping it in pretty much original condition.  I rode it in this iteration for a little while, but I had other, somewhat more practical bikes at the time which saw most of the riding duty.  The Trek hung on the rack and looked pretty until I felt like taking the "vintage bike" for a spin.

  I've long since admired many of the ideals pushed by Grant Petersen and Rivendell Bicycle Works, as controversial as they may be.  I will likely never be willing/able to dish out the dough required for one of their bikes, but I think they have the right idea about what cycling ought to be for many people and they have an awful lot of cool and very practical parts for sale.  When I decided to refit the Trek with some new parts I drew a lot of influence from Rivendell and the sort of randonneur inspired subculture that's currently gaining a lot of support in the cycling community. 

  But what does all this mean?  I wanted to be able to ride my bike long distances, on asphalt, dirt, or any other possible conditions, and be comfortable doing so.  Large tires, sensible gearing, raised handlebars and a comfortable leather saddle all play a role.  So here is the refinished and re-thought Trek 613.

  The frame itself is constructed of Reynolds 531 double-butted chromoly tubing, a legendary tube-set in the world of classic steel bicycles.  The chainstays and fork are made of Ishiwata manganese steel tubing.  The geometry is very comfortable but lively all around.  It's a good compromise of laid back, and steep racing geometry with decent tire clearance.  It's got 73 degree head and seat-tube angles and 44cm stays.

  I decided to go with a 700c wheel size rather than the original 27" because of the greater availability of tires in 700c sizes.  The Panaracer Pasela is a fantastic tire for the money, here I went with the Tourguard version that has kevlar reinforcement for better flat protection.  I wanted to go with the fattest tire I could and still have room for fenders, so I went with 700 x 32mm. They actually measure about 30mm wide and I run them at around 85psi for good shock absorbency.

  The saddle is the classic Brooks B-17, another craigslist score.  This high quality British leather saddle has been largely the same since the turn of the nineteenth century and has long since been the choice for tourists and all sorts of other riders.  The key is the leather, they say it breaks into your "sit-bones", and it has earned the B-17 it's famed comfort.  I though it was pretty comfortable right out of the box.  This saddle bag was an ebay score, made in Connecticut even, it holds my tools/spares real good, and looks pretty nice too.

  Another key component to the rethinking of this bike was to raise the handlebars up a bit.  If your racing and trying to be as aerodynamic as possible, being hunched down real low is what you want, not so much in my interest though.  The Nitto Technomic stem is super long and allows me to raise my handlebars up to where the tops of the bars are lever with the saddle.  This makes all the riding positions much more comfortable.  The handlebars are a 44cm wide version of the Grant-designed Nitto Model 177, also known as the Noodle, and it's quickly becoming my favorite bar ever.  Newbaum's cotton bar-tape shellacked for a durable finish, and Tektro aero brake lever with Cane Creek gum-colored hoods.  I dyed the hoods a bit with brown shoe polish to darken them up a bit, I think they came out great.

  The derailleurs came off of an '85 Cannondale touring bike that I got for a song on craigslist.  I sold the frame and wheelset to offset the cost of the bike and I got a bunch of cool parts to keep.  These Suntour Superbe Pro derailleurs were part of the kit.  The rear is a long cage version and it seems to be a rare bird.  There's not much info out there about this particular derailleur, but I can say for sure that it shifts like a dream.

  The cranks came to me in a trade with a forum member for the same crankset in a shorter lenght.  These are 17mm Sugino AT cranks, currently set up as a double with 38-48 gearing.  I can put a granny gear on if I so choose.. I'm still sort of playing around with gearing.  Sometimes I find myself feeling like I's benefit from a 175mm crank, but who knows, these are working great for the time being. 

   Suntour VX shifters, because friction shifting is cool.  Working on getting some Suntour barcons, because I like them a little bit better.  Easier access and better hold on rough roads.

  Frame-mounted Zefal pump for flats and style points.

Overall, I'm super pleased.  The thing rides awesome, and it does pretty much everything I want it to do.  I'm still doing  a little bit of tweaking, and really when are these projects ever truly "finished."  I'll update about it as I ride more and make additions/changes.