Classic & Vintage - Weird Trek 870

I recently found my best garbage find so far. A nice Trek 870 (I added the seat and handlebars). It turned out to be a nice US-made steel frame.

It's a weird one - the rear brakes are mounted under the chainstay. I like the way it looks, but I've never seen a bike with brakes like this before. Did Trek do this setup for any other bikes?

http://www.frankrause.com/web/trek1.jpg
http://www.frankrause.com/web/trek2.jpg

It's called a u-brake and quite common on mid 90's MTB's

you lucky *******!
Now that's an odd bike...not the brake, the downtube braze-ons and shifters on a MTB.

They all had them around 1987 and then they disappeared. I've never seen one on a mid '90s bike. They tended to get packed with mud.

I've never seen one on a mid '90s bike.

Yeah, they were history by about 1988-89. Great find btw. Does it have lowrider mounts on the front fork?

Thanks, everyone! I did a quick search for "u-brakes" now that I know what they're called. Sheldon Brown mentioned that they have a tendency to get low and wear through the tire. I checked them out and they were just starting to rub on one side of the tire. Whew! Thanks, bikeforums and Sheldon Brown!

It does have the lowrider mounts on the front fork and the rack braze-ons on the seat stays. I think it was meant as a touring/MTB frame.

I think it was meant as a touring/MTB frame.

I agree... I'm not familiar with the 870, but I think this is a great score; very unique!

I buy/sell lots of Treks-700,720(700c wheels),800,820,920,930,950 etc. Most have main frames of all cromo.Some of the 700's and 800's have just the seat tube made of cromo,and the rest is cheaper steel.The earlier 800's have main frames of all cromo.The higher the # the better the frame-the 920,930,950 are all cromo and all double butted-usually True Temper OX II-many made in USA,later ones made overseas.
Your new bike is very nice.Fixed up as it is it would sell for $125+ around here(New Orleans)-more in other markets.It looks big-20" or so?
Luck,(but you don't need it),
Charlie

oh man a U brake and downtube shifters


you win at the internets

Thanks, everyone! I did a quick search for "u-brakes" now that I know what they're called. Sheldon Brown mentioned that they have a tendency to get low and wear through the tire. I checked them out and they were just starting to rub on one side of the tire. Whew! Thanks, bikeforums and Sheldon Brown!

It does have the lowrider mounts on the front fork and the rack braze-ons on the seat stays. I think it was meant as a touring/MTB frame.

The 870 as you see it was a 1 year only model, specifically 1988. Trek hadn't made a steel mountain bike in the US for a few years and made these to get back into it. The front triangles were made on the road jigs--sizes available were weird, 19", 21", and 22.5" IIRC, just like were available in a Trek 420 or 520. It originally had mostly Deore 6S SIS (thumbshifters, of course) but with conventional freewheel hubs having Trek's Matrix house brand on them. The next year Trek brought out the 950/970/990, with a dedicated lugset.

The drop bar setup is probably a great idea!

As mentioned, the 870 is seen relatively infrequently. I recalled one ended recently on ebay, so thought I'd give the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-TREK-870-MOUNTAIN-BIKE-BICYCLE_W0QQitemZ140179191683QQihZ004QQcategoryZ98083QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://www.vintage-trek.com/model_numbers1.htm
lists them as being available in 85 & 88, with the 88 being Red.
Sounds "period correct" for U brakes.