bikemig 

yeah, I just need to stop fence sitting!

The Golden Boy 

Now you've been talking about doing this at least since I got my 720!

Rudi- that bike is looking beautiful!

bikemig 

Yep and one of these days I may actually do something about it. But first I'm going to build up my "new" 1984 Trek 610.

And Rudi's bike does look great.

inkandsilver

Great thread RHM - thanks!

Kobe 

Looks great! Are you getting it ready to do another tour on it?

Jeff Neese

Strongly agree. You are not going to find a better touring bicycle, period. I haven't read up on 700c conversion for this frame, but even if not, there are still plenty of good tire choices for 27" wheels. Check out Panaracer.

The Golden Boy 

Hey Jeff,

Do you still have that bike?

You should totally start a thread with the story and pix of the bike like it used to be and how it is now.

Great bike and great picture!

rhm

I like how you phrased that question! You did not ask if I'm planning to take it on a tour. That would be embarrassing, because I'm not sure I'm going to find an opportunity to tour this summer, and the summer is rapidly coming to an end. I haven't given up on the dream, but am not exactly planning it. So I'm glad that's not the question you asked! But yes, I am getting the bike ready to tour, so if I see a chance to ride off into the sunrise one of these weekend mornings, the bike will be ready.

I have it pretty close to that point now. Still to be done, I think I need to work out some "dashboard" details. Here's what it looks like now:


Note the headlight placement, attached to the headset. This is a good spot for a headlight, since it is well protected from damage, easily accessed while riding, and nothing interferes with the beam. Unfortunately, I want more:

--A front bag, accessible while riding; not standing up above the handlebar; preferably with map case on top;

--a USB charger powered by the dynamo (it can sit in the bag, or front pannier);

--a headlight mount that doesn't interfere with the above, but doesn't endanger the headlight.

--a switch that lets me direct power either to the lights or to the USB charger.

I have the USB charger doodah, and don't expect the switch to be all that complicated. But I don't know how I'm going to work out both bag and light. Suggestions are welcome.

I may change the handlebar. I will definitely add Mafac half hoods from Pastor Bob, and rewrap the bar.

The Golden Boy 

Hi Rudi-

I cheat with my headlight- I've got one of the Light & Motion lights that attaches with a rubber strap. When I have a front bag, I'll put the light on the drops, mounted sideways. It allows good motion and clears the front bag. Because you've got only the lowriders and cross bar- there's really no option for mounting to the rack- unless you can fabricate something fancy like @gugie did.

I guess I could see a wire "dish" or globe welded onto the arch.

The Golden Boy 

BTW- what bar tape are you using?

crank_addict

Beautiful! As Bill mentioned, the sentimental value alone is priceless.

Rudi's build has a stately look and has character. The Nitto stem and fluted SR Laprade seat pin are cool pieces!

crank_addict

Other: With a front bag mounted, what are the plans for a lamp?

I've been trying ideas for a '72 Le Champion thats used as a sport / light graveler.

My latest is a small TA like rack / front bag support but primarily handlebar clips that take the majority of bag and contents weight. Had it set up for a Cannondale handlebar bag and where I reverse mounted it. Wasn't fully satisfied and had been shopping fancy Frenchy, something from V.O., new or vintage.

Recently though I found at Walmart a Schwinn brand handlebar bag with map window. Black only. It was clearance priced for $12 but at the checkout, it scanned for $8! Not only was the price right, its the perfect dimension, lightweight and the window fits and makes my smartphone touchscreen usable. I have a 5 point mount set-up and it holds quite a load of weight. (If you wish, can show pics of a comical load of weight.... first ride out only carried a jacket.... went through an upscale neighborhood that had some garage sales but also loads of free stuff on the curbside. Stuffed and weighted down the bag with tools, electric items, speakers, microphone, etc.)

Continuing on the Wallymart theme: I use a backpack fabric type solar re-charger for USB devices. So far has been great. Another clearance $20 gamble for gizmo device. Not for direct powering devices but for overnight transfer charge to the phone and USB tail lamp. Have yet to test it on my front USB headlamp. I do use a hydration pack and normally attach the solar charger to the backside, but it also rolls out and could be fastened to the front bag.

Headlamp: As you might have guessed.... another Wallymart clearance gizmo gamble. Its a 600 lumen tactical flashlight / USB charge by Ozark. Light in weight and simple. Has taken on some heavy rain but more important is good for average riding speed at night. Battery on the high setting has been solid for 5 hrs. Unknown how long these internal battery last but so far I'm pleased. Best part is the extended warranty purchased for only a few additional bucks. I think my total cost is less than $30.

Homemade mount is a clamp around the light and then used a chrome steel brake caliper arm. The brake arm is mounted to the axle skewer nut. Not quite what I want for looks but its robust and brilliant enough for my use. I might make an outer cylinder housing out of aluminum, bullet shaped and polished finish.

rhm

What you see in my photos is Brooks tape, from my secret Santa a few years ago.
I'm going to try the little ENE rack by Dia-Compe. It may or may not fit on the Mafac brakes. If so, I'll put a handlebar bag on top of that; and it will still be below the light. So maybe that'll work.

Another option is to put the light inside the handlebar bag (and cut a hole in the front of the bag).

Jeff Neese

Sadly, I sold the bike about 10 years ago. There isn't much of a story about it though. I bought it for what it was intended to do, and it did it very well for a long time. Being the opposite of a "garage queen", it naturally got battle scars along the way and fortunately Trek was offering factory repaint. The second color, a burgundy metallic, was something similar to The Golden Boy's above. Sadly they no longer offer that service.

I also had a narrow set of lightweight wheels and tires for it, for unloaded recreational riding, and that was one sweet ride also. It's actually a very responsive frame, not long and clumsy like you'd think. That's how I used it for day trips and group rides. Man, I loved that bike. I could stay on it all day.

noglider 

Rudi, you probably won't like this, but consider the B&M Luxos U headlight that has a built in USB port. It's like $223. That's very expensive, and it would eliminate the headlight you proudly and elegantly made. But it would solve a few problems at once, and money is a good thing to do that. But it doesn't solve your pride problem. The unit provides power to the USB port or the light but not both at once. You might be able to mount it to the brake bolt and have it fit under the handlebar bag. If not, I would suggest mounting the light to the fork.

Busch & Muller dynamo bicycle lights

rhm

Thanks for the suggestion, Tom! I will probably look into one of those lights, or something similar, eventually. But the lights on the 720 now are not my home made ones. It's an E3 supernova headlight with matching E3 tail light. It is a few years old, but other than not having a usb charging port, pretty much state of the art.

Mounting the headlight to the brake bolt is tricky because the brake bolt is too short. Elsewhere on the fork is risky: I don't want a $300 headlight out where it's going to get knocked around if I throw the bike in the luggage compartment of a Chinatown bus.

PedalTraveler

Very nice, its great to see the evolution of it over the years, and your current build is a real beauty!

gugie 

When I put 650b wheels in a 700c frame, and then modified a SOMA front rack to fit, I had a lot of room to play with. Initially all I wanted to do was add something to reinforce the front of the fender, After I bent up and brazed some tabs on a piece of stainless tubing, I saw a nice curve that reminded me of something...I pulled a light out of my vintage stash, and viola!

Looking at the Trek, there's very little room, but you still could create a nice "dish" as you state.

noglider 

Rudi, in this picture, I attached my headlight to the front of my front rack. It didn't work well, because it wobbled up and down too much. It should be possible to do something better than this. I understand wanting not to mount the light in a crash-vulnerable place.

I test rode a Trek 720 when it was new and was impressed. In more recent years, Trek reused the model number for a hybrid model, and it rode OK but it was too heavy for my taste.

USB charging from a dynamo is a new thing. There are several commercial solutions. It seems the good ones are expensive, and the inexpensive ones are not good. I expect this to improve. I don't know much about homemade solutions, but they are expensive in time.

gugie 

Rudi, when you get that ENI front rack on, it's easy to take an old sidepull brake arm and use that as an adapter to hold a light. I was looking around the interwebs but couldn't find a picture quickly, but someone will probably post one shortly.

tarwheel 

Very cool story and photos. I appreciate your attachment to the old Trek and desire to restore it. I regrettably sold my first nice road bike (Bianchi Nuovo Record) and have kicked myself many times for that decision. However, I later acquired a used Waterford RST-22 that I plan to restore one day. It's actually in very good shape, but I would like to have it repainted in a color of my choosing. I'm still planning my cross-country tour, but that might have to wait until I retire in a few years.

john hawrylak

RHM

great story. Thanks for sharing. Why did you not have the head tube painted white??

rhm

So, I think maybe this bike is done now.

I changed the shifters to SunTour bar end shifters, complete with original SunTour coiled stainless steel housing. On a touring bike, there are times you don't want to take your hand off the bars long enough to shift, so bar end shifters are a good idea.



And while I was at it, I changed the MAFAC levers to Gran Compe levers with AME hoods.

And I changed the brakes. I found a pair of the elusive Gran Compe 450's, which is what the people at Trek intended this bike to use:




I have found, on tour, that an old fashioned GPS unit is extremely useful. Google Maps is great, but my phone can't always get the map I need. A ten year old Mio GPS has all the maps in its memory. They are ten years out of date, but that's not a big deal. And the unit came with a dodgy suction cup mount that was allowed the user to stick the thing to his windshield. I repurposed part of the mount so I can now stick the GPS to my handlebar when I want it:



I tried that out a couple weeks ago; for my October Century I rode about 60 miles up the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River, then crossed over into NJ and set the GPS to take me home. I then followed its instructions when I liked them, and ignored them when I didn't. If it told me to get on a road that didn't look appealing, I ignored it. And I found myself just riding, without any concern about whether I knew where I was. Sometimes I did; sometimes I didn't. No big deal. I got home. It was fun.

The powder coater didn't want to do any masking. He made some excuse, and i didn't even listen to what it was; the bottom line was he didn't want to do it. I am still tempted to paint the head tube myself; but it looks pretty good as is. I have another blue bike with a white head tube, so it's not really that important!

noglider 

Masterfully done. This is terribly handsome.

Is this the light that turns off when you stop and needs you to turn it back on when you restart? Do you have a solution for that yet?

The Golden Boy 

Rudi- where did you find those centerpulls? And in such beautiful shape!

I like the QR straddle yokes- are yours marked GC or DC? I have a DC set on my Voyageur SP. They make so much sense- they loosen the tension just enough to make it easy enough to get the straddle cable out.

Get some more pix up!!!




EDIT- are you still looking for a headbadge?