The Golden Boy 

Long, pointless, rambly bike dork story here...

A few years ago I saw a pic of a blue 1986 Trek 400 Elance. I thought it was the most beautiful bike I'd ever seen. That gorgeous blue, set off with the silver head tube- beautiful. Add to that that it was a 531 frame... so I made it my mission to find one- scouring every CL within 300 miles. Eventually I found one around 100 miles away- the guy wanted too much for it, it was in really nice shape- except the front wheel had been replaced. But it was beautiful and I wanted it.

For those of you familiar with the Trek naming convention, you'll know that the 400 is on the more "entry level" side of the product line. Even as the bike came- it was a 531 framed bike with Tange Cro-Mo fork and stays, 6 speed SIS... it was a nice bike. And I enjoyed it for the past few years. I love the way that blue glints in the sun...







Somewhere along the line I fell in love with different components- and in the back of my mind I wanted to build up my 400 with components that I liked and build it similar to my 1985 Trek 620. I've figured out I like mid 80s lugged touring and sport touring bikes- they have an appeal to me- they're not really "go fast" bikes- they're "enjoy the scenery" bikes- Treks are cool for me because they're made 50 miles away. I also like the style of the late 80s/early 90s components. Until about 1987, everything sort of looks like stuff from the 70s, not that that's bad- it just is. So my goal was to build a sort of tourer with late 80s/early 90s stuff.

My first thought was that I LOVED the charcoal grey look of the TriColor Shimano 600 stuff. So I was going to go and do an all 600 six speed build on it. I got the shifters and the brakes- but my brake bridge was too deep for the rear brake- so I got another set JUST so I could have the front brake to mount to the rear. I didn't know about "reach." I just assumed 'you get brakes, put them on your bike and they work.' Unfortunately, the 600 brakes don't fit my bike with 700c wheels- not enough reach. Because I REALLY wanted the 600 brakes- I decided to go with 27" wheels. They're on my 620- that bike is fine to me- I don't see why not for this bike. I had a decent set in the garage... The bike does fit 700c x 32, but not 27 x 1 1/4, so I have some black 1 1/8 Paselas on while I have tan wall 27x 1 1/8 Tourguard Paselas on order. My secret plan was to go with the slotted Suntour Superbe brake levers. That's when I discovered SLR- so I decided I was going to try aero levers. So this became my first bike with aero brake levers.

I then changed my mind about the shifters- and decided to go with Suntour Command Shifters- so that meant Accushift. In my mind, I had envisioned putting a triple on- effectively making it a 400T so I decided I was going to go with XC Comp (the RD looks cool to me). I found a really nice XC Comp RD and kept looking for a nice FD, when I came across a NOS XC Pro- so that changed my course to find a nice XC Pro RD... I had acquired a Takagi ATB triple, and took the bike to a shop to get that put on- and the guy at the shop said the chainline on my bike was screwy- that the longest spindle he had wasn't long enough to put the triple on... So then I decided to go with the double and a larger FW- at which point I thought the Superbe Pro I had acquired would look sufficiently adorable... But it doesn't handle a 30 tooth cog... back to XC Pro...

It is kind of a mish-mash of parts, but it's stuff I've selected because I liked it. It's not "period correct" and it's not exactly "modernized," it's a bike that I like.

This thread is worthless without pix:

(it looks like ImageShack really wants people to pull their images from them- seriously? Make everything post sideways now?)



I might actually put the XC Comp on because it's in better shape...





Single pivot in the back- just because I thought it was adorable to do so:









I thought the bike looked really classy with the Superbe Pro derailleur on it and I got a kick out of an almost "entry level" bike with that level of componentry on it. (note the 400 on the chainstay)

Barrettscv 

Wow, super clean looking. Almost perfect as-is.

Bruce Enns

I think what people forget (or ignore) about the steel framed Treks is that, an "entry level" model Trek was equal to most other brands mid-level bikes.

You built an excellent ride, beautiful bike!

cdale4ever 

I agree - one of the best looking colors I've ever seen!

Bruce Enns

Miyata's "Royal Blue" is also very pretty.

The Golden Boy 

I should get some sunshine pix to show the difference in the blues.

My 78 Trek is a repaint- but it's really close to the other ones I've seen, the 85- although it looks like a boring deep blue- there's so much depth to it- and the depth and sparkle in the 86 is just fantastic.




1986:



1985:

AAZ

Nicely done. A few folks around here have bikes with similar frames. They always catch my eye. Very beautiful.

Zinger

Ditto

And the blue Treks are one of the prettiest. '85 or newer looks kosher with modern parts, imo. Very nice looking ride.

shoota 

Very well done. I agree, treks don't get the love around here that they should. I still think my aqua 560 is one of the hottest bikes I've seen. Of course I've never owned an Italian job but one day I will. Until then give me a 531 trek, they're pretty hard to beat.

uncle uncle

Thanks for sharing. Good to know that others have decisions and builds that are not always a "point A to point B" journey, but full of choices, rethinking, failures, and successes. That's kind of how my efforts go. I have a very "paint challenged" Trek that I hope to build up with the best that my extra parts bin can provide and give it some miles before I decide whether to powder coat it or pass it on.

The Golden Boy 

Thank you!

That's kind of corollary to "there's no such thing as a 5 minute job."

I look at most everyone else here as more experienced at builds and maintenance than I am. There's the parts and bikes that I think are beautiful, the things that are well regarded in terms of function, reliability and aesthetic- and I don't entirely know how to put them together cohesively.

On what planet was it a good idea to change from 700C to 27"? The ride of the bike TOTALLY improved after I did this "upgrade" project. I knew it wasn't the brakes and derailleurs- so it had to be the wheels. I figured the Sovos/Maillard/Matrix/Sun wheels were pretty much the same quality as the Sanshin/Araya wheels- so when I started wondering why the bike felt nicer and rode nicer- I figured it was a 700C - 27" difference. I think the Sanshin hubs just are that much better.

I've made a few changes here and there since this thread was started- I swapped saddles- there's a black San Marco touring saddle (the kind that came on the 1985 Trek 620 and the 1986 Schwinn Passage!) and I did end up going to a really pretty XC Comp rear derailleur. I need to also find a step down ferrule that'll work with that exit from the chainstay.

bashermax 

An '86 IMRON Blue Flake 400 Elance for the wifey and my (2nd) TREK 614 for me. I always liked the gunmetal/pewter metallic trek had in the 80's. The 400 I got this winter (Jan?) and was pretty beat up. Paint all scraped up and handle bars bastardized with MTN bike straight bar and shifters????!!!! Back to correct drops and Faux leather wraps to match the for-sure honey brown Brooks. The 600 is a dream to ride and can keep up with the Big boys on most rides (It ain't the bike... it's the motor more often than not!) Some folks don't like the "Chop & flop" style bars, but they are really comfy, (Padded and Leather wrapped and Laced) and I don't ever get down in a tuck on this bike, it's my townie/go to work bike. (If I feel sporty, I jump on the Jamis Eclipse)

degan

I looked into a very early 400 a couple months ago. I thought it was the Elance like yours but was very disappointed to find it was the earliest variation which weren't even built in Waterloo. I ended up passing on it.

The Golden Boy 

Those are some pretty bikes!

I understand the 'bullhorn' bars- I don't care for the look, but it's all about hand positions for me. The only time I'm in the drops is going into the wind.

The Golden Boy 

I didn't know they did the Elance entirely anywhere but in Waterloo. I know the rear end and I think the fork were put together in Japan (I think that's why you have the Reynolds main triangle and the Tange stays and fork) and then assembled in Waterloo.

I know there was a batch of 1984 420s that were entirely built in Japan. I had one of those- and it was a really swell bike.

degan

I'm sure the 400, even though it wasn't built in the USA, would have been a great bike, there were other factors leading to my passing on it.

I don't believe the 400s started getting 531 until a few years later when the Elance name came. The earlier 400s were all Tange.

The Golden Boy 

The tubing and the model number and the hiearchy is so interesting to me. Consistently, Ishiwata tubing was always towards the bottom end of the Trek lineup. But it was the proverbial "good stuff." Just not Italian or Reynolds.

I had a 1984 420 made of Tange Mangalloy- that was a really nice bike, and it rode really nicely.

From around 80-85, Trek had the 600 series. That would be the main triangle being 531 and the fork and stays being a "lesser" material. Early on it was Ishiwata and Mangalloy and later, with the 531CS tubeset, the fork and stays were Reynolds CrMo.

In 86 the 400 series bikes were 531 and Tange CrMo- essentially what a 600 series bike was before.

Another thing that's really fascinating- prior to the 80s, that 531 decal was made to be fragile- but in the early 80s, it was changed to a regular decal. The cachet of 531 had faded somewhat. While it's really cool to offer a more entry level bike with 531- now upper tier bikes are made of a variation the same tubing as the entry level bikes...

I'm not sure what the delineation of a 500 series frame was from a 400.

The Golden Boy 

Bump!

I read this, and it's still true.

Since the failure of the Takagi Tourney XT crankset, I was riding the bike with the XC Comp RD and XC Pro RD. I'd acquired another wheelset for my Trek 620, so I took the FW from that bike and put it on the 400. I'd read that a Superbe Pro RD will work with a 28T rear cog, so for the past few months or so, I'd had plans to revise the drivetrain to a 28T freeweel and use Superbe Pro components. I'd previously seen that the 30T wouldn't work, but despite trying and really wanting it to work- I could not get the Superbe Pro RD to work with a 28T cog. Recently I'd bought a medium cage XC Pro RD off the eBay and thought that would look awesome on there.

Another thing that wasn't quite what I wanted was that the 39cm SR World Champion bars were a touch too small, so I took the Belleri touring bars that had been on my Trek 620 and put those on- I also installed a nice San Marco Touring saddle. When I was taking the brake levers and shifters off, I couldn't get the original Suntour nuts off the bolts for the Command Shifters- I actually snapped the bolts trying to get them off. They're totally in there! I don't remember if I greased those or not- but they just totally seized onto the bolts. I have one soaking in PB Blaster- and I'll see if I can't drill out the bolt piece.

Anyway- here's how stuff sits as of this morning- The med cage RD is much quieter than the XC Comp was and it shifts just as nice as the rest of my bikes. I may put a front rack on here for the Acorn bag- but I don't think there's enough distance between the Command Shifters with these bars.

The Golden Boy 

Bump!

Because I just can't seem to leave well enough alone (or it's just never really gotten to "well enough" for my desires)... I finally got around to a getting a triple on here.

Sometime in the past couple of years I lucked into a drilled Stronglight 99BIS crankset for my 1978 Trek 730- I love it on that bike and I thought that would look sufficiently adorable on this bike- I pulled the existing SR SX and fitted the Frenchy drilled thing on there- and to my surprise- it just didn't look right on this bike. Not only was I bummed because it didn't look right- but because I ended up buying TWO of these cranksests- the first one had MUCH more wear on the rings than I was lead to believe.

I've always had an affinity for Avocet parts. I don't exactly know why, but there's something that I find alluring about Avocet stuff. I have a set of Avocet sealed bearing hubs laced to some Super Champion rims- not only are they outrageously beautiful, but they spin so nicely and smoothly. Even with as ubiquitous as Avocet seats are- they are REALLY good saddles. A wonderful forum member helped me out with an Avocet triple crankset and bottom bracket. These cranksets are re-branded Ofmega cranks and are set up as a 144 BCD and the inner set of holes matches with a 74 BCD. This initially came with a 46-43-24 set of rings- I scored a drilled 48 outer ring... and then I found a set of RINO 52 and 42 rings- that were anodized red. I stripped off the red and stripped off the clear on the Avocet- polished them up and... now... finally- a triple on the Trek 400 Elance!!!

Here's the Stronglight 99BIS, the Avocet Triple w/ drilled 48, and the RINO rings:




And a whole lot of Easy Off, Mother's Aluminum Polish and old fashioned elbow grease - I'll have to keep an eye out for a drilled 26/28 74 BCD ring:

The Golden Boy 

My next project with this bike is a wheel build.

The Sanshin/Araya wheels were OK- I really wanted to have eyeleted rims- My secret plan was to re-appropriate a set of Weinmann rims that I culled from my old Trek 420. However, those wheels were built with a Helicomatic and lower end Maillard front hub.

For the past few weeks I've been riding the wheels from my Trek 720 on this bike- Matrix rims. A Maillard 700 front hub (and that spins like a pat of butter on 150 degree teflon!)





The rear is a 5 speed Helicomatic. I did a bunch of reading, I know there's a couple of different levels of the Helicomatic- with the top end one having a label that looks like the one above. Again, I have this bike set up with Suntour Command Shifters- Accushift indexed shifting. I reset the limit screws on the RD and it actually shifted pretty well. The spacing was a little off, so in a couple of gears, there was what I guess was pulley rub on the cog- it was just mildly annoying, but I didn't like it. Then I got the idea to attempt a wheel build. My first wheel build. This bike originally came with a 6 speed Maillard 600 freewheel hub on a 700C Matrix rim. Very much like this hub- but, like, for the rear:





So I pulled that hub off. I then pulled apart the Helicomatic wheel. And then I set to building the wheel- using a combination of the Sheldon page and a couple of Youtube videos. I really dig the one with the Russian chick narrating it.





I don't know if it shows in the pic- but on the drive side, the spokes cross about 3" out from the hub. On the non drive side, the spokes cross around 6" out. I get to tear it all apart and try it again. If this is somewhat successful, I'm going to tear apart those Weinmann wheels and build those up with these hubs. Dominate.

OldsCOOL

Shall we call you Golden EYElets? Sorry, I had a flashback.

I commend you for your courage, Komrade!

The Golden Boy 

Just listen to her!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caCloMziaCk

OldsCOOL

Make sure you have the right wrench for the size of neeples you are usink.

I'm havink strange urges to go to store for toilet paper.

The Golden Boy 

You get it!!!!

The Golden Boy 

Another BUMP!

It was a pretty hard decision to choose between the Avocet Triple and the Stronglight 99BIS triple...
In the course of looking at @MZilliox's Giles Berthoud bike- I changed my mind and put on the Stronglight- it's really looking great! I got some brown Cristophe toe straps to go with the Cat Eye black resin toe clips. The pedals are SR SP-100A pedals- they came on my 78 Trek- after a little cleaning and grease- quite sporty...








I just ordered a new chain for this bike, I think I have to switch to a long cage derailleur as I have some shifting issues (which may clear up with the chain) I also may be doing a front rack- It's never, ever going to be "done."