Twisthem488

I haven't had a bike in a long time, my last one was a Schwinn continental that a friend fixed up and gave me. I've been wanting to go riding in this weather again and after a friend found out I was looking around thrift stores for something to work on gave me an old Trek 850 Mt Track XC. I don't know much about bikes, but it seems like it could be a good start to something, although apart from the frame and tires everything is in pretty poor condition. When I got it it the seat wasn't attached since it was missing a nut, the front brake was missing, the rear brake was to loose to touch the tire, and it wouldn't shift. Here is a gallery But the CroMo frame seems alright, and fits well enough (maybe? It seems large enough but looking around makes fitment out to be a really important thing).

I aired up the tires, got a new nut at the hardware store, and tightened the brakes as much as possible. The front derailleur set screws were stripped so I couldn't do much there, and I tried adjusting the back but it didn't make much of a difference. It just seems like its either too dirty to move, or maybe the spring is weak. I don't really know.

So I decided I'd price check replacing some things, and compare that to buying a cheap hybrid at a big box store. I figured It would be a better value to fix up the Trek, and I really like the idea of getting to know bikes better by reviving one. I'd mainly be riding on roads and paved trails, but want the freedom of going through some of the dirt we have around here without to much fear of trashing the bike or popping tons of tires so it seems like a hybrid seems right for me.

This post is for 2 main reasons. I want to see if it does seem a like a good idea to fix this up vs buying a cheap hybrid ($200 or less), and if it does make sense to do, will these parts work for it?

Shimano EF-51 Shifter/Brake Lever Combo (3 x 7 Speed)These look much more convenient the the stiff grip shifters currently on the bike.
Shimano Acera BR-M422-L V-BrakeMy research says I can replace the canti with V's
Shimano Acera Front Derailleur
Shimano Acera Rear Derailleur

Would it also make sense for me to get slicker tires? I'd like it to be a little easier to push. My old road bike spoiled me. Just the above parts would be around $100 and I would think last a lot longer than anything in that price range. I keep an eye on craigslist but haven't seen anything good posted recently. What would you do in my situation?

ColonelSanders

I have a similar bike to you, a 1995 Trek 830 Mountain Bike which I am slowly getting around to making some upgrades on.

All those parts look very well priced to allow you to get your bike up & running well, without having to spend much at all.

Does your frame have the connection points at the back to allow for V-Brakes?

Bill Kapaun

That's a good "meat & potatoes" frame and worth doing as you propose IMO.
Get new (good quality) cable housing if the EF's don't come with it. No sense using all those new parts and......

Note the EF-51's come in a 2 & 4 finger version. The 4 finger can be used on V or Canti's, while the 2 finger only works on V brakes. That doesn't appear to be a problem, but just to let you know. Your link doesn't state which they are.

I use 26x1.25" slicks on my grocery getter. MUCH better for pavement than "other". They will fit your rims fine. get new, proper sized tubes also.
Service the wheel bearings and BB, if cup & cone type, and you should have a solid bike.

Absolutely no clue what the above poster means by "connection points" for V brakes means.

practical

I'd start by giving it a very thorough cleaning. Get an old toothbrush or some other type of brush and really get every bit of dirt and grime off every bit of the bike - including the chain. This will take time, probably two-plus hours, to do it right. Along with a brush, use a detergent (many people like Simple Green but other detergents work well too.) You will need lots of Q-tips to get into the tiny spots including every link on the chain. Pipe cleaners (the kind that people who smoke pipes use) are also very useful when cleaning chains and other tiny hard to reach places. I also find the SOS pads work well to get tough grime off frame parts and the chain. If it's rusty, use WD-40 as a solvent that breaks down rust. Clean this off. Clean all around the tiny parts and hard to reach places of your brakes, gears and derailleurs. Don't forget your rims. By going through this process, you will learn a lot about the bike, and make it easier to work on. Plus, you may find that dirt and grease is affecting how it works more than the actual parts.

Next, learn how to adjust brakes and derailleurs. Learn how to replace cables. You can find many helpful videos on YouTube, but you'll always find that your bike and your situation is never as easy as the one in the video. That can be frustrating, but don't lose patience. As you're doing this, check to see if there is any play in the wheel hubs, bottom bracket or head. If so, it may mean you need technical help. You can check and fix these areas on your own, but it will take tools you probably don't have and technical skill you probably don't have.

When you've done as much as you can, you'll determine that the bike is good and worth investing in, or you can move on from it. If you get everything to work okay and you still don't like it, you can probably flip it in craigslist for $50. Maybe a little more because everything is so clean and new looking.

Have fun and good luck.

Wanderer

For free, you can't beat it. And completely refurbishing it isn't going to hurt too bad. For $100, you will have a nice bike, for exactly what you say you are going to use it for. Find a seat you can live with, and you are good to go! It really is a great do it all, basic, mountain bike, or grocery getter!

If you wanted to sell it, you might even get all of your investment back - free is good!

practical

I just looked at the pics of your bike. I posted above about giving it a good cleaning and that's still true, but obviously you have issues beyond that. I think you can get this bike working again. Many cities have bike co-ops or bike recycle shops. You might look to see what you can get there. Used bike shops might have inexpensive parts too. I actually like the tires it has on now. I might want to replace essential parts first - like the front brake and the seat. Then maybe consider changing the shifter/brake levers later. My guess is that once you clean everything up and replace the cables, the grip shifters will work well.

ColonelSanders

Don't rear V-Brakes need to be attached to points on either side of the seat stays?

Bill Kapaun

No different than the existing Canti's IF that's what it has.
Canti's require a cable housing stop, which V's don't.

DorkDisk

Cantis require a cable hanger that routes the cable down the center. A cable stop may or may not be involved

V brakes require a cable stop only.

Not all canti rears have the cable stop necessary, but there are bolt-on solutions for that

DorkDisk

I just use old toothbrushes. If its really bad, the chain comes off and gets soaked in a 2ltr bottle with degreaser/solvent

practical

Yeah, I use a brush too; but then I use the Q-tips. It's sort of like brushing my teeth then flossing them to get the gunk out between the teeth.

auldgeunquers

I would put money and effort into that bike.

If it was me it would end up with a trailer hitch, racks front and back and and fenders too, especially as an only bike, but I am a very utulity oriented rider and like to have a bike for errands.

I do have an old Norco Kokanee MTB much like your Trek that has none of the above on it, but it is not my only bike. It is a play bike for trail riding and I like it very much.

Twisthem488

Thanks for the response everyone. I will be doing a proper tear down and cleaning, and I am no stranger to being anal about my chain thanks to my motorcycle. the cable stop you mentioned for the v breaks, is that just referring to the noodle? Is it appropriate to post build logs on here? Can I just update this thread or start a new one?

DorkDisk

The noodle means you need to get a bolt-on stop or run a continuous length of housing and strap it on with zip ties

DorkDisk

Those derailleurs look in good condition but they look like they were serviced by someone who knows nothing about bikes: all gunked up with WD40 and overfiddled limit screws. The lack of wear on the pulley teeth tells me that its seen very little use. I would remove it, detach the cable, back out the limit screws, and check for full motion without slop. if it passes, tear it down, degrease, lube, and rebuild. Look for some new limit screws, theyre fairly generic. Its hard to tell but the heads dont look stripped. Is it the threads on the screw or the deraileur? Those STX derailleurs are better than modern acera and are worth keeping.

Anyways, I think you need to take a closer look at the bearings and replace those first before replacing derailleurs.

You also have the option of running a modern 9sp system. The advantages are higher end build and not so much "more clicks." For example, a Deore shifter is much smoother than anything lower end, which is where the modern 7sp stuff is. You will need shifters, cassette, and a new chain. I wouldnt reuse that chain anyways. I like vintage quality 7sp; modern 7sp is pretty low quality and I would stay away from it.

Your cranks might have been recalled for a safety issue. If so, you need to replace them.

CPSC, Shimano Announce Recall of Bicycle Components | CPSC.gov

I dont know if Shimano is still honoring this. The replacement is very low quality and I would only go through it if I really wanted to use that steel boat anchor.

I find that fixing old bikes rarely involves new derailleurs, but mostly involves the boring task of replacing and repacking cones and bearings, locating a compatible bottom bracket, and new cables and housing. I rarely reuse a chain, and antything called gripshift gets thrown away :-P

Old MTBS are very verstaile. For example; if your BB is shot and your crank is recalled, you can get a modern single ring setup with a 9sp rear. This will lessen your shopping list and allow you to use your front derailleur cable stop as a rear V brake stop.

Twisthem488

Thanks for the advice. With the encouragement from you guys I have started the project by cleaning the rear derailleur. I think that taking everything back to default will get it working again, and if not, I am at least much more familiar with how it operates. This was greatly assisted by RJ The Bike Guys video on how to disassemble/assemble a rear derailleur.

FULL GALLERY
The gallery will end up with a lot of photos. I'll post a just a few here so as to not picspam the thread.

This shows some of the grime on the derailleur. It was just as dirty on the inside. I'm amazed at how gritty everything was.


Here are the two pulleys side by side showing what a difference some cleaning can make.


All clean!


I'm not going to lie. I was a bit nervous I wouldn't be able to get it back together right. Especially since RJ's video used a vice to hold some pieces in place while redoing an assembly under spring load. It wasn't nearly as a bad as I thought. Now that I know Its pretty easy I'm going to redo the process but this time replacing the grease and lube instead of just cleaning it down. I think a dry run was smart so I could ensure that I knew what was going on before everything became obfuscated with grease. I couldn't get in everywhere since some pins are not removable, but I made a heck of a difference on this piece. Cleaning the front derailleur looks like it will be much, much simpler.

Its still not the most pristine piece since its been wrecked and has some scrapes on the outside, but the pulley cage is the only area that received rust from it. Depending on how anal I get I might put some treatment on it after cleaning off the rust just to make sure it doesn't get worse.

I don't actually see any sort of serial on the cranks. Just Shimano Japan 175. And the BB seems to spin very smoothly with the chain released. Is that a sign that its probably alright, or is it still recommended to open it up and repack it?

What do you guys think about using rattlecans to paint frames? It'll be a pain to strip down, but I'm really not a fan of the current style. I've got a vinyl plotter I can use to either make my own decals or stencils so it wont have to be a boring single color design either. I think a new bike deserves Treks current logo Of course this means now removing the cranks and the fork... But the better to learn my dear!

radeln

Nice job! Not sure from the photo, but those pulleys might be reversed. The pulley that can slide from side to side on the bushing goes on the top of the cage.

As far as painting, depends on the quality you want. Spray cans are pretty expensive and the paint is not all that tough when done. See https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...-cimarron.html for a very nice job by brush.

DorkDisk

Good job.

You have to remove the crank arms from the spindle to check for grittiness due to the leverage of the arms. With the arms removed, spin the spindle by hand to check for smoothness.

Twisthem488

I've got the one marked G Pulley up top I'm really impressed with the finish on that bike from brush paint! I know I'd want to spring for some proper clearcoat if I went with spray, and I'm still debating it because I would have a much larger range of colors and effects, and it would be easier I think (maybe not), to work with stencils for applying logos. I'm definitely keeping that in mind though.

Okie dokie. I'm waiting on my crank puller now, then I'll give that a go.

radeln

I've painted a bike with spray cans, trying to do a quality job, and will not be doing it that way again. A bike worthy of a real repaint will either get cheap powdercoat or possibly painted by a car painter, or an expensive paint job by a real bike painter. Just getting it ready for new paint is a hassle.

Probably best to wait until this bike is ridable. Then you will have a better idea if it is worthy of new paint.

Twisthem488

Hmmm... Perhaps. I haven't painted anything quite like this before, so I'll heed your advice. Today's teensy bit of work was pulling off the front derailleur and giving it a scrub. It was extremely simple compared to the rear.


I also pulled off the rear brake. I checked the stems for the front and they will need to be cleaned out before I can get the screws in. I doubt the brakes will come with screws so I'll pick some up from the hardware store. Next up, pull everything else off and clean up the frame, wheels, cassette, and then wait for components in the mail! Exciting

BigDB67

Thanks for all of the pictures Twisthem488! Looking at all of those pictures makes me want to buy an old bike to work on! .... but if I buy another bike my wife MAY kill me...

ALSO, I read somewhere if you paint a Trek frame it looses its warranty...

Please keep the pictures coming!

MRT2

I wouldn't. Your frame is from the era of American made Treks (as opposed to the Chinese made frames Trek markets currently) and it may be a True Temper OSX frame. Going out on a limb here, but I suspect that American made True Temper frames will only appreciate in value, while modern, Chinese made frames will be in landfills 15 years from now. Just appreciate it for the quality frame it is, old school logo and all. Would be a shame to ruin it's provenance with a crappy spray paint job.

fietsbob

Heard the phrase 'Looking a Gift Horse in the mouth' ?

DorkDisk

The 900 series had the True Temper frames. 800 series had generic chromoly, which is still a good deal compared to today