iamtim

My son is 15, soon to be 16. The fact that he still wants to ride with his dad enthuses me to no end, so I have a tendency to go overboard when it comes to bikes and stuff. He's got 3 of his own: his BMX racing bike, his BMX street bike, and his road bike.

His road bike *was* a Nishiki Altron NFS: a triathlon bike. While it was set up road-bike style, it was too big for him, had weird geometry, 650c wheels, and downtube shifters which caused him to be less than stable while shifting at speed. Plus it was a standard double which made it tough for him to keep up with me and his uncle on the hills (which he found very discouraging.)

Recently I was fortunate enough to come into an EXCELLENT quality 2003 Trek 1000 frame and fork, with a slew of the original parts in a 50cm sized frame. That's just his size frame. So I set to dismantling his Nishiki Altron NFS and my Nishiki International fixie conversion to scrape up all the parts needed to put this bike together for him. A few trips to the bike store for additional supplies, and here's what I came up with:


Sorry the low quality pic; my good digital camera is out of commission right now.

Here's the parts list: 2003 Trek 1000 frame/forks, Alex AT-450 wheels, Suntour Superbe triple-chainring crankset, Shimano 105 SPD-SL pedals, Shimano Sora brifters/front derailleur/rear derailleur, Suntour Cyclone NOS single-pivot brake calipers, Bontrager seat/seatpost, generic stem (that's the stem I am replacing from a link in the "I need a stem" thread I started the other day), and Motobecane handlebars.

He absolutely LOVES this bike. It fits him SO MUCH better, and he feels and looks so much more confident, secure, and stable riding this bike. And it looks like a brand new bike.

voltman

Well done!

Tiffanie

Awesome Tim!!

caligurl

very nice!!!!!

shakeNbake

Nice.

That's a steel fork, right?

jschen

Awesome! Your son is lucky to have you for a father.

jsigone

nice build Glad he's happy

urbanknight

Very nice. I love seeing families, father-son teams, etc. out on the road. Reminds me of when my dad would ride with my brother and me. We started racing and dad stopped riding, which was sad, so don't stop riding even if they get faster than you. It happens.

iamtim

Uhm... you know, now that you mention it, I don't know what the fork is made of. I assumed aluminum because it's not carbon. But it could be steel just as easily.

Anyone else know for sure?

jsigone

hold a magnet to it, if it sticks it's steel, if not....well you'll know

shakeNbake

Like he said, stick a magnet to it.

If it's aluminum, change it ASAP. Seriously.

iamtim

Ah. Here we go. The Trek website for the 2003 Trek 1000 states that the fork is "Alloy w/alloy steerer."

*shrug*

jsigone

here ya go for cheap replacements

https://www.universalcycles.com/shopp...4&category=633
https://www.universalcycles.com/shopp...1&category=633

shakeNbake

Also

https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...20Road%20Forks

I would do it asap.

iamtim

Why? What's the big deal?

shakeNbake

Never experienced it first time, but aluminum forks are sometime referred to as "death forks".

iamtim

You know, personally, I've heard many more stories of carbon forks, seatposts, and handlebars breaking than aluminum. I can't recall one story of aluminum forks breaking unless they're crashed into something.

Do you have links to aluminum forks failing?

(Not challenging, just interested.)

Mr. Beanz

Wow,nice bike. I need to start putting bikes together. Nice results!...hey, that seat looks very familiar, is it a Bonti?

voltman

That's not the stubby stem you were looking to order, is it?

iamtim

Oddly enough, it is that very seat.

iamtim

The stem in that picture is the stem I want to replace. Someone linked me to a 70mm Profile Designs stem at AE Bike that's pretty much exactly what I was looking for. I just got shipment notification for it today.

urbanknight

Wow, I wish I had asked you guys for recommendations for a new fork. I bought a used steel one off ebay for $50, and it's not much lighter than the one linked above. Ah well.

I have heard of certain earlier aluminum forks breaking, but only one really rough roads, and it was usually the crown seperating from the legs because they were 2 piece models.

voltman

Cheap Reynolds forks.

shakeNbake

Interesting, I've never looked it up before you asked this. I just heard that term used for alu forks.

It turns out the "death fork" refers to one specific fork, the Viscount/Yamaha bike forks https://sheldonbrown.com/lambert.html#recall.

So you're probably fine with that Trek aluminum fork.

IMHO, I would look to replacing it in the future, just because steel/carbon should be less harsh.

Oleanshoebox

right on tim. sweet bike