Originally Posted by corwin1968

This could be a fun thread!

In 1994 I conceived of the idea of getting a bicycle. ...It's a Trek 730 and even before it left the shop I had them replace the handlebars with one that had 3-4" of rise and a slight sweep back. .... I rode that bike a lot over the next few years and lost another 50 pounds. I continued riding that bike off-and-on until 2007 when I decided to "upgrade" and buy a Trek 7.2 FX. I rode that bike sporadically until I discovered Rivendell Bicycle Works and their emphasis on steel frames and functionality. This made me nostalgiac for my old 730 so I started watching Craigslist daily for another one. After three months, Craigslist yielded another 1995 730 but one size larger than my old one. This was exactly what I was looking for!!!!

.... My plan was to do a major retro-fit so the first thing I did was buy a new saddle, seatpost, grips and simple thumb shifters. ... The bike will be 100% to my preferred specifications with everything chosen to fit my style of riding. This process has been going on for one year and will probably take another six months to finish.

Upgraded parts worth noting:

Velocity Dyad Rims
DTSwiss spokes
Vittoria Randonneur Hyper 32 mm tires
Ergon grips
...