bikeclub

Somewhat inspired by this thread, here's my "new" hybrid for kicking around on. It's a 1993 Trek Multitrack 720 that I got off of Craigslist. I was psyched about the extremely clean frame, and it has the same geometry as the touring 720. However, on closer inspection, even if the bike was clean, most of the components were kind of crappy to start with; and in comparison to the touring 720, the original bike weighed in at 27.2 pounds, so the frame may be made of solid steel.

After stripping off all of the parts, repacking all of the various bearings, and frame-savering it (and finding that it does actually have tubes), I decided to go hybrid in every possible way. I started with the mustache bars, which led to the non-aero levers. It has a perfect road-frame fit for me (58 cm) and 700C diameter wheels, although I then put on the widest and cheapest city tires I could find (700 x 37 Continental City Rides, for now). I haven't decided if I should go with fatter tan sidewalls (Paselas?) or maybe cyclocross tires, but it looks like it will take up to 45mm wide or so. Finally, I decided to try single speed, so it's got a cheap Nashbar SS conversion kit; a beautiful new Sugino crank; and is setup as 38 x 16, which feels a bit too big for the trail but OK on the road.

Finished building it last night, and it was all shiny and clean, and I haven't even wrapped the handlebars yet. With the SS setup it is "down" to 26.2 pounds (still). Then I hopped on it for a "test ride" this morning with a wrench in my pocket, that then led to trails and paths near my house, that then became an hour or so... it was pretty fun.