Originally Posted by
AdventureManCO
Thanks for your interest! It has definitely renewed mine in picking this bike back up as a project. I'll probably build it back up again here soon just for fun and to keep the project going. These old Treks are wonderful bikes - they made a lot of them, so they are not really considered that rare or special. But the fact that you can get a decently lightweight cro-moly frame, made in usa, for $50-$150, it's pretty amazing.
The only thing that has been a bit of a challenge is the head tube - they sure made them short...which contributes to the aggressive lower front end stance. That is where a fork with a higher axle-to-crown height can come it, but they can be hard to find. This bike didn't come with it's original front end. It has some terrible old Rock Shox threaded fork that was a brick. It was a real diamond in the rough - a beautiful frame (Trek's highest end welded cro-moly mtb frame). I found a random 700c steel 1 1/8 threadless cyclocross fork to throw on there. It would be sweet to get something like a vicious cycles or a waltworks custom fork for it, but that might blow the budget a bit!
I picked up another Trek bike a year or so later - an olive green Trek 930 from 1998. Still made in USA. It was ever so slightly heavier than the '96, but would still make a fantastic commuter or lean and mean singletrack hardtail. These bike were jewels with lower quality/outdated (by today's standard) parts hung on them, but would really shine if brought up to more modern standards.
I did a raw/gun-blued frame on an older Centurion build that I did, and with a special coating is still free of rust. I think I might do the same with this Trek 990. It would look killer - gun blued frame with silver parts.
Yes one of the many reasons I haven't finished is because I would like to repaint and I might be too impatient to take it all apart after building it up finally, so its better for me to leave it in pieces until I have everything I need to finish it all at once. blued sounds really cool, I have also considered a raw-ish finish. Mine is a dark gray color anyway which is very similar to what raw steel would be, so I may stick with a similar color when I finally finish it.
I agree, these frames are amazing which of course is why I bought the bike even though it was spec'd with old, beat up and out of date parts and why I stripped it down immediately. It is also why I have been torn on what to do with it. I kinda wouldn't mind building it up with modern mountain bike components and see how it does on the trails, but on the other hand, I have a slightly newer and lighter and more modern mountain bike and am probably going to pull the trigger on a FS trail bike soon, so it would probably not get ridden as much as an MTB. Also, I would hate to crash on it in the trails and ruin it. If I use it as a fun get-around-bike, it will likely last forever.