I'm looking at some mid 80s Trek 720 bikes. My purpose is for comfortable all day road riding on very rough roads. Touring load not required. I would need to carry quite a bit of water at times, some food, clothing for weather, etc. I guess sort of what you might need on a brevit, except for the water part. My understanding is that there is water available on brevits. There are rides I can take here in central Maine where I cannot count on finding water, so having to carry a gallon or more at the start is very likely. Max total weight could get up to 250 lbs. I weigh 210.
I am just a hair under 6' with a 34" inseam. From what I can gather, I would be looking for a 22.5" frame. Is this correct?
What is the max tire size for the 720? I see some had 27" wheels, some 700c, even in the mid 80s. Were the frames actually different, or did they just put different wheels in? In any case, what can you fit in there using a 700c? I'm hoping for 38mm tires without fenders.
So I'm wondering if the frame will be too noodley with 215 - 235 lbs. on top of it, and what I can expect for tire clearance.
I've got a Univega Alpina from '97 I could build up, but that's a totally different kind of thing (obviously) and will be for a different thread. I'm just throwing it in there in case it would fit my purpose better than the 720.
Thanks for any help.
I just got a 1982 720 sized 20.5" or 52 cm. I'm just under 5'6" and about 190#. I expect the main triangle to be stiffer than most 531 db road bikes, because the downtube has thicker walls than most others. Same for nearly all Treks of the era. The seatstays are quite long at 47 cm. This is mainly for heel clearance relative to the rear panniers. From the inception they were known as long distance tourers that could carry all that was needed for self-supported travel on two wheels. There may be some noodliness, but I don't know yet. Mine won't be ready to ride for a few weeks. I have another Trek, a 1984 610, which is not noodly and if anything is too stiff, in my opinion.
It looks to me like I can use 700c up to about 35 mm wide. I think 650b x 42 will be too fat, and I'm not sure what you can do for brakes when you have cantilever posts anyway. My first build will be 27x1 ¼ rims with either 1 ¼ or 1 ⅜" width tires. If I take the wheels from my 610 there will be 700 x 32, at least to start with. But I don't share the common belief that original tires are inadequate for touring, at least when the tireks are new.
But with my frame being set up for caliper brakes rather than cantilevers, it is inherently more versatile. With long enough calipers I could go to 650b, though I haven't researched exactly what that would take.
There are a lot of modern touring racks, including fronts, which can take large panniers and carry a lot more weight than the ones available in the mid 1980s. They can nearly all be attached to that frame using theeyeleys that are provided. If I was a tourist, the only thing I think might be missing is a pair of mid-fork mounts for front low-rider panniers. It used to be common to take a frame to a framebuilder to have touring braze-ons added. At the same time you should probably look at getting the rear triangles cold-set and aligned to accept 130 mm wheels. That lets you convert to 10 speed gearing o 3x10 gearing and indexing. But that's all for you to think through.