When I'm not building Grail Bikes, which is often, I look for opportunities to build something fun with components I've had in mind for a while. In this case, a sweet yellow 1989 Trek 420 popped up at Bike Works (catalog photo was black/grey with yellow as the alternate color) and I saw it during one of the nights I volunteer there. Free from the Bike Works Curse (as I label it), which usually means it's dented in some unfortunate way, I saw a diamond in the rough. Considerable paint chipping and marks marred the exterior, with tired-but-present Shimano Exage Sport componentry providing some function. This was no beauty queen, but the potential had me excited, along with the 25.5" size. Because of course it did.
So, what sort of plan would I have for this considering the two older Trek touring luminaries in my stable? Enthusiasm and love for frames that fit my tall self know no bounds! Even myself, as a self-avowed not-a-yellow-paint kinda guy, was just drawn to this beautiful yellow with contrasting deep blue graphics. Maybe I'm just a particular yellow paint kind of guy. Anyway, I like Shimano's R2000 and R3000 (current) generations of Claris and Sora. Claris is painted in a dark gloss grey metallic, not too unlike their venerable, girl-next-door-pretty 6400-era 600/Ultegra. The modern Shimano STI hood/lever body design is wonderfully ergonomic. It's essentially a very little sister (Claris here) to Dura-Ace 9000. This is a very good thing, even in 8-speed form, IMO. Claris or Sora components would be my aim for this bike. Modest yet capable modernization.
The following photos will be of it in its as-bought state (for a very modest price, which is good considering the work I am doing to it), though I am nearly done with paint touching up (after extensive cleaning, compounding, and waxing of the paint). The bike was a runner, but in a considerable state of woe.
Rotation of handlebars makes for compact storage of many bikes in a small space. They also accentuate how dire their situation is.
"Have some respect, man" stem/bar positioning.
Blue bar tape would be nice to find again, but this is your typical rode-hard-and-not-cared-about donated bike. Tons of electrical tape for the bar wrap, super grubby brake levers (with a QR function!), and a stock reflector. Swan status is far away.
Cheap stem and headset materials/finishes combined with unsurprisingly similar owners and "storage" situations means the tale of (visual, at the very least) woe is off to a strong start.
Yup, not any better at the bottom headset cup. Component resale value? Working on it...
The distressed logo look is so very much The Current Year, and manages alright here, but it needs to be touched up. And the adhesive foam tape fastening it to the head tube replaced.
People make really weird choices, and I don't know why I still try to understand many people's poor or non-existent logic, but here we are. What in the blue blazes is this random piece of tape doing here? The blue graphics look ace, though, right???
Ah, a bit of provenance or history: It's been a (local) Greggs's Cycles bike. Fun to know, but that tired sticker is coming off ASAP.
Oh-so-typical donated bike roasted saddle, at least visually. In practice, it wasn't actually an arse hatchet!
