Birthing pains
 

Bless me y'all for I might have bitten off more than I can chew, Don't know yet.
Hello from Indianapolis, IN!
I just bought a frame (just the frame, a Trek 1000), with the intention of building a full road bike. I have been riding a hybrid bike for ages...totally new to the road bike concept, but I was so jealous of all those road bikes zipping past me on the trails! And I have a few tools laying around the house, have the time being retired...so I thought I would build one from ground up. Any suggestions, especially the ones about where to start, would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers.

Welcome!

In order to get you the requested assistance, we are moving your thread from our Introductions forum over to our Bike Mechanics forum.

Probably the best place to start is with getting help. I’d suggest looking around for a co-op that can help with both parts and direction as well as tools. It’s not impossible to do it in your own garage…that’s how I learned…but having help saves you some headaches.

It would have been easier and less expensive to buy a whole bike, new or used. You have a 40 year-old frame built for 40- year-old tech. Nowadays, there are so many options with how you could build this that you need a guide. 8-, 9-, 10-, or 11-speed cassettes on a 126 mm rear axle? Down-tube levers or dual-control levers? Handlebars that will work with dual control levers and a quill stem? 25.4 mm or 26.0 mm? Where to buy an appropriate quill stem? And what about tire sizes and rim widths? Can I run 30 mm tires in a 40 year-old road frame? Saddles and seatposts? Road or MTB pedals, and then, which ones? Crank arm length? Shimano, SRAM, or Campagnolo? Triple chainrings or double, and what about 1x? Clamp or tab mount front derailleur? I recommend studying the Park Tools Blue Book of bike maintenance as a reference, but it sounds as if you need more of a tutorial or an in-person guild. Is there anything like a bicycle repair co-op in your community?

That is as good a way to get introduced to bicycles as any. Get your hands dirty!
This first order of business is to establish what you got. Measure the rear drop out spacing:
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/images/measure-spacing.jpg
It's either 126mm or 130mm. This will determine what type of drive train you could run.

The next thing is to see what stem arrangement you have. Threaded fork and Quill stem like this?
https://templecycles.com/cdn/shop/pr...217&width=1333

Or threadless fork and threadless stem?
https://rideons.files.wordpress.com/...o-threadle.jpg

It's easy to tell the two apart on a bare frame. Does the fork steerer have threads on it? If it's a threadless fork, then you need to measure the diameter to see if it's 1" or 1 1/8".

Once you have the above information, report back, and we'll go on from there. Then you can go shopping for parts.

The older tech wheels and stuff shouldn't be too troublesome if you willing. The bike is well made, rides nice and the finish on all the joints is blended nice and smooth. I picked up a Trek 1000 a whle back, the only problem that I had was that I couldn't fit tires fatter than 25mm. Maybe you can get away with 28mm if the wheel is true, the rim is narrow, the tire seats right and it's on the small side of 28mm.

With that in mind, look for skinny rims. The advice about the coop is spot-on. if you have one near you. You might have to try different wheel/rims and tires to get them to fit. Once you do and you are happy, the rest will be far easier. Oh, one more thing. If you get a donor bike with all the parts that you like but the frame is wrong, damaged or just not your type, this can be a good short-cut.

If you like sporty bikes, you may like the Trek 1000.

Post pictures as you get this project moving forward.

Surprise, surprise. Trek carried the 1000 into threadless steerers and STIs.

best thing is to get a good bicycle repair book and start Reading it..
the Park Tool "Big Blue Book" is the most common one, but may take for granted that you are already a mechanic.

here's a great source of info on such books...
https://www.powells.com/books/search...r+books&page=1

a good book will teach you about the nuances of bike design and specifications, and spare you from endless anecdotes,

start by determining the SIZE and TYPE of steering stem your trek needs.. then,, Brake Caliper Reach and Style.
trek 1000 frames use 700C wheels, btw......

and a tool you may want quickly is a digital caliper for accurate Metric Measurements

Here is a method I have used. Start by buying another bike of similar size to your desired frame. Make sure it has a good wheel set. Then ride that bicycle till you eventually get comfortable with transferring over its components to your desired frame. I once spent about 5 years gathering the component to assemble a Franken Peugeot Dolomites. That frame just hung in the garage reminding me of its future potential till I got to it.

Ya got the frame you want, now go get a donor bike for it...

Man, I sure wish we had a bike Co-Op around here. Now days the only local Co-Op is me, some of my tools, and my skimpy parts bin. But many locals bring over good parts for it as they too build their own rides. I do so enjoy the company. Its all FUN!

I get it... But look at all the fun he is going to have. Sometimes I get more fun out of learning about my bikes as I build them up then in riding them. I think he will soon find out where he is going. There is new and old to be learned. Center Pulls to Caliper, to Disks, Friction, to Indexed, Cottered to Square to Hollow, and Lions and Tigers and Bears. Wow!

As far as expense you are right. Then again I dont understand costs now days. Also I dont understand not having repair-ability of many new items. Cars and Bikes included. I guess its just Geezerdom. I really dont miss those days of adjusting points and timing on my short block Chevy with that damed Holly Four...

a wealth of knowledge can be found here...
https://www.bikeforums.net/general-c...-decoding.html
and here too...
https://www.vintage-trek.com/SerialNumbers.htm

Thanks. I am ready and willing to get my hands dirty...and to listen to experts.

Thanks for the advice. I will get a book...

Best answer. Especially for a newbie, there is so much to know about all the choices there are, the pros and cons of each, what will work and what won't. A bare frame might not be the best place to start for someone just starting out. It will take a long time to research it all, and mistakes will be made along the way.

Someone else mentioned buying a donor bike that is compatible (possibly another Trek 1000 of the same generation), and transferring the parts over. That would work and also teach the basics of bicycle mechanics, without worrying about compatibility.

I guess it depends on how quickly he wants to get this frame on the road.

You're getting a lot of good suggestions. I would add that "a few tools laying around the house" may not cut it. There are several things that require specialized tools (bottom bracket tools, cone wrenches, chain tool, and others).

Also, do you have a work stand? That makes the process of building a bike (or just doing maintenance) infinitely simpler.

In case it hasn't been mentioned, Park Tools also has this web-site with good assembly info. :

Repair Help Articles | Park Tool

I have the crank puller tool, BB toothed tool, and I do have the cassette removing chain tooly thing. No idea what the 'cone wrenches" are...but will look into them. There is a "chain link" tool, but have not had to use it yet. So, all in all, making progress, I think. You agree?

I have the crank puller tool, BB toothed tool, and a bike work stand. I do have the cassette removing chain tooly thing. No idea what the 'cone wrenches" are...but will look into them. There is a "chain link" tool, but have not had to use it yet. So, all in all, making progress, I think. You agree?

Don't go buying tools before you need them. Many modern cranks don't need a crank puller. Crank pullers were for very old bikes. And only needed to get the crank off. You haven't even put a crank on if this is a bare frame you bought.

When you do put on a crank, get either a two piece road crank or a 3 piece ISIS or octalink2 crank. And something from this century. You won't need a special tool to remove them.

Cone wrenches you'll only need if you get wheels that have cup and cone bearings. However many wheels today come with sealed bearings that don't need adjusting or regular cleaning and lubing. You'd do yourself a favor, IMO to get one of those type hubs with your wheels..

That Trek 1000 should be able to handle any modern 11 speed group for rim brakes.

It sounds like you're well on your way.

I thought of determining the tire width allowable as my first step. These days 25mm wide is considered skinny and it's common to see 32mm wide tires being run of purely road bikes. many of the road bikes of the 1890s to only a half dozen years ago were designed around 23mm wide tires. As such fitting a tire much wider than a 25 might be unwise due to the too tight clearances. Had this frame had the OEM calipers (designed around those 23 tires) fitting current rims (which are generally wider than those of yester year) might not work well WRT the brake adjustments. Wheels being so key a part of the riding experience makes me think about this aspect pretty quickly. It also was this "on the trails" comment from the OP and his likely running 35-40 wide tires on their hybrid that reinforced my concerns about this frame's practicality. Andy

Wonderful resource! Thanks. I think I will start with "Urban Biking Handbook - The DIY Guide to Building Rebuilding Tinkering & Repairing Your Bicycle for City Living" by Charles Haine, since it seems to entertain the "build" concept, whereas the others appear to emphasize maintenance (which will come later when I get there).

[QUOTE=maddog34;23536575]a wealth of knowledge can be found here...
[URL removed]
and here too...
[URL removed]

The frame I have has these numbers at the base of the BB: TBI0405 CC5G1752 on the non-drive side and WTU 34401570A on the drive side. I looked at the link you sent but could not make neither head nor tail. Any suggestions? (sorry I had to remove the URLs from the response b/c the site wouldn't let me post URLs). Thanks

[QUOTE=reddigari;23537604]The Second number is the build spec. number... the 2005 model comes up as a "Mist Duo" color scheme, pearl white and brushed aluminum... and is a WSD frame (Women Specific Design).
It is a Small size frame, correct? 47cm? if you are fairly short in stature, it will fit you... like, 4'10" to 5'2"-ish? IF you are not this height range,,, Full Stop.. you Really need a different frame size... !

the first number is the frame MFG. Location and Date code...

[QUOTE=maddog34;23537688]You are a font of knowledge! And absolutely right about the size...it is exactly 47 across the seat tube and 49.5 cm across the top tube...and I am 5' 9". So a tad too tall (that actually does make me feel figuratively tall as well :) ). From what I have been learning, it did feel small and so raised the issue. As I mentioned earlier, I only spent 25 dollars on it, so no big loss. A bid lesson learned (a book might have taught me more, but there it is...c'est la vie, as they say somewhere. I will keep looking for parts only sale items.