Im not a fan of powder coating bike frames, they look like they're covered with a thick coat of plastic to me when they're done. That aside though I'd keep the original finish on that Trek anyway, I dont mind a few paint scrapes/scratches/chips.

Yep. My '81 716 has a 5700 group on it and no problem putting the rear wheel in. It has no seat tube decal or any trace it was ever there but the paint is quite nice. Go figure. I like running the 32's on it.

I'll second the vote for touching up paint and not worrying about putting "the first scratch" on it. I've touched up a bike in better shape and it is a great 5-footer (looks good from 5 feet away). You can of course spot the touch-ups close up, but I'm just happy knowing they are protecting the bike from rust. If yours has no rust, touch it up and let the remaining Imron paint continue to protect it.

My 2 cents

These go from 47 to 61 mm: Dia-Compe #610 Centerpull Brake - Brakes - Brakes & Parts - Components

I remember this situation. I used the 5700 caliper on the rear since I was using the entire group and got this for the front since I needed to build the bike quickly for travel. There may be more elegant or classic and vintage options.

Shimano Ultegra R650 Road Brake Caliper | Chain Reaction Cycles

You need nutted brakes, right? If you do, recessed brakes aren't going to do the job. You can always return them if the 2 mm proves to be a problem. I've used a file before on brakes to move the shoes a bit farther down; you could try to do the same thing going up.

Edit: looks like Harris Cyclery sells them individually,

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/b...ers.html#47-57

I have 2 Early Trek's

the first one will get a touch up a 1980 Trek 613 and the second one since the paint has been stripped and horribly repainted ,will get stripped and painted. a 1978 TX900

Ultimately its your Bike, and you have to look at it all the time. do what works for you!

Re brakes, my bike came with Dia-Compe NGC500, labeled 47mm-57mm reach.

I love everything about my two 710-framed bikes (1977 & 1982) except this ONE THING: clearance at the rear brake. It makes a 700x32 pretty tight at the rear (but it fits) and it's giving you different front / rear brake reach.

According to the engineer's drawing we shouldn't have this problem: the front and rear axle-to-brake-mount distance should be the same at 36.5cm. Instead, the rear bridge is 35.5cm, which accounts for the 10mm difference in brake clearance and tight fitting tires.


(image from 1978 Trek catalog via vintage-trek.com)

More on brakes: The Tektro R539 will work fine at 47-57, this is the same reach range as the original brakes. I'm using its predecessor R536 at the front of my 710s. I find they do require a bit more room below them (ie between the brake and tire) because they're a bit thicker vertically so I run the old brake at the rear. If you mount them and are tight on clearance, make sure the arm balance screw is backed out as far as possible.

Originally these came as framesets to which you could add various component groups. Yes, matched brakes. As long as they're the 47-57 variety (and nutted) they should work. R539 will work great or any of the vintage sidepulls with that clearance range.

very sweet, that is going to be a heck a nice riding bike.

Check that your centering adjuster screw on the rear is all the way backed out. You should get tons more room on the rear that way. I'm running 32s that measure 33+.

Do you mean centering adjusting screw in the rear dropouts?

Looks great. If the durn rear brake bridge weren't so low, you could fit some huge tires in there. Still good room up front too.

The 7xx series are the full Trek Reynolds 531 butted tube set. They can be a little noodley for some riders, but this tube set was the choice of top racers for a long time.

That said, I have a 610 in that size from 1984. It has (best I can tell) a 10/7/10 downtube where the standard from Reynolds (not just for Trek) was a 9/6/9 downtube which should be a little more flexible and smooth. I've always thought the 610 is a little stiff and harsh.

I think you can get the adjuster screws out by carefully straightening the bend ends with a pliers, being careful not to further distort the threads. If they are really bad you can file the threads down so they can't damage the frame's threading, then just turn them out with a screwdriver. You should be able to measure the threads of the screws you remove and find replacement adjusters that will match. I'd recommend having adjuster screws, rather than not having them. I like that they enable the wheel to go in and find the correct alignment time after time without any messing around.

I think you have the 52 mm c-c frame size, same as my 610. It' a little too small for me, but the next size up from Trek (56 cm c-c) is just too big.

The 1984 610 at least was sold new with 27" skinny tire wheels (I got mine new), and the radial clearances front and rear were scant with that setup.

There's another wheel constraint with these frames, that the distance between the chain stays leaves precious little clearance for a 650x42 mm tire, based on a test fitting. 38's are about the upper limit. On my 610, I can comfortably fit SKS 45 mm fenders with 700x28c (Ultra Gatorskins), but it's hard to avoid rear fender rubbing with 700x32 Pasela.

Bob, it looks like your rear clearance issue might be the brake. Is it any better with the brake cable installed and adjusted correctly?

engineer bob, what's the serial number? Many of us are talking about 1978-sh, but the SN on the BB should give a good indication. There are some anomalies, but without full paint and markings and OEM parts, its hard to draw conclusions on the year without the SN.

Vintage Trek Bikes- Information on Steel Road Bicycles made by the Trek Bicycle Corporation, bike has a really good serial number directory.

Trek tweaked the geometries gently going from the '70s through the mid-80s. It's not clear the old engineer's drawing is applicable beyond its year.

I have number 002899 in the project line. The drawing you posted a couple of days ago is not applicable to your (or my) frameset. The big difference is the head and seat tube angles and the fork rake. I believe mid '80 and newer used 700 wheels and pre mid '80 used 27" I am not sure about that but mine is definitely 700 and 47-57 reach work both front and rear.

if you are still working around the half set of brakes PM me I may have the individuals.

All good info. I plan on using MAFAC Racers on my '79 710 with a TA front rack combo. I'm hoping for 650x38 with fenders.

Looks good from here. Honestly I'd be surprised if a full reynolds 531 bike weighs in at 25 pounds, more like 23 is my guess.

I have that same blue. What color worked best to match?

Yeah, that's a surprising weight. What are you using for a scale? What wheels do you have?

Hm I've got a 55cm Trek 730 project i'm working on, and I was hoping to come in around 20lbs using Open Pro's with Ultegra hubs, ultegra 6600 full groupset, and a Brooks.

Thanks for the tip!

It would be interesting if there were such a thing. But if not, I think you would actually be fine either way. Ride it with the "over-the BB" method for a while and see how you like the shifting. Cabling is fairly strong. Keep an eye on it. The worst that could happen is it breaks, you use the low-limit screw to position it in the middle and ride home.