It feels like a bit of a stretch to call this a "build" -- mostly I just moved parts from one frame to another. I bought this frame last week with just headset and bottom bracket.



I think the headset is the original Trek micro-adjust. The bottom bracket is a nice, shiny Sugino. The 1982 Trek brochure says this would have had a Nikko bottom bracket, but the original crankset was a Sugino GT triple.

The paint isn't as perfect as it looks in the picture, but it's pretty good. Just a few spots that have been chipped or scratched, some touched up.



The plan was to move the SunTour Superbe/Superbe Pro components over from the Pinarello I just got. I needed a downtube clamp for the shifters (which I was able to get from another BF member). I had to use the bottom bracket cups from the Trek with the Superbe spindle from the Pinarello. Also the Superbe brakes didn't have enough reach on the Trek frame, so I got some Tektro R539's and RL340 levers.

I think it came out pretty good.

Freaking beautiful! That red-wine color is so deep and shiny. Love the Suntour componentry, too. For some reason I feel like they "fit" way better on these old Treks than Shimano stuff does.

Oh, man. I used to have one just like that, and loved it. Mine had Suntour Cyclone II components and a Sugino triple. That’s the coolest logo Trek ever had, in my opinion.

Thanks. For some reason I didn't think the SunTour stuff was right on the Pinarello, but on this bike it just seems natural.

Too bad I just sold my nutted Suntour Superbe brakeset- I'd have made you a deal to complete the groupset.

I'm kind of partial to dual pivot calipers and aero brake levers anyway, though I guess there would be something nice about being completely period correct.

That's a sweet bike. Looks very clean.
I have one of these and have barely ridden it. Mine is original except wheels and FD. Someone put a Sora on it and the wheels are Weinmann.
I thought there was some sort of braze on on the DT for the original Suntour shifters? I could be wrong about that. I like the heart shape little bump under the DT to keep the shifter collar from sliding.

Now I remember- this is the one with THAT Superbe RD- the mythical long cage Superbe!

Andy- have you gotten out on it? You mentioned you haven't gotten out on it because of the rain.

I think the only thing I'd do differently is to use either Suntour Sprint shifters or Simplex Retrofrictions.

Like [MENTION=129353]Falcon3[/MENTION] said- the Suntour stuff just seems to compliment these frames moreso than anything else. IMO and all that.

[MENTION=406690]Pemetic2006[/MENTION]- those Symmetric shifter bases came on clamps as well:

For some reason I was picturing there being some sort of square shaped appendage on the top side of the DT for those shifters to fit onto. But there is a good chance I hallucinated that.

Yeah, I'm going to need that long cage (and the 14-30 freewheel) because of the ridiculous 53-42 crankset on this thing. I don't have the legs for that. I love the looks of this crankset, so I may just have to relegate this bike to relatively flat rides. A local used parts shop has the Sugino AT triple that would have been original on this bike, but it doesn't look as nice.


The rain is one thing. I think I also need to do something about the chainline. I'm using a spindle from an Italian bottom bracket and you can see in one of the pictures above how far offset the lockring is on the adjustable side (in addition to the kickstand crimping ). The inner chainring is really, really close to the chainstay and I'm afraid it will scrape under load. I picked up some spacers to put behind the fixed cup, so now I just have to muster the resolve to break that thing loose.

No, this bike came with the sort of clamp-on shifters [MENTION=174646]The Golden Boy[/MENTION] pictured. I had to trade for a clamp to get the shifters I had on hand to work. At least it wasn't a case of some hipster filing them off to make a fixie.

Figures I was hallucinating.
I mentioned I have barely ridden mine. It's mostly because I have a Trek 910 that I favor, but it's also because it's missing bar tape and I haven't wrapped it yet.....in fact I'm embarrassed to say I've never wrapped bar tape. Anyway, it isn't because of the death fork and I personally wouldn't sweat that. I'd just check now and then.

You're sort of not on the crack...

The braze on for the symmetric shifter was a mount on the top of the down tube that the sort of square housing mounted to. Which made it difficult to use non-symmetric shifters. There was a cable stop made for those braze ons- and they're rarer than hen's fangs and cost an outrageous pretty penny when you do find them.

Dang, that's a sweet lookin' bike. I agree, these are the coolest headbadges, except maybe the screwed-on ones. I see yours has a fancy brazed on cable guide, over the BB shell, my 412 has a clamp-on SunTour guide.

Agreed. Perhaps dual pivots offer better braking, but there are very few better looking brakesets than the Superbes. They are a nice copy of Campagnolo. Almost-period-correct aero Dia Compe levers can be found as well. I used them on my wife's '85 Specialized Allez SE and they are a nice compromise to the Superbes.

That's a stunning bike. If you start with a frame and end with a complete bike, that's a build in my book.

I'm still easing into the C&V thing. I love the old steel frames, but this is the first one I've managed to build up with friction shifters and even that is mostly because these components were just so beautiful. I'm kind of a freak about braking performance but I also dislike mismatched things, so if I came across a set of nutted long reach Superbe brakes I might give them a shot.

So I was sort of right except it looks not to be square shaped.
Nice Panasonic.

Your hallucinations were pretty much correct!

I stole the pix off the intarwebz. I think the Panasonic was posted here.

Then there's Superbe Pro brakes with the spring enclosed in the arms- those are a bit later than your bike or Superbe group, but they're stunningly cool. I haven't run across a "standard" reach set.

This is the bottom bracket on my 34 year old bike. That's about what you'd expect, right?



Seriously, there are parts on the new bike I bought in January that are showing more wear than that.

I did have to use a little WD40 and a cotton cloth on the cups to get some caked on grime off, but the underlying shine was still there.

It's beautiful, Class A stuff.

I'm looking forward to seeing more pix of it out and about!

Beautiful bike! I have a blue '87 Trek 400 Elance and I love it! One question though, is it just the angle of the picture of the complete build or is your stem just that big? You must have crazy long arms!

LOL at the crazy long arms, that looks normal to me. Yeah, that was definitely a time of high quality parts. My '82 412 came to me with a Sakae BB, which also has chromed cups. I definitely needed to clean it up, that old grease gets a bit crusty after 30 some years.

I guess it's just an optical illusion. It's only a 90mm stem.

This idea of parts that aren't designed to expire is just totally foreign to me.