1983 Trek 720 Touring
 

Newly acquired dream bike - 1983 Trek 720. Sunshine Pro Am hubs, Superbe pedals, and for true bike-nerds: a Cyclone 3-pulley derailleur! Like riding on a rainbow made of silk. Bought it from the original owner who bought the frame set new from Trek in '83 and had it built to his specifications. Luckily we have the same likes and dislikes!

https://i.imgur.com/BvDuQiW.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/5vD9UT2.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/dUzEIqV.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/s7YEJxo.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/2oYjgPe.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ewh62rC.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/JWcKSGn.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/dLYEeIv.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/tXg4r9G.jpg

Awesome. Lots of nice touches made by the PO. Love the yellow paint fill on the seat post

Very cool; what's not to love about this bike? Welcome to the Trek 720 club. I rode the exact same model, a 1983 720, across the US in '97. It handled the ride like a champ.

Thank you! Actually the seatpost was badly scratched up so I sanded it down and did the fill. 5 coats of yellow and 2 of clear.

Saddle looks too much like the Schwinn branded saddle on my '77 Varsity. It never was comfortable and gave me much pain. After getting a newer '78 model Raleigh with a different and very comfortable saddle (probably not original) I don't know why I put up with the scwhinn saddle for 35 years.

Otherwise the bike looks great!

It's a club I've wanted to belong to for a long time! Someday I'd love to ride this bike in Paris-Brest-Paris. Shorter tours will have to do for now. Good for you for riding across the U.S.!

I'll give it a try and see, luckily I have about 20 saddles kicking around...:twitchy:

Here's a "before" shot from the Kijiji ad just for posterity's sake:

https://i.imgur.com/UMmbzG9.jpg

Last pic I promise! The original owner, who was a very cool guy, also included this Trek seat bag with the sale, complete with new inner tube and 3 tire levers. I wish more sellers were like that!

https://i.imgur.com/hX5IpQO.jpg

You really scored Devinfan, nice find. What is the tooth count on that granny? It looks like you could climb the rockies with it! Very nice bike, congrats.

Thanks poprad! The granny is 24 teeth. It would have to be a steep hill for me to use it, but I love climbing hills so it will be lots of fun searching out hills that will warrant it.

That is a beautiful bike! The former owner clearly took great care of it.

It's true. What a difference buying from a fellow aficionado.

Yeah, that's the stuff. Another one of my grail bikes.

I'm working up to it, having acquired a Peugeot Vagabond, Schwinn Voyageur, Centurion Pro Tour (sold it - too small) and a Cannondale ST600.

I can see you've been riding it fast; all your hair blew off :)

:lol: :lol: :lol: It took me a while to figure out how you did that! As a point of fact, I HAVE been riding it fast, although not fast enough for that. I was in an elevator with a mirrored ceiling a few years ago and realized I was starting to get a bald spot. Went home, shaved my head and I haven't looked back since.

Have the same frame in a 60cm. Great riding bike. Your's looks properly vintage.

Would love to see yours! Post a pic here if you don't mind.

Nice ride, :cheers:, makes me a little green with envy.

This is a bike you can shamelessly post a zillion pics of.

Welcome to the Trek 720 club!

It's a beautiful example and you've made some excellent refinements!

I love the high flange hubs and the 3 pulley XC RD! I ran my 720 with a 3 pulley XC like yours- if I had kept it friction- I would have continued using it. It shifts excellent, it takes up tons of chain and it can take a huge rear cog- Pastor Bob borrowed mine and was using it on a 38 in back. You did a nice job with shining the parallelogram plate!!!

Between the 531 and the super extra long chainstays- nothing rides like these bikes!!!


Congratulations!!!

Thanks for the kind remarks. You're right about the ride - it's my best riding bike by a good margin, and I've owned some nice bikes. Interestingly I comfortably spend about 60% of the time in the drops on this bike, which I've been unable to do on other bikes, even when the bars were higher.

The rear derailleur is unusual: it looks exactly like an XC, except for the fact that when you get close enough to polish it you can clearly read the ghost of the word Cyclone. Can't tell if there's more after it like MKII but it doesn't look that way.

Think I found it. Here's an image of one with the logo intact:
https://i.imgur.com/rZ3i1HP.jpg

That's sweet! I know they did the LePree, XC and Cyclone MII- as triple pulleys. I think this is the first I've seen with that style of Cyclone body.

I assumed mine was an XC because of the cable entry.

I did all kinds of goofy stuff- Polished it, Suntour sealed bearing pulleys and red Bullseye pulleys... as if it doesn't stand out enough on its own! :D

BTW- good choice on the Sand Canyon tires- play with the pressures, they're comfy. And also the Pasela Tourguard/PT tires in 1 1/4 are nice as well. I was able to get SKS Chromoplastics to fit nicely with the Pasela, Sand Canyon and now 700x35 Compass tires.

That's hilarious I was actually thinking of Bullseye pulleys for this derailleur! Great minds think alike I guess. Good to know about the fenders, I'm on the fence as to whether to add them or not at the moment.

Notice your front pulley is small- I didn't have any problems with it- but... I think there's a reason it is a small pulley. I'll have to re-upload pix since photobucket pooped out.