First family outing of the year, temps in the high 30's, low 40's in D.C, from Silver Spring (Ga Ave and Beltway) down to Hayne's Point and back.

My wife is too cool for school with her 1985 Trek 720:



This bike has too much nice stuff to mention, but I'll try: 32h Croce D'Aune hubs laced to Campy Omega Hardox rims, Suntour Cyclone Front/Rear derailleur, CLB brake levers from Chris K's private stock at Velo Orange, Shimano XTR bottom bracket, Stronglight Headset, VO Grenouille brakes, ITM stem, Nitto Randonneur bars, Honjo fluted fenders, Brooks Countess saddle. C-Record dt Shifters.



My ride is a 1985 Trek 620. In 1985, the 620 and the 720 were very close in geometry and features - both had canti brakes and super long chainstays. The 620 disappeared the next year, although mine actually has markings of a 1986 Trek - Cirrus this and that, contrasting head tube paint. It isn't shown in a catalog, but that is not unusual for weird Treks of that era.

Anyhow, my 620 is what a bobish, durable build looks like after about 8 or 9 years of solid, year round, all weather use with maintenance focused on keeping it running rather than cleaning it up.

In this picture, it is in a role that has become typical recently, as a traction unit for my son in his trailer.



In this shot, you can see some of the cool parts on this bike. This includes Dura Ace RD-7700-GS rear derailleur (I love these..), Specialized Triple Cranks, CR-18 wheels, rear hub is Campy Croce d'Aune, front is Schmidt Dynohub. Early Nitto mini rack. Brooks Conquest saddle. Berthoud stainless fenders. Bridgestone Solar powered fender mounted taillight. Rivendell Silver dt shifters. Canti brakes are Tektro knockoffs of Mafac frogless. All these parts are from the original build in 2000 w/the exception of the taillight, a recent addition to replace my dynamo powered taillight, and the brakes.

+1

Howdy,

We met on the georgetown branch trail a while back between bethesda and the turnoff into rock creek. I was a younger guy riding an SandS coupled chas roberts (or it might have been an early 80's maroon kuwahara touring bike). We talked about that rear light of yours and I have tried to source one ever since then with no luck. I still think its a genius bit of kit... if you ever have a line on another (I think your wife's mother sent it to you?) I would gladly make it worth your while to send it my way!

anyway, I love the bikes- especially that synergy painted 620. unique.

Positron - yeah, I'd like to get some more of the lights. What I did was order a few different ones for Chris K at Velo Orange, he was interested, but other than the samples nothing ever came of it. It was a pretty big hassle, we had to have my wife's mother in Japan order them, and then have them shipped here, all the retailers said that they were only allowed to sell these to customers w/in Japan. Some sort of licensing thing, I guess.

IIRC, they were about 3200 yen, which these days is getting close to 40 dollars. Personally, I'd like to figure out a way to get a hundred or so wholesale and just sell them here, I know they would sell. The trick is getting my wife to play ball, since I can't speak Japanese well enough to negotiate a deal and even if I could, a lot of the distributors in Japan don't want to bother w/dealing w/foreigners for small beer orders. To that end, my wife is similarly inclined, unfortunately.

As for the 620, I love the trim, unfortunately, it wasn't in very good shape to begin with and 9 years of daily rider duty has taken a further toll, although it looks ok from a distance. I recall that you recognized that there was something odd about it right away w/out any prompting. I was thinking, boy, this guy really knows his bikes.

Great bikes, robatsu! I really like old Treks, I have a 1984 610 set up similar to the 720. Same size as yours and Mrs. Robatsu's, as far as I can tell.

What is that little black bell? I need another stem bell or two.

Road Fan

Just some LBS bells from some years ago. Mine died recently, although I can't complain given the years of service for a bell that cost $2.00 or so. Unfortunately, LBS now only carries really big ugly ones, and the cute little Japanese brass bells that look nice aren't really loud enough for my purposes.

I'm thinking about a dynamo powered compressor so I can run air horns

Robatsu, you made me very envious. I love seeing that Trek 720 and 620 and I want to have that bike too but it's getting rare. Is there a way you just sell it to me.......hehhehe!!!!!