I recently missed out on a Bridgestone XO and was wanting to try and get something similar. I am getting old...er and the thrill of single track mountain biking has long faded. I like to ride around with my wife and her beach cruiser and a road racing bike is not the best suited for casual riding, with occasional forays on dirt roads.

I looked around a bunch and found a Trek 310 listed on CL. In reading a bunch here, I came to understand that it is a fairly nice bike , likely made by Bridgestone in Japan for Trek.

I picked it up, but it is fairly rough with some serious problems were I to try and restore it, but it looks like it will be a good candidate for my project.

First thoughts. I got SERIOUSLY spoiled working on high quality bikes recently. From working on my Centurion Semi Pro to the Canopus Epsilon I am restoring, this frame is crudely finished in comparison. I guess that is where a builder has to shave costs, not doing as much of the cosmetic finshing on the frame. Still, lugged and Ishiwata tubed frame, Ishiwata lugged fork, this is a gem of a frame.

My plans are to strip it down, powder coat the frame and build it up with Shimano 6400, moustache bars, and barcons. I'll swich over to 700c wheels, but I will have to find some long reach brakes since the 6403 I have are a bit short.

And, the obligatory photos...





These next two show some of the finish condition. In some places it seriously looks like it had some paint overspray. Almost like it was in a room that was getting painted.





Ishiwata!



This is one of the problem areas, were I trying to restore it. Someone decided that they wanted to use a schraeder tube, with poor results.



Bridgestone partnership evidence.

Made in japan, unusual for a Trek.



Clearly marked logo on the steerer tube of the fork.

Interesting comparion of the measurements of the 310 vs. the XO

310/XO

Seat tube: 535(c-c)/550(c-t) So, roughly the same
Top tube: 545/565
Chain stays: 425/425
Wheel base: 1002/1016
Seat tube angle: 73.5/73
Head tube angle: 72.5\73
Trail: 50/55

Not identical, but not bad for what I am attempting

did the same thing to a '79 710 frame i bought off craigslist. powdercoat, 6400 stuff, conv to 700c from 27". also found what i thought was a nice araya redlabel a20 rim. but it was butchered like the one in your photo.

BTW, i once owned (about 1982) a trek 310. at that time they had real nice imron paint jobs...

How did your project turn out?

This paint seems to be really durable. I had a little stripper left and it laughed at that first coat. This will take some effort...

i had it professionally powdercoated. however, i did have an opportunity to see it after the stripping and before the pc. brazing was excellent. as you might expect it to be. in retrospect, i think that it might have been nice to just have had it clearcoated.

it's beautiful. the mix of nos shimano 600 stuff looks even better than i imagined. the bike gets many compliments. me, not so many.

You are going to find that to be fantastic riding frame.

Coming from you, I find that high praise.

Have you ridden one much?

Well, the bike is now stripped and I am prepping it to go get powder coated. One thing I found that I did not like was the fork drop outs. They were very crude and, frankly, ugly.

So, I took a small file and some sand paper and tried my hand at shaping some metal. I think they came out well.

Before







After

got a new (to me) carbon fork for my '86 310 they other day and had the LBS cut the steerer tube to size. then i installed the fork and took it for a 30 miler today. forgot the readjust the brake pads. which turned out to be a potentially dangerous oversight. 10 miles into my ride i stopped because the brakes weren't working very well. turns out the new (to me) fork was designed for a short reach brake not the one OE brake. so brake pads were catching only 1/8 inch of the rim. kludged a fix, and was careful on the way home.

while waiting at a light a 20ish male came through making a left turn, and as i was the only one waiting at the light he had a good view of my bike as he approached. as he flew through the intersection he yelled out the window to me "NICE BIKE!!!" and gave me a thumbs up.

people always seem to yelling at me when i'm riding....

BTW, the dropouts look fine, but then again i'm not a connoisseur like you.

Not sure I've ever been called that before...

Do you like your 310? Sounds like it is serving you well.

yes, i like it, and i didn't mention that last night at the lbs (sports basement) the mech liked it too. asked where the heck did i get these nice old bikes. had to tell him i bought off CL for 79 bucks.

of course, i put a... hmmmm, lets see, a ttt stem, kore straight handlebar, origin 8 mini trigger pull brake lever, gripfast tt tires, wheelsmith ss spokes and alloy nipples, tuffy ultralite tire liners, forte lunar lite tubes, suntour superbe hubs, sakae CR "galaxy" 144 bcd crank, crank bro pedals, white industries titanium BB, nashbar bolt-on QR front and rear, sram pc-1 chain, ACS "crossfire" SS freewheel, 60's era brooks pro saddle, tange levin headset, sakae 27.0 mm seatpost, and lbs grips.

so i guess it cost more than 79 bucks afterall.

Nice!

Yeah, this will exceed my 50 dollar initial investment pretty fast.

It's a triple butted 4130 frame made by Bridgestone, same as my T700.... You will love it.