Nigal

Wow, that's about what I do on my 21 speed Trek. Now, if I can just scrape together a grand for the new bike.

dynaryder

That tape job looks bad. Sliding a couple mini O rings around the arms would've looked better. Another idea might be to brush some plasti-dip on them. That would coat the entire arm and look pretty clean if you did a careful job.

As for rusty hardware,do you have a marina or any boat shops near you? They usually carry marine grade hardware designed to handle salt water;rain won't touch that stuff.

haywyre

Howdy Ya'll
I have had my soho for about a month and 200 miles later. After Reviewing the thread. I noticed in finding documentation on removing and replacing the wheel they both mentioned running the break cable through the lever on the hubs. (ok still looking for he PDF I had that showed the Photos below. I do not have any rattle at all. Also this is the way I received my bike.
Rear

Front


Now to my introduction photos






Gallery
https://picasaweb.google.com/haywyre/...eat=directlink

iambent

Has anyone changed their handlebar & stem on their Soho? I am not crazy about the stock handlebar & stem setup on mine.

John

mtalinm

i got a shorter stem but have stuck with the handlebars. they are a bit weird but functional, as I can rotate them "up" when I lend the bike to my taller friends

iambent

Mine definitely needs a shorter stem that has more rise. I have an adjustable stem but it is for a 31.8 mm handlebar. I would need to change the bar or use shims. I am just not sure about the bar. I rather have something for multiple hand positions, like a butterfly bar. I also have an old Scott AT-4 bar that should work. The only issue with the multi position bars is there is no good place to mount a mirror and I am not a big fan of helmet mount mirrors.

John

TwoHeadsBrewing

The Soho would look and feel great with drop bars. Sadly, had to sell mine to buy a new MTB. One of these days though, I'll find another. It's one hell of a commuter.

mikeinroch

Looks like Trek has updated the Soho line for 2011 - new DLX model with a carbon fork and front disc brake. Regular Soho is now chain drive.
https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes.../soho/sohodlx/
Looks like they also changed the way you break the frame to change the belt.

irclean

Nice!

mtalinm

those are good upgrades - mine transmits every last bit of road agitation straight to my arms.

strange that they haven't put a disc brake an an Alfine hub on the back wheel, though.

it's essentially now a Portland without drop bars and with the belt drive / IGH / disc brake in back. not sure which is better...kind wish I'd bought a Portland

TwoHeadsBrewing

I like it, but wonder why they didn't just go all the way with full disc brakes. It's an improvement but it also comes at a higher price. For a commuter/tourer bike I'm pretty interested in the Raleigh Clubman and Sojourn. Pretty nice looking steel frame bikes, full fenders, Brooks saddle, etc. After riding a standard road bike for the past few months, I've had less problems with the normal chain drive and brakes than with the Soho.

mtalinm

not to launch a threadlet, but what trouble are you having with the belt? mine has been fantastic for the 1200 or 1300 miles I've put on it. I thought it was creaky once, but it turned out to be the bottom bracket getting lose.

by comparison, I'm replacing my road bike's chain for the second time this season...

bmorey

Speaking for myself I haven't had any trouble or noise with the belt after about the same distance. At five months I had to tighten the belt as it was skipping -- just a bit of stretch as it wears in I guess. I did it by eye and feel and it worked fine.

Brakes: got quite noisy at 6 months until I remembered they have to be lubricated occasionally. Bought a tube of the Shimano roller brake lube -- problem fixed.

Last month I got a front puncture and was not looking forward to removing the wheel with the roller brakes. I shouldn't have worried -- it was a piece of cake. Easier than v-brakes -- just unclip and drop the wheel. Best of all -- no adjustment and fiddling around on replacing the wheel.

I really like the roller brakes. They require a firm pull but they can pull you up quickly when required -- and never need adjustment and are quiet.

mtalinm

Easier than v brakes? This I have to try...

The more I think about the new soho, the more I like it. The drum brakes in the back let's you ride it down a sharp hill with not worry, but you have the disc brakes in front for quick stops when you need it.

mikeinroch

I agree, it seems like they addressed what looked like the two biggest weaknesses on the bike - the marginal front brake and the aluminum fork. Switching to an Alfine hub with rear disc I'm guessing would have cost too much, and I like the idea of having a truly bombproof / winterproof rear wheel and roller brake. I wonder if they changed the rear dropout frame break to reduce slop / creep in getting the belt tensioned and aligned.
I do wonder whether they will sell any of the new regular Sohos - no belt drive, 7 speed instead of 8, still the aluminum fork and front roller brake. Their own Gary Fisher Waubesa is quite a bit cheaper and has an 8 speed IGH and v-brakes, and a chromoly fork. It looks like the GF frame is already set up to accept a rear disc - seems like maybe they plan on offering it with an Alfine hub.

BarracksSi

But, remember that in the early days of mountain biking, riders were boiling the oil out of their big cruisers' coaster brakes on long downhill runs (one famous run was nicknamed "Repack" because you'd have to repack the hub with new grease afterwards).

mtalinm

yeah, I may not like the pull of the roller brake but it sure is maintenance / weather proof.

and my arms always hurt. too bad there's no trade-in program, I would love a DLX :-(

mikeinroch

That's okay, that's what the front brake is for. :-)
95% of the time I only need a little bit of braking, especially in winter, when even a little bit of braking is turning my rims to paste.

mtalinm

well you are right that detaching the front brake is super-easy. can't believe I hadn't tried it before. feeling better about swapping on my studded tire on-demand in the winter.

the rear wheel is another story. I had a flat and needed to replace the tube (and did the tire while I was at it). Getting the brake and esp chain drive off took more than an hour, only a quarter of which was spent hunting down a teensy screw I dropped. no plans to do that again anytime soon.

on the bright side, with the blessing of the Trek website I switched to 28c tires. no more rubbing against the fenders, and they seem to roll a bit faster if anything...

TwoHeadsBrewing

Once I swapped to Continental Gatorskin 700x23c tires, the Soho picked up a very noticable amount of speed (2-3mph), with the same amount of effort. It was a rougher ride to be sure, the stock 32c Bontragers are comfy but you sacrifice speed.

mtalinm

23s??? That thought never even entered my mind. I thought I was living on the edge with 28s.

Now I'll want to pull the new Conti GPs off my road bike and try them out. Well, after fiddling with the rear wheel for an hour to change it, maybe i won't...

dynaryder

You must have really smooth roads.

I'd never run anything skinnier than 28's on my commuters. 23's will give you an aero advantage for racing(steady 25+ mph),but otherwise there's no reason to run skinny tires unless your frame doesn't have clearance. If you want better performance,you'd do better with lighter,slicker tires.

TwoHeadsBrewing

Not really, it's a mix of good pavement and rough broken asphalt (city budget problems). But the Gatorskins that I run seem to hold up just fine. I even tend to run them at lower psi (90F/100R) to make the ride a bit less harsh, and I haven't had a pinch flat yet. To each their own, but I wouldn't hesitate to throw any road bike tire on the Soho. Less rotational mass is a good thing.

soho2009

Some innovations from Gates on the belt drive:

https://singletrack.competitor.com/20...es-again_10468

You would think that the new lower priced CDC system would be a shoe in for the Trek soho dlx but the msrp isnt showing a noticeable drop. (The disk brake on the front , avid bb5, is about as low as you go for a front disc brake so dont tell me thats where the money went - hmm could be the added rack.)

Ive been running with a 37mm Continental Travel Contact on the back and 35 Panaracer T on the front plus thorn proof tubes. Not sure why all the love for thin tires. Once in a while Ill have rubbing issues but easy enough to adjust so the fenders are plenty wide to take substantial tires.

soho2009

Also noticed the soho drops a gear to the Inter 7 from the nexus 8. Hmmm - Maybe next year they will come in with the DLX wearing the Alfine 11. Then the MSRP will be about right.