Distinguished

Right, so I've been commuting on my battle hardened Trek 1000 for the past 4 months now, and I've saved quite a bit of money on gas and exercise, not to mention gaining personal cool points for fixing, maintaining, and otherwise screwing w/ bike mechanics.

It's been fun.

Only thing is, I think I'd like to upgrade the components of my Trek; right now it has ancient low-end components like Sakae cranks, Shimano light action derailleurs and levers, a Shimano 6 cog freewheel, an old chain, down tube shifters, a threaded handle bar stem, and Shimano SKS caliper brakes.

So far, I've upgraded the calipers to Ultegra BR 6600 since I almost died in the rain one day, and I changed the seat to an Origin 8; the tires to white Vittoria Zaffiro Pro II's.

I'd like to replace ALL of the components above with a lightly used Ultegra 6600 gruppo (except brakes, since I have those), a thread-less stem, and brift shifting.

Is that possible? Or should I just get a new bike?

I mean, I have $700, and the Trek I could sell for I-don't-know-how-much, soooo maybe sell the Trek high and buy a better bike low, essentially trading bikes? I REALLY don't feel like touching the $700, but I'll end up using at least $200 regardless getting the new components.

That said, the thing I liked with the trek is that the average person wouldn't be tempted to steal it...if I get a shiny-ish new bike, I might end up bike less....

(not that I don't lock it: 2 u-locks, a cable lock for the seat, and a ball-bearing sealed head tube).

Anyway,

Upgrade parts or New bike?

dtrain

A new-to-you bike with ~6600 parts for $700-850. Don't know your size, but somthing like this:
https://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/bik/3777837195.html

Or 9-speed 105 or Ultegra for around $450-$500, like this:
https://miami.craigslist.org/brw/bik/3759152861.html

Consider snagging the calipers and saddle (if it works well for you) off the Trek before you sell.


You'll likely spend more than $200 for used 6600 STI's and derailleurs. Then factor in BB and crank; fork, headset, and stem (bars?); cassette/chain; and a new rear wheel or wheelset...yikes!

Distinguished

I know this isn't the bike appraisal forum, but how much would the Trek go for?


(The seat's now a white origin 8, & sorry for the image quality).

Distinguished

Haha very cool, I was just looking at the Cannondale. The trek 1000 is 54 cm, and so's this one.

I'm 5' 8" with a 32-34 inch inseam, so the second bike is probably out of reach.

I guess you're right though, overhauling would likely cost as much as a new bike, maybe I got attached to the Trek!

merlinextraligh

It's not cost effective to do the things you want to the Trek. The new Ultegra group means a new rear hub with a freehub, not a freewheel, which means a new rear wheel.

Threadless stem means new fork, new headset, new stem, and possibly new handlebars.

Even sourcing parts carefully, you could spend way more than the bike is worth, and remember there are abunch of incidental items you have to weigh into the cost ( new cables, new tape, new rimstrips, etc, etc. ) Smaall items but it all adds up.

dtrain

If you feel loyal to Trek, this one is decent:
https://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/bik/3833436830.html

This is really nice if it's still around:
https://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/bik/3818260844.html

I'd say yours is worth $200+ in ridable condition.

rpenmanparker 

What about the rear hub spacing on the old Trek? Isn't it 126 mm? Modern drivetrain will be 130 mm and aluminum frames don't cold set. Not such a good idea to ride a frame with the rear stays under tension for a long time.

hamster

My first road bike was actually a Trek 1000 (less ancient though, with 8 speed Tiagra drivetrain and brifters) and I went through the process of upgrading it to 10-sp Ultegra 6600 with ebayed/craigslisted components. It was a moderately entertaining DIY process, but I'm pretty sure that it would have been cheaper to sell it as-is and to buy a better bike in similar condition.

I spent:
$74 on a new 10-sp cassette
$40 on used RD
$112 on used shifters
$116 on the crankset and the bottom bracket
$20 (I think?) on new cables
At least $50 on tools (chain whip, two different crank pullers, cassette lockring tool FR-5G, bottom bracket tool BBT-22), and I'm not even counting a torque wrench and hex sockets (for those, can't beat Harbor Freight)

I suspect that I'd be lucky to get $400 for the resulting bike.