neo_pop_71

I'm in luck... the fork lug does have a single threaded eyelet, it's about 1/2 an inch behind the drop out at the very back of the lug. The angle of the picture is deceiving, you just can't see it but it is there. I'll mount a fender to the eyelet and get a rack that mounts to the brake bosses. I think it'll make a great commuter!

-D-

neo_pop_71

Great Bill! Just the person I was hoping might reply... I've checked your bikes pages, you've gotten your hands on so many nice bikes, my hope was that a Trek 950 had been in your stable at some point. Nice to hear that it has stayed in your stable and not moved on. Have you done the drop bar conversion? Any pics to share? How is the ride quality? Snappy or a slug? How well does the 950 do with climbing and descending?

Thanks Bill, I look forward to your reply!

-D-

p.s. Oh, as far as the canti vs. v-brakes, the old guy "modernized" the bike with no name Shimano shift/brake pods and no name Shimano v-brakes. I wish the original stuff was still there but I can't gripe about a $10 bike!

neo_pop_71

Thanks r y r !

The last pic in my original posting was the front view of the bottom of the fork leg. The decal is on the upper portion of the fork leg and then the bottom of the non-tapered tubing has the TANGE lugged drop out. I haven't seen a fork done this same way, I've seen non-tapered forks and lugged forks but never together. It's pretty stout, that would be a helluva' crash to bend that fork!

Cheers!

-D-

LesterOfPuppets

Friend had a 990 that was kickass. I had a 930 that was kickass. I'm gonna predect your 950 will be kickass.

Trek probably didn't wanna bother building forks that's why the mix of metals. So much easier to buy boxes of forks from Tange, cut and chase the steerers and it's pretty much plug and play. The Big Fork was available for aftermarket purchase BITD.

wrk101

My "conversion" of the Trek 950 was before I embraced the drop bar strategy. So I put a set of Dirt Research trekking bars on it. More hand positions than the flat bars, but no match for drops. Somewhat curious, my 18 inch Trek 950 fits a lot better than my 18 inch Univega Alpina Pro. The Univega just feels small in comparison. I was hoping I could get that chrome Ross to fit, but it is way too big. So I'll probably pull out the 950 and convert it instead.

Here it is with 1.25 inch slicks:




With wider tires on a trail ride:






It was one of my first successful rust treatments.





My wife's 1994 950 (ignore the high saddle height, that was for me to test ride it). The 1994 is quite a bit lighter, TIG welded, not lugged. I need to weigh the two 950s. Drivetrain is not original. Better closeup of the narrow slicks.



bill

neo_pop_71

Thanks Bill, I appreciate you taking the time! I have to say, I'll take the added weight of a lugged frame over a tig welded frame any day of the week. That might be the old roadie in me saying that but from a purely aesthetic standpoint, you can't touch a lugged frame. Do you recall what brand of 1.25 slicks you have on the 950's? They look like the old Continentals from the early 90's but those are long since disco'd.

Best regards,

-D-

dbg

Wow. I actually preferred that frame (double butted true temper OX versus trip butted on 850) over the 850 for drop bar conversion and considered searching for one of that vintage. I still like the 850's longer wheelbase and chainstays (445 vs 430), but I would have chosen the 950's probably if both were presented to me. (If you want to get rid of it, let me know).

Yo Spiff

Can do even better. My Trek 900 frame was a freebie, with most of the drivetrain components still on it. Mines definitely a lesser frame, however.

I have another similar project now. Just bought a '91 Schwinn Crosscut. More of a hybrid or cross frame, but it's still going to get built up into a drop bar configuration.

One of the minor issues I had with mine was that my lever and V-brake combo resulted in two quick releases but no adjuster barrel. Not a biggie, as they are easy to manually tighten up when needed. However, I spotted these v-brake noodles with adjustment barrels on Niagara Cycle yesterday. Might be of help if anyone else has run into this.

striknein

I like Jagwire inline barrel adjusters. Bonus: I can put them anywhere down the cable run.

realestvin7

I need to stop procrastinating.

rodar y rodar

My Bunny Hopper is comming along, but there have been a few frustrations. First, I found that I had no high stem for 1 inch/26mm, had to make an adaptor for my fit stem. Then decided to switch from the stock 170 Deore cranks to a set of Sugino 165s I had because the Suginos were both lighter and in my prefered length. But the left arm hit the chainstay with those, so I switched to a longer BB spindle that I lucked into finding at an LBS. Had to mount it backwards, and everything JUST cleared, but when I took it out for a test ride I realized that I don`t like the sqare profile of the Suginos because my heel hits the BB end of the arm on each rev. Will try with some bigger platform pedals, but probably end up going back to the original Deore cranks. This morning I cabled up the brakes and had trouble with the housing and the aero levers- love the ergonomics of these Origin 8 "girl" levers, though

I have the bike temporary SS mode now, RD limit set to keep it in the second sprocket and chain just hanging on the middle ring. Just got back from its maiden voyage to 7-Eleven. Will cable up the RD later this week, but probably wait to do the FD until I figure out what I want to do with the cranks.

The fit stem thing is pretty cool for this kind of project, actually. I got the idea from somebody`s bike webpage (Alex Wetmore`s, I think) and have used it on a number of bikes. Basically just an upright post like a threadless headset adaptor with an adjustable height boom, then a double clamp to hold the bars at any position along that boom. When I get it how I like it, I`ll build a custom stem to fit.

Anybody know about these rims? They`re wider than I`d prefer, but I think I`ll keep them because they have a really pretty finish. I had rims with a similar deep finish on a Bridgetone at one time- those were Arayas. Are these probably Araya mfgd for Specialized, or were there others like that? They are a little brake-worn, but not as bad as it looks like from the pics- the seam is right where the label is (seems backwards to me), so that`s where the ugly spot started.

EDIT:
Josh Putnam is whose website I got the stem idea from, though he does state that it wasn`t his original idea either.
https://www.phred.org/~josh/bike/stem.html
Thanks Josh, whoever you are.

neo_pop_71

Hey r y r ,

You're right about the rims being Arayas manufactured for Specialized. Mike Sinyard was king of branding, he'd take just about any existing bike component and have it branded Specialized. I have a similar set of hard anodized rims that came stock on my '91 Stumpjumper Comp with full XT 7 speed. I've kept that set of rims long after the frame was sold and I've recycled those wheels on many builds. The rims are laced to Shimano XT hubs and they're still super smooth! That Shimano XT 7 speed stuff was bombproof, I have that group on both my '93 and '95 Barracudas, I snatch it up any chance I get. I recall Bill posted a few pages back about buying a complete bike, just for a part (or parts), that's how I am whenever I find some XT 7 speed. Thankfully, they pop of more and more these days and they're almost always on bikes that people are unloading on the cheap!

-D-

p.s. Do you have any pics of other stems you've built? I'm intrigued, I may want one custom made too.

rodar y rodar

Pics of my projects? Twist my arm! Yeah, I`ll dig some up.

No XT on this bike, or on anything else I`ve had my paws on except a couple of non-vintage XT hubs from before I limited my scope to Tiagra and Deore for new stock. If there`s as much nice stuff floating around here as you and some of the other folks seem to find, I guess I`m not dedicated enough to ferret it out. This Rockhopper came with Deore, which I have no complaint against, but I sure wish the frame had been welded and painted more carefully. Or brazed, better still!

Yo Spiff

An updated pic of Old Red in her present configuration:

neo_pop_71

Hello, your 900 is a beauty, that's a really cool electric color! I dig it! I have a couple quick questions...

What tires are you running? Also, what's the width and tpi?

How are you running v-brakes with road levers? I don't see a Travel Agent/Rollamajig anywhere in your brake system, what's the sneaky trick?

-D-

p.s. It may just be me but a spooky old dungeon is no place for a nice drop bar conversion. Just sayin'...

Barchettaman

Neo Pop, those brake levers are specifically designed for V-brakes, they pull more cable (and work beautifully too!)
Made by Tektro, model RL 520.

neo_pop_71

Thanks Barchettaman!

Man, I'm outta' the loop... fancy new components! I'll have to take a look at those, goodness knows I have a few dead sets of v-brakes in the part bins!

-D-

Yo Spiff

Panaracer Paselas, 26 x 1.5". 65 psi max, and that is what I usually keep them at. According to Panaracer's web site, they are 66tpi and weigh 430 grams each. (These are the regular Paselas, not the tourguard variety)

When I did the conversion I tried it initially with the Cantis that the bike originally came with. They stunk that way. Bottomed out quickly without a lot of stopping power. Put the V-brakes on and they work great. So, as Barchettaman suggested, these levers seem to be made for V brakes, however, they are RL-340's, not the 520's that are described as being for linear pull brakes. I kind of just took the chance figuring I would use whichever brakes worked best. I mentioned this brake issue to Doohickie the other day, since he has the same levers with cantis on his Nishiki. He said he has the same stopping problem I described and is now looking for some v brakes as well.

The spooky dungeon is a very small outside jail cell in Downtown Grapevine, Texas. Has a historical maker in front of it, but I didn't have a chance to read it in detail. We ran across it on a group ride and it seemed like a good backdrop for some bike porn.

Anonomous

Hey guys, new to the forums!

Love this thread!

My father has a 1988(ish) Raleigh Technium (like this one) https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1988...item43af3903be But in white. Not sure why that guy wants 4 grand for it.

I was debating making it into a drop bar, fun ride, for him to get on a gravel road with, but after seeing that ebay post I am hesitant to do anything. Its all completely original.

Thoughts on this frame?

Convert it and ride it? Clean it and sell it? Leave it sitting?

due ruote 

Welcome to the forums.

Unless I'm missing something, there's no way that bike is worth anything close to 4k. I have no idea what they're thinking, but that's often the case with that seller.

I would do what you like with the bike and not worry about that auction.

LesterOfPuppets

Yep, bbcbikes prices are insane! And not in a good way like Crazy Eddy.

frantik

that guy is notorious on here for selling massively overpriced bikes. His listings often make naive seller believe they have a very valuable bike

Yo Spiff

Perhaps that is the purpose of the outrageous postings.

debit

Question for whoever might know. Would the RL520s work with drum brakes?

neo_pop_71

+1 to that one for sure!!!

That seller did that same mess to a mid-range Barracuda, not even an original '92 - '96 'Cuda from Durango, but a '97+ Ross owned Barracuda... all of the $100.00 'Cudas from all around the country jumped up to $400 and $500 right after that Ebay posting went up. As long as people use Ebay's current and completed items as the market value, seller like that idiot will continue to inflate the market.

-D-