Bike Forums

Bike Forums (https://www.bikeforums.net/forum.php)
-   Touring (https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/)
-   -   Trek 920 (https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/1043648-trek-920-a.html)

janine1 06-21-16 07:00 PM


Originally Posted by johnbort2 (Post 18538674)
Cool, thanks so much. I didn't know that there was such thing as an emergency spoke replacement kit. I appreciate the help.

Check out adventure cyclist website all kinds of cool gear and maps.

djb 06-21-16 07:45 PM


Originally Posted by janine1 (Post 18861351)
My name is janine and I'm a girl. I would NEVEr insult myself with a nick name like squeezebox.

Don't know if it's because it's an American term, or if I'm a Canadian who doesn't get out much, but squeezebox to me only means an accordion. Your comment seems to imply another meaning that I think understand, but I've never heard that before.

Back to regular programming....

I wouldn't put too much stock into the whole argument about bike models and materials, there are plenty of riders here like me who are perfectly comfortable with aluminium. I just got a new used bike that happens to be steel, but have ridden and toured on two alu bikes over the last 15 years. No big deal. They work, and work perfectly fine commuting and touring.

Squeezebox 06-22-16 07:28 AM


Originally Posted by janine1 (Post 18861351)
My name is janine and I'm a girl. I would NEVEr insult myself with a nick name like squeezebox.

If you look at my avatar you'll see my 1 yr old son standing behind an accordion of mine. Currently I play a D/G button accordion, mostly old British tunes. So I play a squeezebox, or melodeon.
Sorry if you found anything offensive or sexual in the name.
Your issue not mine.

enigmaT120 06-22-16 01:27 PM

Am I the only one old enough to know the Who song Squeezbox?

I knew you had accordions, I never thought anything about it.

djb 06-22-16 06:48 PM


Originally Posted by enigmaT120 (Post 18863209)
Am I the only one old enough to know the Who song Squeezbox?

I knew you had accordions, I never thought anything about it.

The who song , now I remember it. I always kinda thought it was a silly song, and didn't recall it and the lyrics until you mentioned it.

janine1 06-26-16 10:31 AM

Nickname
 

Originally Posted by djb (Post 18861488)
Don't know if it's because it's an American term, or if I'm a Canadian who doesn't get out much, but squeezebox to me only means an accordion. Your comment seems to imply another meaning that I think understand, but I've never heard that before.

Back to regular programming....

I wouldn't put too much stock into the whole argument about bike models and materials, there are plenty of riders here like me who are perfectly comfortable with aluminium. I just got a new used bike that happens to be steel, but have ridden and toured on two alu bikes over the last 15 years. No big deal. They work, and work perfectly fine commuting and touring.

You guys never listened to Aerosmith? Seriously? It's not an issue I just wouldn't give myself a nickname like that. It's not derogatory for a guy SO no reason for squeezebox to get offended lol.

BigAura 06-26-16 01:00 PM


Originally Posted by janine1 (Post 18870829)
You guys never listened to Aerosmith? Seriously? It's not an issue I just wouldn't give myself a nickname like that. It's not derogatory for a guy SO no reason for squeezebox to get offended lol.

Don't you mean The Who? In the Who song it's a double entandre that's really referencing an accordion.

janine1 06-27-16 02:23 PM

Momma's got a squeeze box and daddy never sleeps at night... Maybe it is the who I thought it was Aerosmith. Great song tho!

janine1 06-27-16 03:09 PM


Originally Posted by janine1 (Post 18873317)
Momma's got a squeeze box and daddy never sleeps at night... Maybe it is the who I thought it was Aerosmith. Great song tho!


Originally Posted by djb (Post 18531079)
greetings,
I would hope you stick around here, there are a number of very helpful folks here with lots of experience. I personally like to apply the "at a dinner party etiquette" behaviour on internet forums, ie talking to someone as if they were in front of you and you've just met them at a get together--unfortunately this isn't always the case, so I hope it doesnt put you off.
In any case, if you don't come back, have a good riding season, and if you do stick around, its always fun to talk bike and touring stuff. Being a bunch of biking nerds, its fun to discuss, compare and learn about stuff.

re carrying 70lbs of stuff and you being 115....ooof, makes my 140lb but old guy knees hurt just thinking about it--but thats the thing, whatever you ride, whatever you carry and however you want to do a bike trip, if you are having fun doing it and are ok with the various stuff, thats the main thing.
cheers from a very cold Canada with no riding for at least a month and a half...

Thanks for the very nice message. Is 70# what most people carry? I didn't know for sure I haven't bought any gear yet. A tent sleeping bag and pad plus cooking supplies I guess. I'm more of a credit card tourer I think but would like to try camping a bit.

Thanks for the nice note from Canada!!

Janine

janine1 06-27-16 03:23 PM


Originally Posted by seeker333 (Post 18531716)
19" ETT is ~48cm. I think in metric for bikes.

I'm surprised you'd even consider T920 since it's smallest size has a 54cm ETT. WRT to fit for females/shorter persons, the basic problem with the T920 is it uses 700c wheels for all sizes. This forces frame geometry to maintain an inordinately long effective top tube length to help mitigate toe-overlap occurrence on smaller frames. Also seat tube angle steepens and head tube angle slackens with smaller frame size. This is a very common but very compromising solution to TO on small framed 700c bikes, used for years by every major bike manufacturer.

Salsa Vaya in smallest size has a 49.5cm ETT - it is the shortest reach 700c-wheeled touring bike that I know.

If you are amenable to the fact that smaller wheels on smaller bikes for smaller people makes sense, then consider the Surly LHT. Surly sensibly fits smaller (559BSD/26") diameter wheels on sizes <54cm, which permits them to actually proportion ETT length to frame size.

The smallest size LHT has a 49cm ETT with 26" wheels, which is probably as close a match to your stated target ETT as you will find in a stock drop-bar-capable tourer (if disc brakes are desired, then look at Surly Disc Trucker, same geometry for a given size as LHT).

You actually are a good candidate for a custom sized bike frame. I say actually because a lot of people have custom frames made when they could easily fit a stock frame size. Since you have indicated considering multiple frame materials and more costly bikes, I suggest you take a serious look at a custom builder like Rodbikes or CoMo. There are many other custom builders, most do not have touring-specific building expertise, so those are my stock answers for touring bike builders. Since custom is costly and a long wait time, you may also want to consider titanium as a frame material. Look at Lynskey, they've made more Ti frames than anyone.

Getting yourself professionally fit for a bike will probably be money well spent in the event that you do choose to have a custom frame made. Find a LBS that has one of these contraptions.

Hi seeker;

I ended up getting a new road bike this spring and it fit me perfect. It's a 47 trek Emonda SL8. It was expensive but had everything I wanted on it including dura ace. I was a bit stretched on my 49 Lemond not bad but this bike is like an extension of my body. And it was on sale! Amazing the Marrakesh is almost the exact same geometry. It took some doing but my lbs got it for me. I wanted the color of the 2016 but settled for the 2017 orange. I would say it doesn't shift as smoothly as my track bike (grocery getter) that has a sturmey archer 5 spd hub. I can't see buying a bike anywhere other than my lbs. it's close and lifetime adjustments besides being awesome.

Thanks for the suggestions I was looking at Rivendells but the salsa is cheaper. Thank you for the nice post. The 920 is just too big.. Sure is pretty tho.

Hats off to the engineer yes 29/700 wheels are the same 😝

djb 06-27-16 03:53 PM


Originally Posted by janine1 (Post 18873412)
Thanks for the very nice message. Is 70# what most people carry? I didn't know for sure I haven't bought any gear yet. A tent sleeping bag and pad plus cooking supplies I guess. I'm more of a credit card tourer I think but would like to try camping a bit.

Thanks for the nice note from Canada!!

Janine

I can only speak for myself, but for the last 25 years+ I learned to keep the weight of all my stuff to about 40lbs. As is life, I learned the hard way, the first time with four panniers I took too much stuff and combined with not low enough gearing for the very hilly area I went to, it just wasn't fun (it was pretty horrible at times in fact).

live and learn, lowered my gearing a bit and was much more strict in what I packed the next time, but probably ended up in the 35-40lb range, which just made things more enjoyable.

I can't remember if this has been brought up here, but a good general rule of thumb is to have your "gear+bike" weight to be about half your body weight. In my case, 40lbs gear+roughly 30lbs bike=70lbs, which is about half my body weight.
Of course, your gearing should be roughly in the typical touring bike "general rule of thumb" range of 20 gear inches for a low gear (a bit lower is always going to be better for steep, long hills) , but in the end, you will have to try a given total bike weight and a given bikes gearing to see how it works for you.

To be honest, I've lost track of what was said about your specific bike, but in any case, keeping your load to a minimum, and chosing reasonably priced/weight camping gear is going to be easier than lugging a really heavy tent for example.

cheers

cs1 03-31-18 01:15 PM


Originally Posted by Squeezebox (Post 18846846)
I think I must agree. A small issue the 920 comes with racks. change to brifters on the 920 about the same price, about the same wt.

For 2018 it comes with brifters, if that's really a word.

Dark Arrow 04-02-18 02:32 PM


Originally Posted by BigAura (Post 18870991)
Don't you mean The Who? In the Who song it's a double entandre that's really referencing an accordion.


This reminds me of "who's on first?"

Bear

seeker333 04-02-18 02:56 PM


Originally Posted by cs1 (Post 20256011)
For 2018 it comes with brifters, if that's really a word.

TWO YEAR OLD THREAD WARNING

He bought a 920 with brifters nearly two years ago (before he got himself banned 4X).

cs1 04-02-18 04:21 PM


Originally Posted by seeker333 (Post 20260011)
TWO YEAR OLD THREAD WARNING

He bought a 920 with brifters nearly two years ago (before he got himself banned 4X).

Better to add on to an existing thread than start a new one. Especially if it it pertains to the same subject.

Happy Feet 04-02-18 08:05 PM


Originally Posted by seeker333 (Post 20260011)
TWO YEAR OLD THREAD WARNING

He bought a 920 with brifters nearly two years ago (before he got himself banned 4X).

He bought a brand new bike that came with bar end shifters and then spend a bunch more to swap them out for brifters.

Well actually, his brother bought...

Marcus_Ti 04-02-18 08:14 PM


Originally Posted by cs1 (Post 20256011)
For 2018 it comes with brifters, if that's really a word.


And yet comes with...ISO disc brake mounts? WTF. Oh yes...and the latest in 10-speed shifting?...but comes with thru-axles


Great refresh for 2018? I'm seriously stumped by Trek on this one.

cs1 04-02-18 10:48 PM


Originally Posted by Marcus_Ti (Post 20260596)
And yet comes with...ISO disc brake mounts? WTF. Oh yes...and the latest in 10-speed shifting?...but comes with thru-axles


Great refresh for 2018? I'm seriously stumped by Trek on this one.

Maybe they're trying to keep the aftermarket alive with upgrade potential.

rideroutside 07-30-20 06:11 AM


Originally Posted by seeker333 (Post 18466862)
More spokes are better for wheel longevity, and the incremental weight added by a few spokes for Touring use is utterly trivial. Well built 36h, 135/100mm QR hub wheels are fairly common among the Touring crowd because they are sensible low-cost, low-maintenance, proven wheels.

The Surly LHT, probably the most popular touring bike ever, uses mid-tier Shimano ball bearing hubs, inexpensive Alex rims and 36 straight gauge spokes. I cannot recall a single thread on the Touring forum where someone complained about the cheap wheels on their LHT. It is unnecessary to reinvent this wheel for touring.

The fact that the Trek 920 has 28 spoke wheels is not it's major shortcoming; rather it is the fact that the 920 frame/fork will accept ONLY 142-12mm rear and 100-15mm front thru-axle wheels. These will likely be a special order item at any North American LBS you'd stop at for a wheel replacement. If you plan on touring outside NA the Trek 920 is not the best choice.

I'll conclude by noting that steel is well known to be a more durable material with a fatigue limit that is several orders of magnitude greater than aluminum. A well built steel frame can last lifetimes if protected from corrosion. An aluminum frame can fail in relatively short time used regularly in a rough off-road setting, which makes the choice of Al for the Trek 920 all the more puzzling. Evidently Trek is aiming for the MTBing crowd with this bike, and since more than half the bikes sold spend their entire lives in a shed, basement or garage, Trek probably isn't risking much in the design of the 920.

I'm no expert in the technicalities of all this, but I spent 2 years on a Dawes Sardar (26" with drops) cycle touring, and seeking out off-road routes regularly, including some MTB routes... panniers rolling down hills was quite typical. I'd then dump them, and go again! Anyways... My bike was heavily laden and the last year I had so much confidence in the bike, that I didn't bother fixing two broken spokes. BIke was fine, and I rattled t through some mental stuff! Redundancy in spokes perhaps. I'm considering getting a Trek 920 for gravel/mtb/packing - but don't think I'm not going to be as cocky with the reduced spoke count!!

fietsbob 07-30-20 03:07 PM


Originally Posted by MUDDY88YJ (Post 18432317)
Another thought I had is really how odd are the through axle hubs. Are they really as oddball as some people are saying.

Less odd in 2019~20 than in 2016 when you asked that question.
who are those "some people" you refer to ? Do they have names?

janine1 08-02-20 07:31 PM


Originally Posted by MUDDY88YJ (Post 18431003)
Hi does anyone own a trek 920 and does anyone know of a better disc brake touring bike on the market.


I have a Salsa Marrakech and it’s a touring bike. It has disc brakes. It’s kinda low end but it’s steel. I’ve only hauled groceries on it so far.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:39 AM.


Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.