I was in a similar scenario two years ago, though I was way too broke to get the Sam Hillborne frame of my dreams and chose to parlay my bike budget into a 1986 Trek 520 frame. The frame was traded with a friend for a (nice, but too small) 80's Raleigh Grand Prix I bought for $150 on Ebay, and it was a Craigslist find my buddy scored for free, because I was desperate for the 64cm size.
I couldn't live with the battered paint on it and went for a gorgeous $300 powdercoat in orange. Got all of the corrosion off and made it look factory fresh, a really handsome restore. All told, I spent $350 (powdercoat + headset) of cash on the frame and attached all manner of fancy Rivvish parts to it. Nitto cockpit, lugged seatpost to make the too short top tube work, Tektro long-reach brakes, nice wheelset, hell, even a split fender setup to work with the too-tight clearances. Basically, I threw good money (nice parts) after bad (powdercoating an anonymous decades old frame) and rode it about 2000 miles. Then, in November, I began to notice the fork wobbling a bit for about a week. The problem gradually got worse until I eventually realized there was a crack running all around the headtube lug. The vintage Trek that I had planned to get 20,000 miles of sadly barely got warmed up, and now it will just be a flamboyant piece of garden art or some such. I think the take-home message from this verbosity has already been said in the thread: don't do this sort of thing unless you are the original owner because god knows what that frame has been through. The story does have a happy ending, as the Hillborne of my dreams is arriving at my LBS tomorrow and it's going to be united with all that bike finery I invested in. At long last I will have a frame that truly fits my crazy 96 PBH and will confidently truck through wherever I go with whatever I carry for hopefully 100,000 miles or so. Can't wait! TL;DR: Threw $350 at an unknown frame, it broke after not much mileage. Mourned it's loss and got funds together for a Sam, gonna be riding happy a long time to come. On Feb 7, 9:05 am, trek610 <tspin...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi all, > > I am at a cross roads and need some help deciding on how best to spend my > money... > > I am looking to get a nice all around bike for commuting, perhaps a century > or two, 2 day bike overnight credit card, and light trail (crushed > limestone/dirt) type riding. In the summer I wind up with 50 - 150 miles > per week. I am currently using a Surly LHT for this type of riding, and > really like it, but am longing for something a bit more .....sprightly. > Here is a picture of my current LHT to give you an idea of how I would > like to setup this new ride. > > <http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b110/e_merlin/LHT%202010/IMG_0016.jpg> > > I am not the tallest guy and ride a 50 - 53cm frame depending on the setup. > I would outfit his new bike in a similar fashion with fenders, racks, > rando bag etc... > > Here is my problem. I found a 531cs Trek 610 from 1984 that has (IMHO) > nice geometry for my needs. Some specs - 430mm chain-stay, 52mm rake, 72mm > bottom bracket drop, and i think 72 for so seat and head tube angles. Trek > does not publish the geometry for anything but 22.5" frames that year... > > Trek Upgrade Path > > 1. 700C or 650B wheel conversion - bigger tire, better ride, more fender > clearance (I already have a nice set of velocity 700c wheels for this > project....) > 2. complete powder coat > 3. Canti brake studs added > 4. brazeons for various items > 5. cold set the rear end > 6. etc... > > I guess in the end this will require many new parts, some of which I have, > but will be a considerable investment nonetheless. > > Now here comes the San Marcos.... It seems to be a nice solution as well > and may very well similar in price to the trek by the time I am done with > the frame parts. The San Marcos may be a bit more, but may be a better > choice in the long run. The San Marcos seems to have perfect geometry for > my kind of riding... > > What would you do if you were me? What bike will better serve me in the > long run. I have to admit, since I live in Madison WI the Trek has some > sentimental value to me. The San Marcos lugs look really nice however! I > am torn with which direction to go, and since this is a big outlay of cash > for me I am looking for some advice before going one way or the other... > > Thanks in a advance to any/all help. > > Thanks -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
