1995 Trek 950 build up

[Cloverleaf]

It's funny how time changes and what was once cutting edge and lusted after becomes old and tired and thrown out. Back in the early nineties when I was in my formative years and out riding in the Scottish hills with my parents virtually every weekend I would look at things like Z1 Bombers and Magura Racelines in the magazines and lust after such items. I still remember turning up to my first downhill race in '98 and having my jaw hit the floor at the sight of all the bikes with discs and full suspension. Yet twenty plus years later here I am basically building up the same bike I was riding back then, to do similar riding!

Back in '95 I got my first 26" wheeled bike, a Trek 850 in Ice Green. This was built up from the factory with pretty basic if solid components of the time in Shimano Alivio and STX but over time was upgraded, first with my dad's old M737 XT STI and cantilevers, and then M739 XT STI to use V-brakes. Except the M739 V-brakes were utter junk so they were swapped out for M952 V-brakes which were still junky in the way only linkage v-brakes can be, but better than the XT's. My favourite but of that bike was the early 4 arm M739 crankset but sadly that got nicked alongside the Orange Evo2 they were attached to a number of years ago. Back then it was primarily fire tracks and estate roads we used but as I got into downhill more and more I spent less time doing that and more time riding bigger bikes. Between then and now I've ridden most bikes both to test and race. At the time they were just functional bikes but now I'm kinda regretting selling some of them! Like the first production Orange 222 with frame number 222-001, or my M1, or DH8...the list is fairly lengthy! Luckily I still have my old Cove Stiffee that I got off Steve Deas down in Innerleithen 15 years ago, and my Intense M9 that I raced my last world cups on - those two definitely aren't going anywhere!

But roll on to now and I was looking to build up a bike that could take panniers, mainly so that I could strap a tent on and the climbing kit (riding in with a 15kg rucksac ruins your arse bones), and what do I end up with? A pretty similar bike to what I had back in 1998 prior to moving towards downhill! So this is the build I ended up with. It's pretty much all spares except the frame and cranks:

Frame: Trek 950 19.5" frame (same length as my 2004 17.5" Cove Stiffee!)
Fork: Marzocchi Z1 BAM - I'd ideally replace these with something I don't mind painting the same purple as the front half of the frame, perhaps Z2's.
Headset: a cobble together of spares, including the Dia Compe DLC top cup from my old Marin Team DH
Seatpost: X-Lite Clikon 2 27.2mm which has been on a good number of bikes over the years
Saddle: Crank Bros Iodine that I got given to test for Pinkbike years ago
Stem: X-Lite Steve Peat DHR50
Bars: Answer Protaper 685/50
Pedals: Burgtec Penthouse Mk4/Crank Bros Mallet Mags

Shifters: Shimano M739 XT STI
Rear Mech: Shimano M952 XTR SGS
Front Mech: Shimano M739 XT Top swing/top pull
BB: Hope Titanium 113mm (wrong size)
Cranks: Shimano M739 XT 4 arm 170mm 22/32/42
Cassette: M950 XTR 11-30 (my dad bought a load of these at £50 each from CRC years ago so it seemed rude not to borrow one)
Chain: IG90 (borrowed, the same as the XTR cassette!)
Brakes: Shimano M952 XTR V-brakes

F Wheel: Hope Big'un Mk1 non-disc/Mavic 121 CD Ceramic
R Wheel: Hope Bulb Mk1/Mavic 121 CD Ceramic
Tyres: Specialized Team Control/Master Team (I'll probably replace with the Panaracer Smoke/Dart Classics as they seem to be made of plastic)

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After riding it quite a few times over the past few weeks I've been blown away at how nice it rides on estate tracks and longer rides. Compared to modern stuff it's twitchy, the tyres are awful and the brakes barely work. But it's great fun and just what I was looking for. It's been great getting back out with my dad, who go me into it in the first place, and also with my girlfriend who after a year still hadn't been out on bikes with me.

Now I just need to build the old 850 back up with the spares. Does anyone have suggested paint codes/matches for the Ice Purple and Ice Green on the 950? On the surface the Ice Purple would appear to be a good match with Toyota Magenta Fizz but happy to take pointers from those who have already tried this, particularly as I can't quite work out a match for the green!

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[Joe_Rides]

Re:

Really enjoyed that write up and the photos.

Trek is looking nice - liking the "period" upgrades

Panniers work great on a retro mtb - if you do get out on some camping trips there is a "retro mtb touring" thread on the general chat section.

 

[Cloverleaf]

Thanks, glad you liked it! I guess the thing with retro bikes is that they're all different things to different people. For some it's the aesthetics, for some it's about being different and for others it's a bit of nostalgia. For me it's the first and last, and it was definitely nostalgic to ride something that felt so 'right' on the estate tracks.

For the first few rides I had an old M569 LX rear hub laced into a 121 CD rim and swapped it out for the Hope Bulb but I might actually swap it back, or track down a period XTR rear hub as I really liked the silence of the Shimano freehub. It was noticeable how much closer you could get to wildlife before it ran or flew away and as that's partly why I like getting into the hills so much it would definitely be a reason for not using the Hope rear hub.

Thanks for the pointer to the mtb touring thread, it's a good read. Luckily I've got an old (but lightly used) pair of Ortleib 30L(ish) panniers and plenty of lightweight cooking/camping stuff so that shouldn't be too arduous.

As for the 850 that will be built up shortly once the new headset's arrived as I no longer have the bits for the old one, which irritatingly got nicked years ago. I've also now got a set of M737 XT STI levers which will finish it off. The bike was originally STX and Alivio but was upgraded to 8spd with my dad's old M737 XT stuff, prior to then getting M739 XT for the V-brakes. I was going to do it totally original but in reality I spent most time on it with XT so XT it shall be. Sadly the Ti-Glide hubs were also nicked years ago so a set of worn STX RC wheels will have to do.

 

[shedobits]

Re:

I found Verde Carruajes was a good colour match for the "Black Forest Green" on my 950 and Big One forks.
The tin has number 562 on the lid. An ebay search comes up with Ral 6009 but the colour match doesn't look very promising. As I have no need of the 125ml tin of paint you could have it for postage only if you have no luck finding a colour match.
Also I have the original 125mm BB and threaded headset for postage only too.