GLB
Dirt Disciple
Bought new 18 Nov 1988 from Cycleland Bromley after I lost various road bikes in a fire and decided I probably wasn't going to race any more.
Stayed in the shed from August 1997 until last weekend, when my son dragged it out and suggested I look at this site.
Apart from tweaking a tight rear hub cone, pumping up the 1.9" Panaracer Smoke Lites (yes I know it should be a Dart on the front - does any one know if the reissued 2.1" Smokes and Darts would fit this frame? The clearances look a bit tight to me) and squirting some lube at it I haven't done anything to it. The mud on it is genuine N Kent 1997.
At the weekend I'm going to strip out the hub and headset bearings, clean, fit new ball bearings and regrease. The front hub feels a little rough, but we'll see. The headset may be a little tight, or maybe it's just resistance from all those cables?? New inner cables are all on hand too and fortunately the colour-coded outers are in good nick.
The chain is knackered as are the larger sprockets. The 2 smaller chain rings are slightly worn, but the drive train runs smoothly enough as it is, so I'll give the transmission a good clean and lube and think about how to replace the cassette and chainrings later on. It's the type of cassette held together by a threaded 13T top sprocket rather than a separate lock ring. If the splines are the same I may be able to replace the 5 larger sprockets keeping the (virtually unused!!) 13T sprocket to lock it all together. Any views on this possibility are welcome. Otherwise I'll think about new hubs.
It's all original. I cut down the handlebars way back when to about 22" and fitted Onza bar ends. I changed the original saddle for a Turbo, and must have tried a Brooks B17 saddle for a while. That's survived and I've refitted it, having settled on various Brooks saddles for all my bikes. Not ideal for plunging through rivers and mud and horrible things like that, but I don't do that any more. Don't think I ever did much. I put on a Sigma computer BC300 when I first had it, but it died and at some point I put on the Huret clockwork belt driven mileometer. I think the heavyweight chrome rear mech guard might be around somewhere, as well as the reflectors on their colour coded brackets and the pedals too. I put on newfangled SPD's pretty much as soon as they came out I believe.
I've been enjoying riding it in the evenings this week. It's heavy, and a bit dead feeling to my mind, though I mainly ride a skinny fixie so it's a bit of a culture shock. It's not actually much worse than my Marin Point Reyes, and at my age I like to dawdle. Seems like the Trekker does too. The brakes are amazing! Much better than I remember and I love the sort of whooshy sound the tyres make when you brake really hard on tarmac. And I nearly did a stoppie last night....
Sort of like a kid again...
Stayed in the shed from August 1997 until last weekend, when my son dragged it out and suggested I look at this site.
Apart from tweaking a tight rear hub cone, pumping up the 1.9" Panaracer Smoke Lites (yes I know it should be a Dart on the front - does any one know if the reissued 2.1" Smokes and Darts would fit this frame? The clearances look a bit tight to me) and squirting some lube at it I haven't done anything to it. The mud on it is genuine N Kent 1997.
At the weekend I'm going to strip out the hub and headset bearings, clean, fit new ball bearings and regrease. The front hub feels a little rough, but we'll see. The headset may be a little tight, or maybe it's just resistance from all those cables?? New inner cables are all on hand too and fortunately the colour-coded outers are in good nick.
The chain is knackered as are the larger sprockets. The 2 smaller chain rings are slightly worn, but the drive train runs smoothly enough as it is, so I'll give the transmission a good clean and lube and think about how to replace the cassette and chainrings later on. It's the type of cassette held together by a threaded 13T top sprocket rather than a separate lock ring. If the splines are the same I may be able to replace the 5 larger sprockets keeping the (virtually unused!!) 13T sprocket to lock it all together. Any views on this possibility are welcome. Otherwise I'll think about new hubs.
It's all original. I cut down the handlebars way back when to about 22" and fitted Onza bar ends. I changed the original saddle for a Turbo, and must have tried a Brooks B17 saddle for a while. That's survived and I've refitted it, having settled on various Brooks saddles for all my bikes. Not ideal for plunging through rivers and mud and horrible things like that, but I don't do that any more. Don't think I ever did much. I put on a Sigma computer BC300 when I first had it, but it died and at some point I put on the Huret clockwork belt driven mileometer. I think the heavyweight chrome rear mech guard might be around somewhere, as well as the reflectors on their colour coded brackets and the pedals too. I put on newfangled SPD's pretty much as soon as they came out I believe.
I've been enjoying riding it in the evenings this week. It's heavy, and a bit dead feeling to my mind, though I mainly ride a skinny fixie so it's a bit of a culture shock. It's not actually much worse than my Marin Point Reyes, and at my age I like to dawdle. Seems like the Trekker does too. The brakes are amazing! Much better than I remember and I love the sort of whooshy sound the tyres make when you brake really hard on tarmac. And I nearly did a stoppie last night....
Sort of like a kid again...
