Trash Bike: Year 3

There is beauty in the rat bike. I've always known it, but it's been proven during this past year – year three – of riding the Trash Bike. I've changed the parts around and made a few refinements.

First, I had the good people of 718 Cyclery in Brooklyn build me a rear wheel. Because the rear spacing was initially 126mm, a 135mm hub never fit properly. I compromised and had them put in a 130mm (traditional road standard) hub, with an Alex brand touring rim and three cross spokes. Matched with a Suntour 7 speed cassette, it's been a rear wheel to completely forget about. It's solid – it's true. It cost about $200 and it's worry-free.

Shifting remains friction (not indexed), thanks to the fantastic, fantastic Suntour Power Thumbies. Though they are antiquated, these are great shifters. Again, they are worry-free.

In a huge bit of good fortune, I discovered Nomad Cycles. It was initially in Long Island City / Sunnyside, and I stopped in after seeing their bicycle made into a sign, locked to a pole, pointing to the shop. Immediately, I knew I found something special. Their founder, Damon, is an architect turned bicycle guru. He loved the Trash Bike and has a whole fleet of vintage Treks for himself. In fact, at a shop that has tons of bikes, his go-to bike is a blue townie vintage Trek. I told him I wanted to lower the gear ratio, so we added a Sugino 38 tooth (110 bcd) chainring to the front. I removed the front derailleur, front shifter, and the large and small chainrings. He ground the original middle chainring into a chainguard. It works wonderfully and has lightened up the setup (every bit helps)!

Before I discovered Nomad, I gave the bicycle the romantic equivalent of a diamond ring: a Chris King headset. I wish I had gotten one in a fancy crazy color, but I just went for silver. I changed the fork to a new 1” Tange fork I purchased from the famous Bruce Gordon cycles. It's not a fancy lugged fork – I couldn't find one. But, it's a worry-free item. It doesn't match the color scheme of the bike (as the original fork did), but after a week or two I forgot about matching.

The plan is there is no plan! The rules are there are no rules! (Actually, the only rule is: put the water bottle in one pannier and the camera in the other.) THE COLOR SCHEME IS THERE IS NO COLOR SCHEME. I found out Spurcycle has discontinued their excellent silicon grip rings. So I went on Amazon and bought enough for many bikes. I blindly selected them from a bag, in a lottery type of method, and now the Trash Bike and the Rivendell have random colored ones! I like it a lot.

The Brooks – well, tragedy has struck – the nose is loose and broken. I tried shoelacing it together, which added a very cool contrasting yellow color, and it held the seat together. But, on a ride back from an M83 concert, in the rain, I realized the Brooks is unsafe at any speed. If I ever hope to have children, I need to get another Brooks and retire this one, perhaps put it into the ground just like the cow it came from. Or perhaps I'll give it a viking burial by dropping it off of the Triboro. Is it a badge of honor? You wore out 1 Brooks – congratulations Padawan, soon you'll be a Jedi Master of crappy bike rides in the rain. I've just graduated to my third motorcycle helmet, for years of scooter riding. It's just the passing of time.

The tires! I decided to get even more vintagey, even more basic Pinterest level “sooooOOOooo rETrooo” by getting the Schwalbe Fat Frank tires in the 26” by 2.35” and the crème-de-la-crème color. Wow – was this a mistake. Maybe if I lived in some place like San Luis Obispo, it would have been a good idea. But, at home in the “Borough that Time Forgot,” the selection was just plain myopic. I rode a half a block and the tires were filthy. Bummer. I aimed for vintage, but I got old and dusty.

I have also replaced the bottom bracket with a newer sealed cartridge Shimano one. Then, most recently, at Nomad, I got the Wipperman Made in Germany chain. It cost $35, but it's silent and amazing. It's been a fantastic upgrade. (It was also the finishing touch on the Rivendell.)

The Trash Bike has been amazing. It's likely been the best vehicle I've ever owned. It's cost me nothing, except for hundreds of dollars in upkeep and replacing parts.

Here are the parts that still came from the trash:

the frame

the handlebars

the brake levers

the brake straddle hangers

the rear derailleur

the shifter

the cranks

the seatpost

maybe the cables???

Everyone should have a Trash Bike.

The Trash Bike

The Trash Bike:

Chapter One:

I spend a lot of time thinking about bicycles. So, it's strange when a bicycle just appears out of my thoughts and into real life, which is exactly what happened with the case of this bicycle. I found it in the trash outside of an apartment in Brooklyn which was the brief home of a slightly less brief girlfriend.

I did a double take, and I immediately knew what it was. An old lugged Trek, from when Trek was a small company and they were making every bike by hand in the USA. It was missing a front wheel. But it looked mostly there. Luckily, I had my car, so I picked it up and threw it in the back. Then we went back into the house and found a guy spray painting a bike. He had a Schwinn from the 1970s. I asked him about the Trek and he said it was his. He was throwing it out because he got a Schwinn, which he was painting green. Then he gave me a front wheel for the bike!

I brought it home and immediately started cleaning it. I went to the local bike shop and spent $30 on one new tire and tube. Then I rode it home. It rode great. The brakes and shifters worked.

So, I started riding it in bad weather. It became my Trash Bike. Then I bought snow tires for it and it became my snow bike. I love this bike in the way pet owners love a stray dog that follows them home and becomes their best companion.

Chapter Two:

So, I have had the Trash Bike for nearly 2 years. I still ride it every day. Most other people in the world drive their car every day and keep a bike for fun on the weekends. But for me, it's the other way around.

I've had a lot of little problems with this bike that make it kind of a pain. Still, it's a great bike, and overall the cost per mile is so low that it would be a waste of time to calculate.

First, I changed the saddle. I added a vintage Brooks that matches the patina / beausage of the bike. The grips were awful too. They were old foam grips. I remember I used to have similar grips on my Huffy Dirt Water which was my bike as a kid and probably the worst bike I've ever owned. The grips collected rain, which made them like gripping a wet towel. Awful. I changed them to Spurcycle Grip Rings, which are super comfy and clever. Of course, being a bad weather bike I had to add fenders. I was thinking of Velo Orange ones, but plastic ones do just fine.

Then I added snow tires. Wow! What a great purchase. They cost around $65 each, but were totally worth it. If you are considering snow tires for your bike, go ahead and get them. Biking in the snow is much, much more satisfying than I could have ever anticipated.

Recently, tragedy struck. I realized the front fork is bent. Of course, the original fork is gracefully curved and lugged and beautiful. I bought a regular run of the mill fork that doesn't match, but I haven't installed it yet. The steering is wobbly right now, which is very bad.

The brakes also got all worn out. I was running original Dia Compe cantilevers, which I really liked. In fact, the old mountain bikes come with really long brake levers. More like Motorcycle or Vespa levers. They're really satisfying to use, and work great even with mittens. I bought some Avid brakes on Ebay but they don't work as well as I thought. So I cannibalized the LeMond and took a Paul Neo-Retro for this bike. Right now I'm running the Avid in front and the Paul on the back.

I went back and forth on the Pauls. At first I really liked the Pauls because they are like jewelry for a bike. They're handmade and look great and custom, etc. But then I couldn't get them adjusted as well as I liked. So, I really didn't care for them any more. Then I learned a bit more about setting them up, and messed with them quite a bit. I tried adjusting the old Dia Compe brakes. Now, I'm back to loving the Paul Brakes. The setup using a 15 mm wrench is super easy compared to an adjustment screw on other cantilevers. I realized I had the straddle cable way too high for a long time (which I had done to clear my Nitto rack). When I set up the Paul brake on the Trash Bike, it was super easy and works relatively great.

The other pain about owning an old bike like this is that the rear spacing is 127 mm. No one makes hubs in this size except – you may have guessed – Paul. I considered ordering one and getting a custom wheel for the back, but instead I just squeezed the old wheel from the Gary Fisher on to this bike. The brakes are not lined up as well as they could be because the chainstays have stretched. But the newer wheel is way lighter than the older wheel, which makes a huge difference considering I often ride 50 miles a week. I debated for a long time whether to get a Sturmey Archer rear huh and wheel. Sturmey Archer makes them in 127 mm spacing. That could be in the cards for the future of this bike.

PROS:

Lugged frame

Sleeper performance and looks

Low bottom bracket

Long wheelbase

Thumb shifters are reliable as it gets

Lots of clearance for fenders, racks

CONS:

Can't find a lugged 1” 26” fork to replace the original.

127mm rear hub spacing

Absolute zero bling factor for non-bike people

IMPORTANT SPECS:

1984 Trek 830.

Color: Red Cherry Maroon

Brakes: were Dia Compe – now Paul Neo-Retro in back, Avid Shorty 4 in front

Wheels: were no-name hubs with Alex rims, now Mavic / Shimano

Tires: Nokian Mount & Ground 1.9” Studded Snow Tires

Fenders: Evo plastic

Saddle: Brooks B67(? Vintage)

Handlebars: Bullmoose (Nitto or ritchey style?)

Grips: Spurcycle Grip Rings

Rear Rack: Nitto Mt Campee 26” (love this)

Lights: Knog Blinders

Luggage: Ortlieb

Alternatives:

Surly Troll - very close in spirit to this bike, but with newer parts

Surly Long Haul Trucker - test rode one and loved it. very common in hip areas.

Kogswell P/R – I've always wanted one of these but they are no longer produced.  Email me if you want to sell me one!

Rivendell - I want one bad but they're expensive!