Jim,

There are many people who report (quite a few of them here on Cyclofiend) finding a great old bike on eBay or Craigslist as the start of a great restoration project. I had long hoped to get equally lucky but was beginning to despair I would never find the right bike.

Well it finally happened. Looking around on eBay a few months back I came across the homely Trek in the first picture. The description seemed odd. The seller said it was a Japanese built Trek from the late 1970s. But he color and the long chain stays, Campagnolo drop outs and Cinelli bottom brackets all said 1982 Trek 728, one of the all time great touring bikes. So I took a chance and won with a very low bid.

Restoration work was admirably handled by Jon Kendziera of Jonnycycles with some help from his shop mate Zach, of ZR Cycles. To bring it up to modern standards, they added braze ons for tubus racks, PaulComp Racer Brakes, down tube shifters, seat tube bottle cage mounts, down stay brake cable bridge, moved the top tube cable holders to the left side, a kick stand plate, and a mount for the B&M dynamo. Jon made a nice threaded stem with brake cable routing through the center top. (check out the April 4, 2008 blog entry on the jonnycycles.com blog.)

Spectrum powder coated it as close to the original color as practical. Jon designed the real nice stencil in the old Trek badge style. I never really liked the old Trek seat tube decals, so left them off, though they are available on eBay.

Parts:
Handle Bars: Nitto Noodle, 46
Headset: Chris King
Brakes: Paul Racer, braze on levers are NOS CLB
Shifters: NOS Simplex Friction
Derailleurs: Front: Simplex Super LJ, Rear: Huret Duopar Titane
Crankset: Campagnolo Centaur Triple with TA 49/40/26 Chain Rings
Bottom Bracket: Phil Wood
Pedals: Campy Strada with MKS toe clips and synthetic straps
Freewheel: NOS Suntour 14 Ð 32
Hubs: NOS Pelissier 1000
Rims: Velocity Synergy
Racks: Tubus (powder coated silver)
Seat post: Thomson Elite
Kickstand: Pletcher
Tires: Schwalbe Marathon Plus, 700x35 (just at the limit of the 728) F
enders: SKS 40

The Simplex and Huret ders are Sunday best and will stay in collection case for touring. Some NOS Shimano Deores from the late 1980s will do the heavy lifting.

I have no idea where this bike has been for its last 26 years. I hope the two of us can put in a whole lot of miles the next 26.

joelmatthews@mac.com