My shop has had a guest the past several days: Kelly's old Trek Multi-Track 720 has been in for some sorely needed TLC.
New tires (Bontrager 700x38 H2s) were definitely in order after the sidewalls of what appeared to be the original tires (Trek 700x35 Multi-Tracks made by Cheng-Shin Tire) started to flake apart when I went to change the tubes. I also cleaned the drivetrain, probably for the first time ever.
This bike really brought back some memories: 7 speed cassettes, Alivio derailleurs, overpadded saddles, cantilever brakes. I must say, a 7 speed chain is one burly component. Aside from a little rust, after cleaning it up it looks good for another 10 years. Of course this might have something to do with Kelly not getting out of the saddle and giving it the spurs much over the years :-P
Amazingly the brake pads, while a bit noisy, still worked great. I was able to lock up the front wheel while taking a test blast down the driveway. Did I mention they were noisy? I'll have to remedy that at some point...
I'm now curious as to how old this bike is. Vintage-trek only lists one black 720 multitrack, made in 1991, but the decal color isn't right. It looks like this particular model was made between 1990 and 1999. The colors got progressively fancier over the years, with pearlescent paint jobs and fades. So this bike, in basic black is almost certainly on the earlier end of the scale, and may be a 91. Bikepedia only has data as far back as 1993 for this model, so no luck there either.
The Kalloy seatpost has '93.10' stamped on it, and seatposts often have the date stamped, but the 93 bike was a black to purple fade...
...Hopefully Kelly can shed some light on this mystery (assuming she bought it new).
Anyway, enough history. What actually prompted me to write this is that given my recent plunge into 29ers, it became obvious that sometime back in the day, somebody threw some CX tires on this thing or something similar and presto, the first mass produced 29er was born without any fanfare or Gary Fisher being involved in any way!
3 comments:
Hello. This is Kelly, the now proud owner of the Trek 720. The bike and I are so happy that you've saved it from it's sad state. To shed some light on it's history, it was bought at Nault's in Manchester when I was in college. It was bought new, and I'm fairly certain it was after '91...probably '92,'93, or maybe '94. As I remember it, I got it to ride to classes from my old apartment above Foodee's on Main St. in Keene. Yes, Paul, Bike-God, the bike hasn't gotten much use, so it should indeed last another 10 years! THANK YOU so very much for saving the ole 720. She and I will look swift and swanky pedaling around the streets of Peterborough thanks to your generosity and time! Happy pedaling to you!
You can get the exact year by finding the serial number and then use this site as a guide:
http://www.vintage-trek.com/SerialNumbers.htm#late86
Hello, It should be a '94. I have a '94 Trek 720 Multitrack (at leat Vintage Trek said '94s were either purple to green faded with white decals or the black one). I happen to have the purple to green faded one, but I recently popped the rear tire. I've changed bike tires before, but I have not seen one with the white wall attached to the rim. Do you mind telling me how you changed the tire? Is it a thing where I need to find a whole other wheel?
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