Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration With Reynolds 531

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Bicycle - After

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Bicycle - Before

I some what started work on a early 1980's Trek for Ishmael.  This is a fascinating bicycle, it is pieced together with an odd lot of components but yet the frame just feels so nice.  The frame has been repainted at one time and the decals are long gone but I definitely believe the frame is made with Reynolds 531 tubing, the frame is so light that it just has that feel.  Also as I flick the frame with my finger it just has that 531 tone to it.  I know that is not exactly a scientific way to determine it but after many years of doing this you just kind of know.

This Trek has a Working Bikes sticker on it which makes seance why the components are such a mix match.  The handlebars and brake elvers i believe are original and are very nice and very light, the shift levers are very nice Shimano 600's but they are newer then the bike, the wheels are a mix match, the rear is the original but both wheels are very nice alloy wheels, he derailleurs are not original and the crank on the drive side is a very lite Stronglite crank and the non drive crank arm is a Sugino.

The Trek is extremely lite and when I test road it for before it road fantastic with a few small issues but you can tell its just an awesome and responsive ride.  This Trek is so cool with all the strange parts and the frame.

The paint is extremely rough and the components are also dull and a little rough, the Trek will receive a total restoration with all new cables, bearings, brake pads, handlebar tape, brake lever hoods, tires and tubes.  Also the frame is going to be stripped and a clear coat applied for the raw metal look.  I can't wait to see the results I think its going to be a great look.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Bicycle Before

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Bicycle Before
Handlebars

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
Bicycle Before - Stem

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Bicycle Before
Front Brake

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration -  Bicycle Before
Fork Crown

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek Restoration - Bicycle Before
Front Wheel

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek Restoration - Bicycle Before
Front Wheel Rim

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek Restoration - Bicycle Before
Shift Levers

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek Restoration - Bicycle Before
Paint

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek Restoration - Bicycle Before
Trek Seat Lug

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek Restoration - Bicycle Before
Working Bikes Decal

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek Restoration
Bicycle Before - Crank

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek Restoration - Bicycle Before
Rear Brake

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek Restoration - Bicycle Before
Rear Derailleur

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek Restoration - Bicycle Before
Rear Wheel

I broke the Trek down to the frame.  I took before photos of the frame just to show where it started, it was rough.  The raw look will be a huge upgrade.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek Restoration - Frame Before

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek Restoration - Frame Before

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek Restoration - Frame Before

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek Restoration
Frame Before

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek Restoration
Frame Before - Fork

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek Restoration - Frame Before
Fork

I set the frame up out side to apply the paint stripper.  What you can't see below is cardboard and plastic to catch all the chemicals for disposal.  Today was just the first application of paint stripper but the paint pretty much just ran off the frame in a lot of places.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
Frame Hung for Stripping

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
Paint Stripping

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
Paint Stripping

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
Paint Stripping

In the photo below you can see how the paint just ran off the frame to the cardboard.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Frame Stripping
Running Paint

After the stripping process and hitting the frame with a wire brush the frame looks like this.  A few areas you can still see the flaking greenish paint but that will be taken care off with sand paper, steel whole and hand work.

With some help from readers I have been able to identify this frame and Jose's Trek frame that can be seen by clicking here.  Both this frame and Jose's frame are from 1981-1982 and are Trek 613's, beautiful frames!!

Below the paint I found beautiful Campagnolo dropouts, a wonderful find and can be seen in photos below.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Frame Stripped

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
Frame Stripped - Head Tube

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Frame Stripped
Head Tube

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Frame Stripped
Seat Lug

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Frame Stripped
Bottom Bracket

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Frame Stripped
Campagnolo Drop Out

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
Fork Stripped

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Fork Stripped
Campagnolo Drop Out

With the paint stripped I got to work on adding the water bottle cage mounts on the seat tube.  This went pretty easy. I am happy with the results of the water bottle cage mounts.  I also am adding a photo of the fork steer tube with Reynolds 531 stamped in it.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Water Bottle Cage
Mounts

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Holes Marked

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Holes Punched

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Holes Drilled

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Mounts Complete

Now I am clear coating the frame so while I do that I am polishing and completing the components.

The headset and bottom bracket are very nice and very good quality.  They are not original at all though but that is the fun of this bike.  The headset actually has cartridge bearings.  The bottom bracket is one of Sugino's higher end brackets.  Both cleaned and polished very nice.  I will install when the frame is complete.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Headset & Bottom Bracket
Before

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Headset & Bottom Bracket
After

The handlebars and stem are very light.  I like the stem a lot.  Both the stem and handlebars have a textured finish.  I polished the stem to a mirror finish and it looks absolutely fantastic, the few tips on polishing I have gotten recently are really paying off.  The handlebars did not polish as nice but they are clean and look good and very light.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Handlebar Assembly
Before

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Handlebars Before

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Stem - Before

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Stem Polished

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Handlebars
After

The brake levers are nice Die-Comps.  The brake lever hoods are shot and will be replaced.  I cleaned and polished the levers and installed new brake hoods.  I love the results, what a look, what results!!

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Brake Levers
Before

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Brake Levers
Exploded

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Brake Levers
Polished & New Hoods

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Brake Levers
Complete

The crank is a little rough and mixed matched.  The drive side of the crank I believe is a Stronglite crank the non drive side is a Sugino Super Tourer.  Both cranks are very nice but I think I would take the Sugino.  The drive side crank is a strange textured surface that I could not polish off, it did clean up nice and is very light.  The Sugino side polished beautifully and I love the logo stamped in.  his is such a cool bike in all the diffrent components, it makes me wonder how they all ended up here.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Crank Before

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Crank Exploded

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Crank - Polished

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Crank Complete

I like the shift levers a lot, they are Shimano 600 friction shift levers, very nice action.  I cleaned, flushed and lubricated the levers and then polished them.  The shift levers turned out like perfectly polished jewels, I love this stuff!!

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Shift Levers
Before

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Shift Levers
Complete

The derailleurs are not original, the rear derailleur is a Shimano Light Action, a great derailleur and an early indexing derailleur.  The front derailleur is a streamlined Shimano derailleur I have never seen before.  The derailleurs where a little rough, the rear derailleurs polished beautifully and functions great.  I could not polish the derailleur cage perfectly but it will work well.  The front derailleur need some rust removal and a lot of flushing and lubricating but works great now.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Derailleurs
Before

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Derailleurs
Exploded

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Derailleurs
Polished

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Derailleurs
Complete

The brake calipers are nice Die-Comp calipers.  The front is a standard Die-Comp brake and the rear is a nicer Die-Comp 500.  I disassembled the calipers and cleaned and polished all of the pieces.  The pieces polished very nicely and with new brake pads will function very nice.  I am very pleased with the calipers, they look awesome and function great and I am proud of the work done to bring them back to this level.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Brake Calipers
Before

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Brake Calipers
Exploded

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Brake Calipers
Polished

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Brake Calipers
Complete

Assembling comes tomorrow,  The frame clear coat has been setting all day and should be ready for assembly tomorrow.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Seat Post
Before

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Pedals

The wheels are fairly nice, the rear wheel is an original wheel and is very high end for the time.  The front wheel is a mix match but is a pretty nice wheel.  The grease was pretty much long ago done.  The wheels where some what rough, wheels do take a beating.  I cleaned and polished the wheels, the came back pretty good.  The hubs look great, the grease and bearings are new and the wheels spin super smooth.  I also installed the new Panaracer Pasela 27 x 1 1/4" tires, these are one of my favorite tires for an all around tire.  In the end the wheels look good, they look great with the new Panaracers and I am pretty please with the results.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
Rear Wheel - Before

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Rear Wheel
Before

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Rear Wheel Hub
Before

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Rear Wheel
Old Grease

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Rear Wheel
Polished

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Rear Wheel
New Grease

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
New Panarascer Pasela Tires

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
Rear Wheel - Complete

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
Front Wheel - Before

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Front Wheel Hub
Before

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Front Wheel Rim
Before

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Front Wheel
Polished

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Front Wheel
New Grease

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
Front Wheel - Complete

Because I restored all the components while I was working on and clear coating the frame I had to wait to assemble the Trek, it is now time.

I started with the headset, it is a very nice cartridge bearing headset, I greased the components and added a few spacers to get the spacing correct.  I like the headset installed, very smooth.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
Headset Cups - Pressed

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
Headset Cups Pressed

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
Headset Complete

 At this time I also installed the handlebar assembly.  The stem looks fantastic against the raw look of the frame and the brake lever hoods look great, I love the fresh gum of the hoods.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Handlebars - Stem
Brake Levers - Installed

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Stem Installed
Looks Perfect!

 I greased the bottom bracket and installed it.  The bottom bracket is a very nice bottom bracket and looks fantastic with all the over spray paint polished away.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Bottom Bracket
New Grease

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Bottom Bracket
Complete

Next I installed the Crank.  I wish the drive side of the crank looked better, it is a little rough but it is very light and will work well.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
Crank Installed

At this time it was time to see how those wheels with the new Panaracer tires installed would look against the frame, I think the word is "Awesome"!!  So happy with the results.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Front Wheel
Installed

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Rear Wheel
Installed

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Rear Wheel
Rim

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Wheels Complete

As i mentioned above I was very happy with the brake calipers, I was proud of the work.  I am still proud seeing the brake calipers installed.  The bike is taking on such a great look, like an all polished alloy hot rod!

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Front Brake
Installed

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
Rear Brake - Installed

The derailleurs installed and the look good.  I had to modify the front derailleur a bit to get the derailleur cable to stay connected.  The derailleurs function great and the rear derailleur is one of my favorites.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
Rear Derailleur - Installed

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
Front Derailleur - Installed

The Shimano 600 shift levers just stand out perfect against the raw frame.  It has such a nice industrial feel.  I like it a lot.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Shift Levers
Installed

Below is a photo of the Trek 613 to this point, Looking good.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Bike
Now

It was now time to wire the Trek.  I choose the Charcoal/silver cable housing, i think its perfect for the look of the bike.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Bicycle
Wired

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Bicycle Wired

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
Bicycle - Wired

Lat to do is install the new handlebar tape.  Ishmael chose a darker green handlebar tape, another great look to fit the theme of the Trek.

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
New Handlebar Tape

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Handlebar Tape
Installed

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Handlebar Tape
Installed

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Bicycle
Complete

For the test ride and final photos I installed a Brooks B17 saddle.  Tomorrow we will install a Atomica Selle saddle that Ishmael has, it will be perfect for the Trek 613.

After a little fin tuning on the test ride the Trek 613 rides fantastic, I am thrilled to get to ride it for a bit.  I love the look of the Trek, it is amazing that such a nice bicycle was under all that old greenish paint.  The bike has such an amazing industrial look or maybe its an old WWII fighter plane that I see in it.  Fantastic!!

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Bicycle Complete

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Bicycle Complete

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
Bicycle Complete - Front

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration
Bicycle Complete - Front Brake

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Bicycle Complete
Stem

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Bicycle Complete
Drive Train

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Bicycle Complete
Top Half

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Bicycle Complete
Rear

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Bicycle Complete
Rear Brake

Ishmael's Early 1980's Trek 613 Restoration - Bicycle Complete
Rear Wheel

Thank you Ishmael and thank you everyone for the interest,
John Z.