Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Trek 970 MTB Restoration and Modification

Trek 970 MTB - Bicycle After

Trek 970 MTB - Bicycle Before
Today I am starting a Trek 970 mountain bike while I wait for spokes for the Triumph 3 speed and painting a few other frames and assembly of another.

The Trek 970 is a fairly rare frame.  It has been compared to some touring frames of today.  This Trek 970 is in descent shape, should pop nicely after complete.  The processes is slightly more then an overhaul but not quite a restoration.  Also we are going to modify the bicycle a bit to make it more rider friendly for the customers wife by replacing the stem and handlebars. Should bring an already great bicycle to a new level.

Trek 970 MTB - Bicycle Before

Trek 970 MTB - Bicycle Before - Handlebars

Trek 970 MTB - Bicycle Before- Front Brake

Trek 970 MTB -  Bicycle Before - Rear Brake

Trek 970 MTB -  Bicycle Before - Rear Derailleur

Trek 970 MTB -  Bicycle Before - Front Derailleur

Trek 970 MTB -  Bicycle Before - Crank

Trek 970 MTB -  Bicycle Before - Front Wheel Hub

Trek 970 MTB -  Bicycle Before - Front Wheel Rim
So far I stripped the frame of components. The paint is in deceivingly good shape other then the dirt.  It is deceiving because it has that early 1990's paint scheme of a dark color with a light color drizzled on.  I had a Giant MTB from then that had a black frame with red drizzled on, what a time!

With cleaning and polishing I think the frame will really  pop.

Trek 970 MTB - Frame Dirty

Trek 970 MTB - Frame Dirty - Bottom Bracket

Trek 970 MTB - Frame Dirty - Seat Post
Splashed white drizzle paint!

Trek 970 MTB - Frame Dirty - Rear

Trek 970 MTB - Frame Dirty - Rear Drop Out

Trek 970 MTB - Frame Dirty - Fork
I cleaned and polished the frame and fork, I later re-polished the frame with a more aggressive polish and drill pad.  I am much more pleased with the second results.  The photos below are of the frame after the first polish attempt.

Trek 970 MTB - Frame Polished

Trek 970 MTB - Frame Polished - BB View

Trek 970 MTB - Frame Polished
Drop Outs

Trek 970 MTB - Frame Polished
Fork
I placed some of the bottom bracket and headset components in the crock pot and then polished all of the components.  Both bottom bracket and headset function very smooth.  All the components on the Trek 970 are very high quality.  I did apply some touch up paint to the headset.

Trek 970 MTB - Bottom Bracket & Headset - Before

Trek 970 MTB - Bottom Bracket
Polished

Trek 970 MTB - Bottom Bracket Bearing Packed

Trek 970 MTB - Bottom Bracket - Complete

Trek 970 MTB - Headset - Polished

Trek 970 MTB - Pressing Headset
Bearing Cups

Trek 970 MTB - Headset Bearings - Packed

Trek 970 MTB - Headset Complete
The Trek 970 was going to get a new riser stem and city style handlebars but the stem size of the Trek 970 is over sized so it will receive just the city style handlebars which will be more then enough for a comfortable ride.  I also applied black touch up paint to the stem.

Trek 970 MTB - Stem - Before

Trek 970 MTB - Stem Polished & Installed

Trek 970 MTB - City Style Handlebars
Installed
 The derailleurs are Shimano Deore DX, very nice derailleurs.  The derailleur cleaned and polished beautifully and with a little oiling they function beautifully also.

Trek 970 MTB - Shimano Deore Derailleurs Before

Trek 970 MTB - Front Derailleur - Before

Trek 970 MTB - Front Derailleur - Complete

Trek 970 MTB - Rear Derailleur - Before - Exploded View

Trek 970 MTB - Rear Derailleur - Polished

Trek 970 MTB - Rear Derailleur - Complete
The wheels are very nice Deore hubs and nice Matrix rims.  The wheel got cleaned and polished and new bearings packed in new grease.  The wheels are very nice and spin forever!!

Trek 970 MTB - Wheels - Before

Trek 970 MTB - Rear Wheel Hub - Before

Trek 970 MTB - Rear Wheel Components - Polished

Trek 970 MTB - Rear Wheel Hub - Polished

Trek 970 MTB - Rear Wheel - New Bearings

Trek 970 MTB - Rear Wheel - Complete
Trek 970 MTB - Front Wheel Hub - Before

Trek 970 MTB - Front Wheel Components - After

Trek 970 MTB - Front Wheel Hub - Polished

Trek 970 MTB - Front Wheel - New Bearings

Trek 970 MTB - Front Wheel
Complete
The Brake calipers and brake levers are also of very nice quality.  I cleaned and polished the components of the levers and cleaned and oiled the brake levers with integrated shift levers.  I did apply black touch up paints to the levers.   The brake calipers and levers turned out nice.

Trek 970 MTB - Cantilever Brake Caliper - Before

Trek 970 MTB - Cantilever Brake Lever - Exploded View

Trek 970 MTB - Front Brake Caliper - Complete

Trek 970 MTB - Rear Brake Caliper - Complete

Trek 970 MTB - Brake & Shift lever - After
The Trek 970 is getting a beautiful Champion Flyer Brooks saddle.  It is going to really complete the look and function of the Trek 970.

Trek 970 MTB - Brooks Champion Flyer Saddle
I installed the chain and ran all the new cables and cable housings.  The last thing to do is install and shellac the cork handlebar grips.  The handlebar grips will compliment the brooks saddle and city handlebars very nicely.  I really really like the look of the cork grips shellacked against all the black paint.

Trek 970 MTB - New Cork Handlebar Grips

Trek 970 MTB - Cork Handlebar Grips - Ready for Shellac

Trek 970 MTB - Cork Handlebar Grips - Shellac Applied
The Trek 970 is complete and I am extremely jealous of the bicycle, it is beautiful and extremely high quality.  I still need to test ride the Trek 970 and make the final adjustments and take final photos but i will have to do that after it stops raining.  I am sure I am going to be even more delouse of it then.  You can see in the photos below that the frame is polished much nicer after the second attempt at it.

Trek 970 MTB - Bicycle Complete

Trek 970 MTB - Bicycle Complete
Rear Wheel Area

Trek 970 MTB - Bicycle Complete
Handlebars

Trek 970 MTB - Bicycle Complete
Brooks Saddle
Well, it finally stopped raining today so I got to test ride the Trek 970 and a few other bicycles and take final photos.  The Trek 970 barely needed any fine tuning, it is a fantastic bicycle, with the city handlebars and grips it feels so nice, and that is a bicycle that is about twenty sizes to small for me.  The customers wife should love it.  I am very jealous of the Trek 970, so smooth, such great components, wonderful lugged steel!! I am on the look out for an extra large for me, but that is supper rare!

That is just the ride that is wonderful, the looks I think are even better, the Brooks saddle, the handlebars and grips all give the bike great proportions, and I love the black color, white cable housings.

Trek 970 MTB - Finished - Side View

Trek 970 MTB - Finished - Angle View

Trek 970 MTB
Finished - Front View

Trek 970 MTB - Finished - Handlebar View

Trek 970 MTB - Finished
Front Half

Trek 970 MTB - Finished -Rear View

Trek 970 MTB - Finished - Drive Train

Trek 970 MTB - Finished - Top Half

3 comments:

  1. Great Job! Beautiful American made bike.

    I have a Trek 970 I believe it’s a 1994 color Root Beer. It came with a Rock Shox yellow fork that seized up. I uninstalled it to get overhauled but we moved and it is lost. Currently the bike is completely disassembled. I want to replace fork with a solid Chromoly, but I don’t have much money to spend. Can you recommend a replacement? My bike also came with grip shifters, and I am not a fan. So, I would like to get some new shifters.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have a Trek 970 (looks the same as yours) I bought used in New Orleans in 2000 for $200. I rode it from New Orleans to Little Rock, Arkansas, then to Memphis, then to Nashville. Then hitched with it to Santa Monica, California and road it up the California Coast (in 2001) to Arcata, California but hitched the last 100 miles with the bike. I was carrying all I owned at the time + food...probably carrying about almost 60 lbs of weight on back and front combined, and about 140 lbs of my body weight. Eventually the day came when I was riding it in town one day and the diagonal part of the frame broke completely in half at the top just below the neck. But someone took two pieces of steel on either side and made a brace and welding it back together. I used the same bike for transportation up until 2006, and then finally got a car, and hung the bike up, but still have it.

    ReplyDelete